Council to have another go at expanded Miles St park proposal

The City of Melbourne will revise its designs as well as its approach to community consultation for a proposal to expand the Miles and Dodds Reserve in Southbank after receiving a disappointing response to its first effort.

Councillors unanimously voted in favour of an amended motion at the March 18 Future Melbourne Committee meeting calling on the council’s management to go back to the drawing board, despite a recommendation not to proceed with the expansion.

That recommendation came off the back of a mere 113 responses to its original draft concept plans, of which 53 per cent did not support the proposal that would see the northern side of Miles St closed between Wells and Dodds streets.

While the council said it took an “extremely localised” approach to community consultation, only around three per cent of the roughly 3000 people living in close proximity to the park responded to its plans.

The report from management stated that due to “the low response rate and generally negative sentiment towards the proposal from community engagement participants” it recommended not proceeding with the proposal “at this time”.

However, both of Southbank’s major community groups – Southbank Residents’ Association (SRA) and Southbank3006 – raised concerns over the council’s approach to consultation and design.

SRA president Tony Penna said it was “bewildering” that the council had suggested discontinuing the project because “a mere 60 people objected, albeit a small majority”.

“We are particularly concerned with the process council adopted for the consultation, which, in our opinion, was poorly planned and/or executed, as demonstrated by the poor response rate,” Mr Penna said.

In particular, for past open space projects, the officers would specifically engage SRA for guidance, suggestions and advice on the best way to engage the community. Apart from being advised the project was on Participate Melbourne, no such effort was made from officers to reach out to SRA.

Of those who did respond in opposition to the plans, safety and loss of car parking along Miles St were among the main concerns raised.

Southbank3006 president David Hamilton said while the council was to be commended for “recognising these concerns”, it should first consider modifying the design to take back to the residents.

Mr Penna agreed, saying the council employs “some of the best urban designers” and urged it to “go back to the drawing board and redesign the space to address areas of concern in search of a win-win”.

In response to the issues raised by both groups at the meeting, the council’s environment portfolio lead Cr Davydd Griffiths moved an alternative motion calling on management to revisit the proposal.

The motion sought “further advice and guidance … on incorporating best-practice passive and active safety measures that effectively mitigate anti-social behaviour in the draft design.”

The proposed design of the first concept for an expanded Miles and Dodds Street Reserve. Image: City of Melbourne. 

It also requested that management engage in further consultation with the community, “ensuring the consultation process is expanded to include all community and business associations”.

“Councillors will be familiar with the passion that open space in Southbank generates,” Cr Griffiths said, adding that it was “one of the hottest topics” during the recent council elections.

“The responsibility that we have as a council for meeting that is one of the priorities we need to have as a council,” Cr Griffiths said.

Lord Mayor Nick Reece, who seconded the revised motion, said the council boasted the world’s best urban designers and that he was confident concerns could be addressed in a revised proposal.

He also implored the council’s management to take a renewed focus to achieving a more comprehensive community engagement process.

Despite the alternative motion being passed unanimously, Cr Phil Le Liu said he was troubled by the idea of ignoring the will of the majority in search of trying to establish “a different outcome”, likening it to “the definition of insanity”.

Cr Le Liu urged councillors to accept whatever the outcome of the next round of consultation was, however both Cr Griffiths and Cr Ball said it was important to “keep an open mind”.

The council is expected to bring the results of the further consultation and new draft design back before the Future Melbourne Committee meeting on June 3 for a decision. •