He was responding to calls from Moonee Valley Council and the Flemington Association to have the ''concrete creek'' returned to its former glory.

Last week, it was named as one of Melbourne's worst planning decisions by Steve Dunn, president of the Victorian division of the Planning Institute of Australia.

An Ascot Vale resident who regularly rides along the creek, Mr Dunn suggested it was not too late to bring new life to the waterway.

The Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works concreted the Strathmore to Flemington section of the creek in the 1950s and '60s to prevent flooding.

At the time it was considered necessary to allow the creek to cope with an expected massive increase in water run-off created by booming urban development.

Mr O'Neill said better planning controls in recent decades meant such measures were now rarely required, but the issues which forced the concreting of the creek remain.

"The channel was lined in the 1950s to protect against flooding and erosion problems that were regularly threatening property and people - the same pressures remain today because hard urban surfaces like roads and rooves increase run-off.

"An engineered solution would be required to cope with the extreme flows.

"Opportunities to recreate a more natural channel that will carry the immense flows from this urban catchment and withstand the massive stream power are very limited and would be extremely expensive.

"That stretch of the creek is a case of function over form, but that function is critical to protecting people and property from flooding."