21 June 2014

The Council has endorsed a Greens proposal for a new park in Kensington at the Rankins Rd / Eastwood Street intersection, adding 850 square metres of green space for community use abutting Kensington station.

Kensington park

The process began with a motion from Greens Cr Rohan Leppert in September last year, put to Council due to overwhelming feedback from community submissions on Arden Macaulay planning scheme amendment C190 calling for new parks to cater for current and future populations. Council officers will now move into the detailed planning stage and begin the statutory process of discontinuing some sections of Eastwood St and Rankins Rd.

Whilst most in the community showed support for the project when the concept plans were released for public feedback, residents in the immediate vicinity of the existing roundabout at the intersection of Eastwood and Rankins maintained a clear and understandable concern about the changes to traffic flows and parking in particular.

The revised plans approved by Council, in responding to concerns, proposed angle parking on Eastwood St to ensure no net loss of parking, and a permanent no right turn ban from Macaulay Rd into Rankins Rd to further reduce traffic flows. (See the full plans and explanation of traffic and other changes in the 10 June report to Council here.)

Cr Leppert added to the officer recommendation by requiring ongoing traffic surveys before, during and after construction, to ensure that data is at hand to support further traffic calming measures in future.

Construction on the park is expected to begin in 2015, and will deliver on the Greens’ policy to convert bitumen to parkland for community use where safe and efficient to do so.