At last!
After eight years of speculation and difficulty, Council has made good on its 2013 pledge – established by a Greens motion – to purchase the first available land in Macaulay suitable to be converted to a public park.
The Age covered the Council’s policy position back in 2013:
Council has now purchased 70-90 Chelmsford Street, Kensington.
This purchase unlocks new parkland for a growing population in the Macaulay precinct.
Macaulay is forecast to increase to 10,000 residents by 2050, and we know that open space is critical to the success of any urban renewal and the health of our community.
The 3,648m2 site abuts the Moonee Ponds Creek corridor, which will improve future opportunities for recreation, biodiversity and flood mitigation.
New open space in Macaulay a fiendishly difficult thing to come by – we are delighted that we have been able to secure this site, and make good on the years-long campaign to acquire sites for this purpose.
More open space in Macaulay, which straddles Kensington and North Melbourne, will be delivered through open space contributions when industrial sites are converted to residential sites (on large sites especially on the eastern side of the creek this should create a series of local parks); future bitumen-to-park projects including potentially in the vicinity of Alfred St by the Boundary Rd Reserve; and potential additional strategic site acquisitions.
Whether it’s turning over bitumen to parkland (like the Greens-initiated Kensington Station park delivered in 2016), or acquiring property, Greens on Council means new inner city public parks for our current and future populations.
The Council’s media release on the Chelmsford St acquisition is here.