title: 3-4 Lindsay Court Strathfieldsaye Surplus Open Space Decision council: greater-bendigo state: vic category: strategy classification: MAJOR status: approved last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:
- agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf
- agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf
3-4 Lindsay Court Strathfieldsaye Surplus Open Space Decision
The Lindsay Court decision is a small-site open space disposal decision with broader significance because Council treated localised public open space retention as subordinate to municipal-scale open space equity, asset consolidation and the Greater Bendigo Public Space Plan 2019. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.118) The site was declared surplus on 17 November 2025 by a 5-4 Council vote, after two consultation rounds in which the majority of respondents opposed surplus classification. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf, p.29; Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.135)
Background
3-4 Lindsay Court, Strathfieldsaye is identified in the officer report as Reserve 1 on Plan of Subdivision 604606V, certificate of title volume 11024 folio 688, with an approximate area of 4,303 square metres and a General Residential zoning. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.117) The site was one of nine properties investigated in the surplus land report considered at the 17 November 2025 Council meeting. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.117)
The immediate procedural history began before the 2025 surplus land package because Council had already considered Lindsay Court on 27 May 2024. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.116) On that date Council resolved to retain 3-4 Lindsay Court so officers could undertake further investigations into future needs, constraints and opportunities, with a future report to return to Council. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.116) Officers reported in November 2025 that those investigations had been undertaken, but that the time elapsed since the first consultation round required a further round of engagement. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.135)
Council’s surplus land framework is tied to asset management and long-term financial planning rather than only to individual parcel use. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.115) The officer report states that the City manages an asset portfolio valued above $3 billion and that growing maintenance and renewal costs require regular review of landholdings against use, accessibility, ongoing cost, proximity to comparable assets, alternative service provision and equity of asset distribution. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.115)
Analysis
Decision Mechanism: Surplus Classification Before Disposal
The Council decision did not itself complete a sale; it declared 3-4 Lindsay Court surplus to the City’s needs and then authorised the CEO to undertake land assessment, preparation and disposal processes for properties declared surplus. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf, pp.29-30) This distinction matters because the surplus classification is the policy threshold, while valuation, preparation, statutory requirements, easement or transport matters, and transaction steps sit downstream. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.116-119)
The statutory pathway cited by officers is section 114 of the Local Government Act 2020, which the report says requires a community engagement process, at least four weeks notice of Council’s intention, and an up-to-date valuation under the Valuation of Land Act 1960. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.116) Officers also cited the Local Government Best Practice Guideline for the Sale, Exchange and Transfer of Land, the City’s Asset and Surplus Land Disposal Policy 2017, Community Asset Policy 2024 and Public Space Contributions Policy 2024 as guiding documents. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.116)
For public open space, the financial pathway is narrower than for ordinary land. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.116) Officers stated that section 20 of the Subdivision Act 1988 allows Council to sell public spaces if the funds are used for improvements to existing public space or acquisition of new public space. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.116) For Lindsay Court specifically, the report identifies it as one of the former or current public open space sites whose sale proceeds would be deposited in the Public Space Reserve rather than the Land and Buildings Reserve. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.119)
Open Space Equity Logic
The officer rationale turns on a network-based view of open space rather than a street-by-street entitlement model. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.118) The report states that the Greater Bendigo Public Space Plan 2019 identified inequity in public space provision across the municipality and that proceeds from sites such as Lindsay Court would support new public space or improvements where an identified need exists. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.118)
For Lindsay Court, the proximity analysis was central. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.135) Officers identified Clydebank Court Playspace at 150 metres, Elsworth Drive Reserve at 430 metres, the Emu Creek Corridor at 480 metres and Park Village Terrace Reserve at 720 metres from the site. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.135) The officer response concluded that there was no strategic rationale to invest in Lindsay Court as public space because of nearby public open space and playspaces, especially Clydebank Court. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.136)
The meeting minutes add the broader supply metric used in the public response: Strathfieldsaye was described as having 293 hectares of open space per 1,000 people, which Council officers said was the second highest ratio in the municipality. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf, pp.8-9) The agenda attachment also states that Greater Bendigo has 23.4 per cent of the municipality as public space and 82.4 hectares of City-owned or managed public space per 1,000 residents. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.121-122)
The planning implication is that Lindsay Court was assessed as surplus because officers weighted municipal and suburb-level provision, walking proximity to alternative reserves, and strategic priority over the presence of local use. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.135-138) That approach creates a clear mechanism: a local reserve can be actively valued by nearby residents and still be considered non-strategic if alternative open space exists nearby and the public space plan gives higher priority to other parts of the municipality. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.118, 136)
Community Contestation
The consultation record shows sustained opposition from nearby and interested community members. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.135) During the early 2024 consultation period, Council received 63 survey responses, a petition with 70 signatures and nine written submissions, with the majority not supporting identification of the site as surplus. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.135) During the August-September 2025 consultation period, Council received 44 survey responses, with all but one opposed to surplus classification, plus eight proforma submissions and three email submissions. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.135)
The objections were not only about open space quantity. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.136-138) Submitters raised claims about a lack of consultation, the public open space designation, alleged section 173 obligations, current use by children and dog walkers, traffic and parking, narrow road reserves, Masked Lapwing nesting, heat, stormwater runoff, emergency use, lot sizes, land values, fear of crime and overcrowding. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.136-138)
