Lord mayor candidate says he will axe ‘flawed’ green walking trail

A years-long plan to build a $316 million green walking track through Melbourne’s CBD would be axed under a City of Melbourne led by Arron Wood, who said he would redirect some of the funds towards new parks and gardens if he was elected.

The Lord Mayor candidate said on Sunday that the Greenline trail – a passion project of former lord mayor Sally Capp – was flawed, costly and poorly managed.

An artist’s impression of how the Greenline might look near Flinders Street Station.

The four-kilometre linear park, which is modelled on New York tourism drawcard the High Line, has been plagued with funding uncertainty.

The council’s May budget revealed that the project had no funding for its delivery over the next four years beyond the Birrarung Marr precinct, which is currently under construction.

Wood said the project had consumed valuable council resources and was unfunded by state and federal governments.

“We’ve got a massive project in a cost-of-living crisis where its matching funding has not been realised,” he said.

He said he would redirect $19 million of funding allocated for the project towards the completion and creation of 21 new parks, gardens and greening projects across Melbourne.

These include expanding Buncle Street Reserve in North Melbourne, streetscape greening along City Road and completing a chain of local parks on the southern side of Southbank Boulevard.

Wood and his running mate Erin Deering committed to delivering the already contracted Birrarung Marr component of the Greenline, as well as the Seafarers Rest Park, which is located near the Mission to Seafarers heritage building. They anticipate that completing these works will cost a further $20 million.

Councillors will consider the most recent Greenline project quarterly report at the council meeting on Tuesday. A public paper released online said the project had cost $23.1 million to date. The federal government has pledged $20 million to the project.

Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece defended council’s signature project, saying it would unlock the north bank of the Yarra River in the same way the Southbank Promenade had done 30 years ago. This, he said, would double the capacity of the river to deliver enjoyment for Melburnians.

He said three components of the project were already underway in partnership with the private sector. The project was adjusted from a four to 10-year project in May’s council budget.

“It is budgeted for, it can be delivered,” Reece said on Sunday, while pledging to roll out a $29 million cost-of-living package that involves freezing rates for residents and businesses for a year if he is elected to the top job in October.

A spokesman for Reece’s campaign said 17 out of the 21 parks announced by Wood were already under construction or committed to by the City of Melbourne.

“Perhaps if he hadn’t left Melbourne a few years ago to live in the countryside, he would know this,“ the spokesman said.

But Committee for Melbourne chief executive Scott Veenker said the project was not a priority for businesses in the current economic climate.

“It comes with significant cost and little benefit,” he said. “Businesses in the CBD need support to recover.”

A business case report by consultancy firm Ernst & Young found the development would return $740 million in economic and community benefit to Victoria over the next two decades.

The latest version of the Greenline has been scaled back. A proposed swimming pool along the edge of the Yarra has been axed and what was envisaged as a 10-kilometre trail linking Royal Park with Port Philip Bay through North Melbourne, Docklands, the CBD and Southbank Boulevard has been reduced to just four kilometres.

Yarra River Business Association president Jeremy Vincent criticised Wood’s proposal, saying six years of planning and investment had already gone into the project.

“The shortfall in funding may mean that it now may need to be a 20-year timeframe, but its ability to connect the CBD to the river is city-shaping and it will truly turn Melbourne into a river city.”

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