City Rd space needs more work

By Sean Car

Southbank Police Station commander Snr Sgt Alex O’Toole has said a lot more work needs to be done by the City of Melbourne on its plan to transform the Kings Way under croft into a new community space.

A vision of the council’s 2016 City Road Masterplan, the unused space currently housing a redundant cab rank is set to be turned into new space for the community with basketball courts and other recreational facilities under the plans.

But following a briefing with Southbank Police and Crown Casino on December 8, Snr Sgt O’Toole told Southbank News that both police and Crown would require a number of safety issues to be addressed before giving their support.

“It’s about the security of the people using the space,” she said. “There are some complexities with it.”

“From a policing perspective, opening it up to people doesn’t always help. Offences occur in busy areas as well.”

“Crown were very much of the same opinion. The City of Melbourne will have to put some measures in place around adequate lighting, CCTV and security to make sure it doesn’t become an attractive place for people to commit offences.”

Progress on the City Road Masterplan has been delayed for nearly three years, with the only action carried out to date being a new pedestrian crossing at Alexandra Avenue between Princes Bridge and Linlithgow Avenue.

Plans for the undercroft area also including a new dog park on Moray St, and an upgraded park on the corner of Queensbridge St and City Rd, and a number of stakeholders, including Yarra Trams and the Department of Transport, are affected by the project.

“Southbank is devoid of a lot of open space so I can definitely see the merit in it,” Snr Sgt O’Toole said. “They [the council] need to do a lot more consultation but I can’t see this happening for another two years.” •