Victoria

Place:   Metropolitan Parklands, Melbourne

Threat: Development Pressures

M

ETROPOLITAN PARKLANDS, VIC

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.