“A work in progress”: Community to have its say on Royal Park Master Plan 

City of Melbourne councillors voted in favour of endorsing the draft Royal Park Master Plan for community consultation at their September 10 Future Melbourne Committee (FMC) meeting. 

The Royal Park Master Plan outlines a long-term vision for the park's management and development, proposing a stronger role for the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Traditional Owners and addressing challenges such as population growth and climate change.

Formulated from a discussion paper released in November 2023, which received feedback from around 1900 participants, the draft plan both builds on previous master plans and seeks to create a new, standalone framework for managing the parklands. 

It also emphasises a new approach to enhance collaboration with Traditional Owners.

The plan is structured around six key themes:

• Celebrating Aboriginal culture and furthering self-determination
• Caring for nature
• Recreation and community wellbeing
• Visitor experience
• Movement to and through the park
• Parking, roads and transport

Under each theme, the plan includes specific actions designed to tackle both opportunities and challenges while meeting community expectations.

Submissions made during the FMC meeting highlighted several shortcomings in the proposed plan, particularly regarding lighting around the park.

While the plan outlines a darkness strategy aimed at reducing light pollution while still maintaining safety, Parkville Association president Rob Moore voiced concerns that the lighting issue was inadequately addressed in the draft.

“The report quite honestly was a disappointment,” he said at the FMC meeting.

“We were worried about the lighting. That’s covered to a certain extent, but basically it looks more like we’re trying to create a theme park, not a bushland park.”

Additional concerns from the Parkville Association included the proposed extension of Nature Play up to Gatehouse St, which aims to introduce games for teenagers, as well as the lack of provision for rugby for users such as University of Melbourne teams.

“We are the guardians of the park for future generations, we cannot let short-term pressures and solutions overtake long-term planning and preservation of critical infrastructure, which is the green infrastructure,” Paul Leitinger from the Royal Park Protection Group said at the meeting.

Despite concerns from various stakeholders, outgoing Cr Rohan Leppert, who also expressed his own personal connection to the park, reassured groups that the draft was a work in progress, emphasising the need for additional feedback before it is finalised.

A community engagement period is planned from November 2024 to January 2025. This will feature a survey and interactive elements on Participate Melbourne, workshops with stakeholders, pop-up events in the park, and targeted outreach to children and young people.

An implementation plan detailing the costs and timeline for the master plan will be developed following the draft’s approval. 

The final master plan, incorporating community feedback, will be presented to the FMC for adoption in mid-2025. •