Chapel St: Traders group against Stonnington Council’s South Yarra village square plan

Traders and an inner-city council are butting heads over plans to build a village square near a bustling shopping strip.

Traders are unimpressed with plans for a South Yarra village square in a laneway in the Chapel Street precinct. Picture: Stonnington Council.

A traders group on a bustling Melbourne strip has slammed an inner city council’s plan to build a new village square in their area, declaring it a waste of ratepayers’ money.

Stonnington Council has begun consultation for the South Yarra village square, which will be created in the Chapel Street Precinct from Fitzgerald St to Lovers Walk.

It is the third of four squares highlighted in the 2013 Chapel Street masterplan, with two already built near the strip in Prahran and Windsor.

The council has trialled a pop-up parklet in the space during summer with plants, seating and an on-road art mural by local artist James MacSporran.

But Chapel Street Precinct general manager Chrissie Maus said traders were unimpressed with the plans and wanted the council to instead pump more money into cleaning up the area.

Ms Maus said graffiti tags in the precinct had tripled in the past three years and had peaked in the past six months.

She said the association had forked out roughly $10,000 on cleaning initiatives in the precinct which could have been used on marketing and promotion.
“The money would be spent on way more important things for now, such as graffiti and updating infrastructure,” Ms Maus said.

“If you are going to bring people to our iconic precinct, we want to make sure its in the best condition possible.”

“The overall sentiment from CSPA directors is that this should not go ahead and to put the funds towards getting the basic Council services and amenities right.”

The precinct’s chair, Justin O’Donnell, said it was pushing for the council to boost its graffiti cleaning resources and introduce a policy for all fresh tags to be removed within 48 hours.

According to its website, the council wants to make the space “a people-first zone where restaurant dining will spill out onto the footpath, and lots of greenery, lighting and modern furnishings will be bring the area alive”.

It planned to spend $1.75m on streetscape improvements in the Chapel Street Precinct in its 2020-21 budget, including Fitzgerald, Chapel and King streets.

The council did not respond to questions by deadline.