Boroondara Council decided, at the Services Delegated Committee meeting held on Monday Dec 2nd, to temporarily close Reserve Road from the beginning of the school year in 2025 (29th January).

While Boroondara Council's decision was made in the interests of the safety of children attending Camberwell Primary School, Camberwell Junction Tennis Club opposed the closure on the grounds that:

1. there was no consultation, and only 48 hours notification of the proposal, prior to Council's vote on December 2nd. CJTC would have appreciated the opportunity to engage with our members prior to Council's vote, but was only informed of the meeting on Friday November 29th 2024;
2. the decision is not evidence-based, and as such it has not been established that closing Reserve Road will address safety concerns raised by Camberwell Primary School, regarding transfer of students between campuses and with the pick-up and drop-off of school children; and
3. Council has not considered the interests of other groups in the area, such as CJTC's members/users, parishioners at Our Lady of Victories Basilica or the Camberwell Uniting Church, the Camberwell Music Society, and many other user groups who use the Uniting Church venue.

The temporary closure will be in place until a permanent solution can be found. Whilst it has been called a ‘temporary’ closure, it will have an immediate and long term impact on our Club Membership, casual use via the Book a Court program, and coaching enrolments. The temporary closure will allow time for development of a Master Plan for the precinct, which will include community consultation, traffic management data and reports, and VicRoads approval (should it be required). We estimate that this process will take at least 6 months.

At the meeting, CJTC proposed that the West end of Reserve Road remain open so that the car parks next to our courts could continue to be used. This was rejected.

The CJTC Committee is very concerned about the impact that the road closure will have on our members, casual users and coaching participants, many of whom are children too. Their safety has been overlooked in this process. It was suggested at the meeting (and in the report) that alternate parking could be found in Inglesby and Burke Roads, and in the Butler Street car park, North of Camberwell Road. All these options pose significant risks to Club users.

The disabled car parking space in Reserve Road will also be lost, with no suggestion from Council of where this could potentially be relocated.

We would like to hear your views on the matter, so that we can advocate for the Club. You may also like to contact the Mayor, Councillor Sophie Torney via sophie.torney@boroondara.vic.gov.au.

Separately, ‘Council Watch’ was made aware of Boroondara Council’s decision and has created an online petition. If you disagree with Council’s decision, you could sign the online petition they have created, which asks that all community voices are heard, not just those of the Camberwell Primary School community:

STOP Boroondara Council CLOSING RESERVE ROAD FOR GOOD

https://www.councilwatch.com.au/reserverd

As yet, we have not been formally advised by the City of Boroondara of the Council’s decision, and the impending closure of Reserve Road. However, I have attached a document with the wording of the resolution that was passed at the meeting on December 2nd. The document also includes links to the full report and a recording of the meeting.

We will keep you informed of any updates as soon as they come to hand.

Link to the full report here: https://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/media/103416/download?inline

Link to recording of Services Delegated Committee Meeting here:

https://www.youtube.com/live/eDZyRsXYza4?si=K8iPedyaf31CRHyo