Victoria
Place: Metropolitan Parklands, Melbourne
Threat: Development Pressures
Significance of Place
As a result of the foresight of Melbourne’s early governors and
surveyors, such as La Trobe and Hoddle, extensive parkland was
reserved for public use and now encircles much of the city of
Melbourne and closer inner areas. This provision for open space is
of significant public benefit, and therefore its protection should
be an important consideration in the development of urban
strategies and statutory planning schemes.
Description of Threat
Metropolitan parks, open space and public land is being whittled
away through the building of car-parks, sporting facilities,
housing, and other accretions (such as those at the AMRAD site
adjacent to Burnley College) and the provision of increased
sporting facilities on parks including Yarra Park and Royal Park.
Parklands are also being diminished through the provision of
insufficient funding for the operation and maintenance of these
public places.
Action
Required
Commitment to a parkland strategy
encompassing the retention, maintenance, and development of
metropolitan Melbourne ’s Parklands should be integral to any urban
strategy, and to planning for Melbourne ’s
future.
This parkland strategy should include:
The retention and
upkeep of current parklands, through the restriction of
construction and prevention of excision of any current
parklands
The development of
a program of systematic expansion and creation of new open public
spaces. These new parklands should be designed to link with coastal
and stream reserves to provide opportunities for active and passive
recreation throughout the greater Melbourne area.
The strengthening
of controls on uses within the “Green Wedges” designated under the
State Government’s Melbourne 2030 strategy to stop erosion of
Melbourne ’s green spaces.
Such an integrated
and enhanced parkland network would then encompass and protect
areas of high ecological, recreational and landscape value for
current and future generations of Victorians.
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