Former councillor John O'Brien, who was on the original committee for the gardens when the idea was first mooted in the 1970s, made the plea at a budget submission hearing on Monday night.

Mr O'Brien said the council had not spent any money on upgrades to the site since chipping in $20,000 in 2016, and called on councillors to include at least another $20,000 in this year's 2020/21 budget.

Although he said he would prefer they set aside $50,000 for works.

"There's no sign exists at the moment pointing to the Japanese Garden. I suspect it doesn't appear on any of the maps of Warrnambool," he said.

"My first priority would be to make proper access from Grieve Street."

He suggested not much money would need to be spent to improve a path between the quarry and Wannon Water to make it easier to get to.

Mr O'Brien also asked the council to consider hooking up water and power, probably solar, to the site. "Typically Japanese Gardens have a water feature and a lantern," he said.

"It needs to be brought up to a standard where Warrnambool can be proud of it and worth promoting as a place to visit."

Mr O'Brien said the original plans for the site were 10 times the size of what it was now, and would have covered what is now the community garden and quarry.

He said Japan had gifted Warrnambool a "substantial" amount of money to build a garden to honour the friendship with its sister city Miura.

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Call to add water feature to gardens

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