Kambah residents believe their much-loved community garden is under threat from 'bureaucracy gone mad'

The stunning garden, at "5 Ways", five footpaths that meet off Bissenberger Crescent, features beds of carefully-tended flowers, shrubs and edible plants as well as logs for climbing and sitting and a rolling lawn, all with views across to Mount Taylor.

A resident, who developed the garden almost three years ago to help people connect safely outside during COVID, said he was told nine or 10 months ago by an ACT government city ranger that the garden had to be removed at his expense because it wasn't approved.

The man, who did not want to be named, said he understood the ranger was acting on a single complaint about the garden.

There is now contention there may not have been any complaint at all but just an "overzealous" ranger at work.

City Services have been contacted for comment.

The resident who developed the garden has been so disheartened that he has decided to move out of the ACT.

When neighbours heard this week of the developments with the gardens, they posted on a Facebook community page.

Word of the apparent threat to the garden sparked outrage from residents who use the garden everyday to meet or play in or just amble through with their dog.

Kambah resident Dr Richard Agnew, who has a forestry degree, said he was prepared to do anything it took to save the garden from demolition.

"We'll be in front of the bulldozers, like the Franklin [River], it'll be all that again," he said.

"I don't know who would complain about greening Australia. I walk past here twice a day and people meet here.

"I was here when it was a dustbowl and now it's beautiful and green.

"[The resident] has put his heart and soul into it and he's fed up with what's been going on. And dare I say 'the council' has fought him all the way."

Rod Phillips, who lives in elsewhere in Kambah, closer to the Tuggeranong Parkway, said the garden had drawn his family to it.

"For years, as this has evolved, we've walked up here with the kids and the animals," he said.

"We come here and pick herbs. It really is a community garden. What it looked like before was just empty grass and everything that's been done here has been a positive."

Judith Barlow, a resident of Kambah for 37 years, said the garden had brought people together.

"It builds community spirit and pulls us all together, chatting and so on," she said.

"This is lovely to walk past and I do enjoy coming here with my dogs. If someone is looking after it, this is wonderful. We're very lucky."

Another resident, Deborah McLeod, said the garden brought many people joy and for it to be removed because it might be unapproved was "bureaucracy gone mad".

Another resident said neighbours had met during COVID for "happy hour", staying connected but separated.

The resident who developed the community garden said he was just promoting the established idea that Canberra was the "Garden City", creating a ribbon park at the front doors of homes.

He said a city ranger told the garden had to be removed at his own expense. There had been no contact since then.

"He said, 'It's not approved'. I said, 'Yes it is approved, it was approved 30 years ago'," the resident said.

The man said part of the area had been approved as a park but the rest had been not.

READ MORE:

He said the garden had been developed by him along the "Radburn system" like other suburbs in Canberra.

"Canberra is supposed to be the Garden City and there's a city in America called Radburn and it was designed with ribbon parks and this is part of a ribbon park," he said.

"And those ribbon parks connected, like here in Canberra, mountains, rivers and so on. Kambah, which is the size of four or five suburbs, was designed with these ribbon parks going through it.

"It meant that there were footpaths that dived under roads and so on and connected everything. Every house on the park had to have their front door facing their park and their back door was to the street or the battle-axe laneway.

"And there was an obligation under a garden city that you build a garden at your front door and it spilled over into a ribbon park.

"Unfortunately, Parks and Gardens don't like that idea and treat the ribbon park as street verge so all the laws that apply to a street verge are applied to a ribbon park. But that's not how the suburb was designed by the town planners."

The resident said he started to develop the ribbon park as a community garden when COVID hit in 2020.

"I decided that it was a great idea if I built something that encouraged people to cross over," he said.

"There are a whole lot of logs and rocks where people can sit and talk. We have groups who are walking through and will sit together under the shade.

"A lot of people come with a cup of coffee or glass of wine and sit around. There was a bit of a movement to have the community dawn service here, watching the sun come up. It can hold 400 to 500 people without any problem."

The man said he had developed the community garden "on the smell of an oily rag".

"Except for the water during the drought, there's been nothing expended," he said.

The resident said he hadn't done anything with the garden since the ranger told him it had to be removed.

"It's a waste of my time because the government doesn't support it," he said.

"Nobody has spoken to the government in support of the park, but someone has obviously spoken to the government against the park and the government works on the basis of what's in front of it."

The man said he and his wife even wanted to leave Canberra after his battles with bureaucracy.

"Really, really disheartened," he said.

The community, meanwhile, has taken the garden to its heart.

Kane Preston-Stanley and his sister Shilo hold Gnomvember every year to bring a little magic to the gardens.

Jan Walsh who has lived in Kambah for more than 40 years said before the gardens were developed it was "a cruddy area".

"There was nothing here," she said.

Tim and Sylvana Ransley of Kambah walked their dog Charlie every day through the gardens.

"Every time we come past here, there's more plants added and it's more beautiful than the last time," she said.

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.