page_title: Solomon Heights
section_title: Biodiversity
hierarchical_section_title: Solomon Heights / Present day / Biodiversity
caption_attribution_description: English: Grasslands towards Melbourne CBD, Solomon Heights (Sunshine North), Victoria AU.
context_page_description: Solomon Heights is a section of Sunshine North, consisting of 32.8 hectares of land located 10 km from the centre of Melbourne. It is bound by Baldwin Avenue, Munro Avenue, Vermont Avenue, and the Sydney–Melbourne rail corridor, in the form of the Albion–Jacana railway line. The area is named after Michael Solomon, one of the first European settlers in Victoria, who had a sheep station in the area in the 1830s. Nearby, Solomon’s Ford, which was once an important crossing over the Maribyrnong River, also bears his name.
  Solomon Heights is significant for its lack of development compared with adjacent suburbs, despite being subdivided into 435 lots during the 1920s. As of 2013, the area lacked sealed roads, drainage and power. Numerous reasons are cited for the lack of development activity in the Solomon Heights area, in particular, its status as a significant local grassland, as well as various infrastructure constraints.
context_section_description: The site includes 14.4 hectares which are considered to be of "state and national significance" due to the presence of several endangered plant species, escarpment scrubland, and a river red gum woodland bioregion. The area is considered one of the most threatened in the state by housing development.
   
  The site contains 75 specimens of the endangered pimelea spinescens, 2% of the remaining population, and is 0.6-0.8% of all remaining basalt plains grassland. The significance of this has resulted in much discourse on the future of the site, such as the suggestion of establishing a Western Grassland Reserve to protect native flora and fauna from inappropriate development.
  
  The City of Brimbank is seeking to preserve and enhance biodiversity with an environmental significance overlay, alongside the introduction of a Natural Heritage Policy in Clause 22.06 of the Brimbank Planning Scheme. However, this lies at odds with separate municipal policy decreeing the location an "important strategic site" with potential for mixed use development. 
  The site is envisioned as an attempt at whole-Council "place based" design, planning and management, with development as a residential or industrial estate with native grassland offset a distinct possibility. Due to the lack of development and isolation, the site is at high risk for vandalism, trail bike riders and illegal dumping, all of which negatively impact the sensitive grasslands - recently, there has been illegal industrial use on the land, potentially damaging fragile native flora.
caption: Grasslands looking towards Melbourne
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