Officers rejected or deferred several objections through a planning process lens. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.136-138) They stated that the land had always been zoned General Residential and was not rezoned in 2019, distinguishing planning zoning from public open space designation on the City’s Pozi mapping system. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.136) They also stated that the section 173 agreements had sunset clauses triggered by future subdivision and transfer of the reserve parcel to the City, making the agreements functionally redundant even though they remained on title. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.136)
Some effects were left to later permit-stage assessment rather than resolved at surplus classification stage. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.137-138) Officers stated that traffic, parking, drainage, vegetation, landscaping and development context would be considered in any future planning application or redevelopment process. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.137-138) This means the surplus decision transferred several site-impact questions from the public land retention decision into a future development assessment pathway. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.137-138)
Alternative Community and Housing Uses
The consultation material records two alternative use proposals that did not displace the surplus recommendation. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.138-139) The Lions Club of Strathfieldsaye wrote to the City indicating interest in assisting with development of the site as a low-cost and low-maintenance park, but officers stated the site was not a strategic priority and the City had no funding to invest further in the reserve. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.138) Kids Under Cover submitted that the City should retain the property and offer it for affordable housing, but officers maintained that better located sites could be used and did not recommend Lindsay Court as suitable for that purpose. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.138-139)
Those responses show that the officer assessment was not simply park versus housing. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.136-139) The site was rejected as a strategic open space investment location, and also not preferred as an affordable housing project location. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.136-139) The mechanism was therefore asset disposal with hypothecated open space proceeds, rather than direct conversion into a named community or housing project. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.119)
Council Vote and Governance Signal
The Council vote shows that Lindsay Court was more contested than several other surplus properties in the same report. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf, pp.23-30) The Lindsay Court motion carried 5-4, with Councillors Abhishek Awasthi, Owen Cosgriff, Karen Corr, Andrea Metcalf and Thomas Prince voting for, and Councillors Shivali Chatley, Damien Hurrell, John McIlrath and Aaron Spong voting against. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf, p.29)
The minutes also show that other public space disposal motions were not uniformly carried. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf, pp.24, 27-28) The motion to declare 6 The Strand, Kennington surplus was lost 4-5, and the motion to declare 3 Lona Close, Spring Gully surplus was lost 1-8. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf, pp.24, 27-28) That pattern indicates that Council did not adopt a blanket position on all public open space reserves and that Lindsay Court passed on site-specific reasoning despite substantial opposition. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf, pp.24, 27-29)
Current Status
As of 17 November 2025, Council has declared 3-4 Lindsay Court, Strathfieldsaye surplus to the City’s needs. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf, p.29) Council also authorised the CEO to undertake land assessment, preparation and disposal processes for properties declared surplus and required quarterly updates to Council on those parcels. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf, p.30) Any proceeds from sale of Lindsay Court are to be deposited into the Public Space Reserve in line with relevant policies. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.119)
Dependencies
- Blocks: The surplus classification blocks continued treatment of Lindsay Court as a strategic public open space investment priority, because officers concluded there was no strategic rationale to invest in the site given nearby open space and the Greater Bendigo Public Space Plan 2019. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.136)
- Blocked by: Actual disposal remains dependent on land assessment, preparation and disposal processes, including any site-specific matters such as valuation, possible transport land requirements, easements or later planning permit requirements. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.116-119; Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf, p.30)
- Informed by: The decision was informed by the Greater Bendigo Public Space Plan 2019, Long Term Financial Plan 2025-2035, Asset Plan 2022-2032, internal business unit feedback and two Lindsay Court consultation rounds. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.116, 119-120, 135)
- Implements: The report frames the decision as implementing asset consolidation, public space equity and responsible financial management objectives under the City of Greater Bendigo Council Plan Mir wimbul 2021-2025. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.120)
- Conflicts with: The decision conflicts with local community expectations that the land remain public open space, including claims that nearby residents had known the site as public open space for 16 years and expected it to be improved. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf, pp.7-8)
Cross-Jurisdictional Links
No cross-jurisdictional dependency is evident from the two source documents. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf; Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf) The relevant institutional links are municipal and statutory: the Local Government Act 2020, Subdivision Act 1988, Valuation of Land Act 1960, Departmental land-sale guideline, Council asset policies and Council public space policies. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.116)
Gaps in This Analysis
This page relies only on the 17 November 2025 agenda and minutes because those are the only source documents in the compile manifest. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf; Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-minutes-nov-17-2025.pdf) The primary Greater Bendigo Public Space Plan 2019 is cited by the agenda but is not included as a source document, so this page cannot independently test the plan’s surplus-site methodology, service-distance standards, quality scoring or priority rankings. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.118, 120, 136)
The actual 2024 and 2025 consultation submissions, petition text, survey instrument and raw survey results are not included, so the analysis can quantify response volumes but cannot independently classify submitter geography, issue frequency or whether objections changed between the first and second consultation rounds. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.135) The section 173 agreements and title documents are not included, so the conclusion that the agreements are functionally redundant is reported as the officer position rather than independently verified. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, p.136) No valuation, disposal-preparation report, traffic assessment, drainage assessment, arboricultural assessment or future permit application is included, so the likely physical form and site-impact consequences of any future redevelopment cannot be assessed beyond the officer statements in the agenda. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-november-17-2025.pdf, pp.137-138)