Royal Park master plan needs reviewing

On Saturday, March 22 more than 40 people attended a meeting addressed by Ron Jones who along with the late Brian Stafford co-authored the winning entry in the 1984 Royal Park Master Plan Design competition.

Brian and Ron, supported by a team of sub-contractors, wrote the 1985 Landscape Development Plan.

After Brian’s involvement with the park stopped, Ron worked closely with members of the City of Melbourne’s parks and recreations team and consultants from Chris Dance Land Design to prepare for the updated 1987 master plan.

Ron gave some perspective of the original master plan and what has been missed in the recently proposed update.

Clearly there was no involvement from the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects who in their submission talked about the lack of their involvement and the need for a balanced review of the plan.

Strong discussions took place where all attendees were very upset about the lack of a professional group in the process. All groups and associations there agreed there is an urgent need to have landscape architects involved and will be coming up with a united strategy.

It is sad that groups including the Parkville Association, which is nearly 60 years old, are not heavily involved in the process and effectively speak mainly through their submissions. Neighbours are key and should have been officially part of the process.

On that note to the north, Brunswick West and Carlton North residents use the park constantly given their proximity to it. Short of on-site surveys, how have those park users been advised of the plan?

Other associations, including the Carlton Residents’ Association and North West Melbourne Association together with our key partners being Friends of Royal Park, Royal Park Protection Group and the Protectors of Public Land, have also joined us.

The fight will continue!

The Parkville Association is again pushing traffic and engineering at the council regarding plans for safety in Parkville which were promised for early 2024.

Rat running, speeding and serious vehicle numbers continue and at this stage there is no resolution.

As I stated at VCAT during the hearing on 35-39 Royal Parade, Parkville is a village and we have an amazingly tight community. We deserve more and urgent attention to serious matters.

As this goes to print new traffic surveys are being conducted! The process is finally starting!

Enough for this month as clearly Royal Park is our major focus. We need to preserve the beauty of our city's only “bush park” and as the surveys have shown a place where we enjoy “passive relaxation”.

Got to go now for my daily walk around our special place in Melbourne. •