This was published 6 months ago
Lawn disorder: Collingwood locals lash council on pocket park backflip
By Najma Sambul
Collingwood residents are fighting to save Melbourne’s most maligned children’s playground, accusing Yarra city councillors of caving in and sacrificing their scarce new patch of lawn over a media-driven public pile-on.
The City of Yarra was met with community backlash in October after it unveiled a $2 million green open space and park in Cambridge Street, Collingwood, that featured a single swing and metal bars for a children’s playground.
Lucy Nicholas is urging Yarra City Council to leave Collingwood’s controversial pocket park alone.Credit: Penny Stephens
Thousands of people signed a petition calling on the council to reinstate suitable play equipment at the park.
The previous design was a traditional, brightly coloured playground with a climbing structure, slides and separate swings.
Now the council has resolved to expand the children’s playground and reintroduce “more traditional play opportunities”. It has told residents it is considering removing the existing pull-up and turnover bars and installing a four-way rocker and mini-trampoline beside the existing swing.
The changes would involve removing up to 7 per cent of the existing grass area.
Collingwood resident Lucy Nicholas, whose home faces the park, said she didn’t want to see more green space taken away for play equipment after most residents signed off on the original design.
Nicholas is now one of more than 100 residents who have signed a petition calling on Yarra City Council to preserve the Cambridge Street Reserve.
She said the issue is being politicised by residents who do not live in the suburb.
“I feel like it’s a proxy war riding on the coattails of the anti-sobering-up and anti-injection centre debate. It feels like an attack on Greens and Socialist councillors rather than being on the park,” Nicholas said.
“They’ve [Yarra City Council] given in to a vocal and minority group who live outside of Yarra and are using fairly cheap and emotive attacking language. We feel a bit shocked by the response.
“This isn’t a pro- or anti-children issue, it’s much more a practical question and a balancing act and there is already OK play equipment.”
The Cambridge Street Reserve will be redesigned with more play equipment in response to a severe public backlash.Credit: Penny Stephens
Nicholas said Collingwood needs more green space, and the current consultation process seeking revisions to the Cambridge Street Reserve did not adequately reflect the views of the majority of residents living near the park.
According to Yarra City Council, Collingwood has the least open space of all the municipality’s suburbs, with just three square metres of open space for every square kilometre of land.
The counter-petition states that the current consultation is “undemocratic” because it does not specifically ask residents living close to the park about their views, and has four options for additional play equipment – but no option for the status quo.
“Given council is re-consulting, we propose equal options that cater to all members of our community, such as a dog area or other communal use spaces,” the petition reads.
The petition also pointed to the original consultation by the City of Yarra, which included two rounds of consultation “and policy analysis based on the unique demographics of the area”, where “only 2 per cent of residents in the 200-metre park range” are aged four and under.
Nicholas said discussion of the issue lacked consideration for the diversity of nearby residents. She also said there were seven playgrounds within a kilometre of the reserve.
“When this issue is framed as anti-children, it’s leveraging a heteronormative perspective that people with children are more valid families and more entitled to public space. For me, that has been an unpleasant aspect as a queer person,” she said.
Earlier this month, Yarra Council Mayor Edward Crossland said creating more open space for the community was a priority for council.
“We are proud to have responded to our community’s needs with the expansion and upgrade of Cambridge Street Reserve in Collingwood. However, we understand things can change and are open to considering community needs as they emerge,” he said.
“We encourage everyone in the local community to have their say and contribute to the engagement process so that we can make sure Cambridge Street Reserve meets the needs of the community.”
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