timf123

I’ve lived in here for quite a while now and one of the things I loved most about the area is the way it has been planned and designed. With the shops, daycare, school, and train station all within close proximity of one another. It makes it really easy and convenient to drop kids off and catch the train to work or pick something up from Coles and grab the little ones on the way home. The pathways/cycleways are nice and wide, and they weave in and around nature reserves which is very pleasant and will prove to be a huge asset in years to come as the trees grow and nature reserves develop. There are playgrounds and exercise stations positioned along the way and you can cover quite a lot of distance without even going on the road. Great for taking the kids out for a bike ride in a safe environment without worrying about cars on the road.

Although the area has a lot of families with children there hasn’t been enough daycare & school options. For a long time, Manor Lakes College was the only government school in the area and has since become overpopulated and under-resourced. We’ve had a couple of issues with the school not taking some of our concerns seriously and when talking to other parents it seems to be a common theme. In saying that, my kids had a good experience at Manor Lakes College and generally the teachers were fantastic.

There is now a couple of new schools now such as Riverbend Primary, and Ngarri Primary School which will hopefully take the pressure off Manor Lakes College.

I personally wasn’t a victim of any crime and my family felt safe at all times although it’s worth noting that there is hardly any police presence which can either be a good thing or a bad thing. However, I would be concerned if I ever needed the Police, with the nearest station being located in Werribee.

Manor Lakes has a large ethnic community with a large portion of residents being from the Indian migrant community. Personally, I would like to see other ethnic groups better represented so there is more cultural diversity within the community.

Over the last 5 years I have seen the area change a lot, unfortunately not all change is good and the area has now become overrated, overpopulated, overpriced and underserviced.

One of the biggest issues is the road network. Despite fancy promises from the City of Wyndham they still haven’t upgraded many local roads or delivered on many key projects. The congestion around the area is appalling and clearly unable to meet the demands of the residents. The amount of time that it takes to travel within the Wyndham area often detracts us from going out and enjoying all that this wonderful area has to offer. This is not only quality of life issue but a very serious hazard too, can you imagine what would happen in case of a bushfire emergency?

It’s already a nightmare but it will be so much worse in coming years as the City of Wyndham continue to build new housing estates and neglect the needs of its residents by not providing appropriate infrastructure to support them.

Another issue is the severe lack of basic services and amenities. Manor Lakes has very little to offer in this regard and we often need to go to other suburbs to access things we need, or would like to do. Which by itself wouldn’t be an issue if there wasn’t so much congestion but our quality of life these days is decreasing because of how much time we have to spend in the car.

Over the years these are just some of the things we’ve noticed that aren’t easy to access while living in Manor Lakes - a petrol station, post office, pet store, veterinary clinic, mechanic, bunnings, office printing and supplies, sporting facilities, swimming pool, music lessons, language classes, art and craft classes, yoga classes, men’s shed, health related support groups, scouts, indoor play centre, bowling, skatepark, restaurants and pubs, cinema, places of worship etc.

So if all you want to do is stay home or go to the shopping centre then it’s fine, but more often than not you need to drive 20 to 30 mins (or more) in your car just to use these basic services and amenities.

Unfortunately, this will only get worse as the population continues to grow.

Manor Lakes shopping centre is generally pretty good, but is lacking a food court and needs more dining options. Recently, a Kingswim has been built adjacent to the shopping centre, right on the corner of Manor Lakes Blvd. Not only is it a complete eyesore and ruins the entrance to Manor Lakes (which did look really nice as you come in with the signage and waterfall). But even worse is it’s located in an area that is already congested - the carpark wasn’t that big to begin with and has a lot of traffic going in/out from McDonald’s and Sparrow Early Learning Centre. It just hasn’t been planned very well and really should have been located elsewhere so that it re-directed traffic away from the shopping centre and away from the busy intersection on the corner of Ballan Rd and Manor Lakes Blvd.

In my opinion there’s is a bit of unethical marketing and promotion going on within the real estate and immigrant community. These sorts of tactics are artificially inflating the price and explains why the prices in Manor Lakes have risen so much compared to neighbouring suburbs.

In summary, I feel like Manor Lakes has lost a lot of its appeal and am not confident that the infrastructure, services and amenities will catch up with population growth. Due to a lack of planning and investment The City of Wyndham is now going to be playing catch up for the foreseeable future but I won’t be there for the ride – which in true Wyndham fashion will most likely be bumper to bumper on a single lane road and not going anywhere.