Ultimo garden gets the go ahead

Council has approved a grant to create the first ever community gardens in Ultimo.

The motion was passed at Monday night’s meeting with a unanimous decision to award the $10,000 Local Action Plan grant to the Wattyl Lane Park site.

President of the Ultimo community garden committee, Sue Rhymer, said she was happy to see the project finally receive approval.

“I’d been thinking about a community garden for this area for a long time,” she said.

“This is a really important thing for a lot of local people.

“[Ultimo] is a built up area with a really diverse population. I’ve talked to young and old people and they are all really supportive of the park.”

The approval of the grant marks the culmination of over a year’s effort.

In July 2009, a group of Ultimo residents started a garden group with support from the City of Sydney to research potential sites and develop a concept.

The Ultimo Community Garden Group is now an incorporated association with 15 members, and another 11 residents have indicated they will join on approval of the garden’s location.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore spoke enthusiastically about the gardens.

“I was impressed by the sense of community the garden had created in what had been an unloved and neglected park,” she wrote in her e-news bulletin.

“Many local residents and businesses had contributed to the garden and joined in the celebrations for the official launch.”

Ms Rhymer said she was hoping the gardens could develop into something much more for the local community.

“We are hoping to have a number of things happening there like they do at Randwick like mosaics and murals,” she said.

“I lived in Brisbane for a number of years and we had a garden where people from the community used to gather together and swap cuttings, things like that.

“The community grows up around the gardens. I really missed that in unit.”

Council estimates the community gardens will commence development four months.

By Simon Black