Royal Park is Melbourne’s most significant public park. It serves vital roles in supporting biodiversity, community leisure and social activity as well as holding tremendous heritage value. Yet despite all of its importance to Melbourne’s livability, recent history has demonstrated that it is vulnerable to exploitation from other uses. Commonly this is from politicians with ‘big ideas’ that just need some space to work. They look to Royal Park and see a space not extensively built upon and incorrectly assume that it is underutilised. In fact, Royal Park is a space that is highly utilised, holds incredible value and must be fiercely protected.
Team Hakim is committed to preserving and protecting the park based on three key principles:
Principle 1
No net loss of parkland from any proposed scheme or alteration. Parkland is not the only land use that is valuable to the community. Housing, hospitals and community buildings all serve our society, but we must not allow them to encroach on Royal Park because once they do the change is permanent.
Principle 2
Expand the park when possible. Opportunities to expand the park are likely to be rare, but they should be taken when they arise. Given that the state controls land in the Northwest corner of the park, the council should work with the state to make long-term plans for expansion. This would undo the losses from previous incursions and help provide parkland for a rapidly growing population.
Principle 3
Continue the legacy of the 1984 and 1997 Master Plans. Locals and community members know the park best, while landscape architects have the requisite skills and knowledge to make sure that Royal Park’s natural landscapes are respected and celebrated. If we do not empower our leading landscape practitioners to guide the remainder of the 2025 Master Plan process, we risk a park that is fragmented, inconsistent with community values and of reduced quality. For Royal Park to deliver upon all of its competing demands from the community, excellent design is essential.
What does excellent design for Royal Park look like?
Our next Royal Park Master Plan will connect and respond deeply and consistently with the Aboriginal heritage of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people. It will allow Indigenous biodiversity to thrive whilst also being a treasured and accessible green space for Melbourne’s growing community. The Master Plan design will contemplate our past, present and future and ensure that the Royal Park continues to have its own unique identity. Unless the Council is thinking about Royal Park in the context of an intergenerational timescale, from the ancient past through to the distant future, it will fail to uphold its serious duty of custodianship.
This policy ensures that Royal Park will both endure and thrive, as Melbourne’s most important and treasured public park.
Specific measures
Team Hakim councillors will:
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Complete the Royal Park Master Plan in line with the principles in this policy.
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Enshrine the ‘no net loss of parkland’ rule in the Municipal Planning Strategy and in individual strategic planning decisions.
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Fight off any future plans for any East West Link or any other new transport infrastructure through the park.
- Improve management of car parking through centralised management, realistic price signals and removal of informal overflow areas.
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Recognise the ‘dark park’ principles by resisting any incursion of artificial light at night except where necessary for safety and accessibility, and even then, require that lights be switched off when people are absent.
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Continue the program of renewing dilapidated sports infrastructure, ensuring that any replacement infrastructure is sympathetic to the park's landscape and heritage values.
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Overcome obstacles at the Victorian Government’s Department of Transport and Planning to pursue long-overdue safety improvements, such as a signalised crossing on Poplar Road between Royal Park Station and the Zoo.
- Be available to Royal Park stakeholders.