Bev Hanson – Landscaping Royalty
DON’T MISS THIS!
Bev’s garden will be featured on ‘Gardening Australia’ on Friday May 15th at 7:30pm and repeated on Sunday 17th May at 1:30pm.
EV Charging in Warrandyte – not happening yet
In 2025 Manningham Council contacted the WCA regarding possible sites for EV charging in Warrandyte. We recently followed up with Cr Carli Lange and received a response from the Manningham Council Manager, Sustainable Futures.
“I can advise that a solution for Warrandyte could not be found with our current EV charging partners; however, the team are currently assessing other options. One option under consideration is Council installing an AC EV charger behind the Community Centre. This will take some time to assess and determine power availability and usage patterns, as we are looking at several sites across the municipality where our partners were unable to install EV chargers for a variety of reasons from available power to planning requirements with advertising.”
The WCA would be interested in members’ thoughts re public fast charging EV stations. EV registrations currently only make up 1-3% of registrations in Victoria. While the current fuel crisis has increased interest, many people have concerns re the lack of charging infrastructure, especially outside metropolitan areas. Most Warrandyte EV owners would use DC charging at home. So public charging stations would be for the benefit of visitors to Warrandyte, or workers who live outside of Warrandyte.
Do you support public EV charging in Warrandyte?
3 Yarra Street – “Builder breaching Planning Permit”
Members may have noticed the construction site in Yarra Street just up from the Harris Gully Road roundabout. The builder lodged a Planning Application for a substantial 2-storey house & swimming pool on this site in 2023. The WCA objected on grounds including the visual intrusiveness, adverse impact on the streetscape and adverse impacts on neighbours. Two others objected. Subject to a few conditions, Manningham Council issued Permit PLN23/0289 September 2024. Significantly, in the original Plans, a sub-floor area qualified as a basement and was not be counted as a storey.
Following repeated concerns from neighbours during the initial construction, Manningham Council imposed a Stop Order in late 2025. This led to the Builder lodging Application PLA25/0122 to amend the original Permit. The WCA and six other parties objected.
Investigation of the new Application showed that:
- The Builder had excavated much more than the 2024 Permit to lower than appropriate flood-related levels.
- The Builder had also raised the upper floors by over two feet.
- The height of the sub-floor zone had increased by three feet, due to the lower base and raised floor level above.
- The enlarged & excavated sub-floor zone would now count as a 3rd storey, breaching the maximum number of storeys permitted under Clause 32.09-11 (Neighbourhood Residential Zone).
On 1st April, Manningham Council rejected the Application following Objections from Melbourne Water and Council’s own assessments. We expect the Builder-Applicant to prepare revised plans and appeal to VCAT.
Festival Blackboards – “What’s on your mind in Warrandyte?”
This year WCA continued the tradition of blackboards at the festival asking festival goers to respond to “What’s on your mind in Warrandyte?” While the number of responses was lower this year, the messages were consistent with previous years, and have been collated below.
Warrandyte Volunteer Alliance
The formation of the Warrandyte Volunteers Alliance proceeds with the formation of the group’s working party, consisting of the following volunteers: Olive Aumann from Rotary, Lesley Ryall from the Retirement Housing Co-op, Chewy Padgham form Lions, David Carty from the Historical Society, David Tynan from the Arts Association, Don Hughes from the Men’s Shed, Greg Warren from the sports groups and Terry Tovey from the WCA.