We want Merri-bek's open spaces to be enjoyed by people from all walks of life. Our open spaces include a lot of different facilities and our strategy will plan for the maintenance, improvement and addition of facilities.

Some examples of open space facilities include:

  • Outdoor fitness equipment
  • Playgrounds
  • BMX / Skate / Mountain bike tracks
  • Dog parks with agility equipment & fenced areas for small dogs & large dogs
  • Informal recreation areas such as running routes and linear corridors
  • Shade, seating, drinking fountains, bins, public toilets & barbecue equipment
  • Public toilets
  • Specific sport facilities, like soccer & football pitches, hockey fields

Discussion points

These are the key discussion points and opportunities we have identified in our discussion paper. Expand the headings to read more.

Whilst we have also heard from our community that we need more open space overall, we have also heard about the need for specific types of open space and a need to improve the quality and maintenance of our existing open space. This includes specific requests for:

  • Dog parks and dog park facilities (i.e. dog agility equipment, separate fenced areas, ‘small dog’ areas and ‘large dog’ areas)
  • Creation or improvement of specific sport facilities (such as a hockey ground, more soccer pitches, and more football fields)
  • Upgraded and additional playgrounds and playgrounds with a different focus
  • BMX / mountain bike / cyclocross facilities
  • Greater informal recreation spaces (such as running routes and linear corridors)
  • Improved safety in our open spaces, including lighting, seating, improved view lines, etc
  • Greater shade, drinking fountains, bins, seating, and BBQ facilities
  • Overall improved maintenance across the entire open space portfolio in Merri-bek.

Councils wants to increase open space usage and access to all persons within Merri-bek. We acknowledge however access to our open space, including specific facilities and locations, needs to be further explored and invested within. We have opportunity to ensure open space is more accessible for all when we create the new open space strategy, such as:

  • Reviewing the condition of sports ground needed for formal sports, and other uses which may reduce the condition of these grounds.
  • Exploring how we can increase access to our sports grounds, such as in the evening when a sports club has an allocation at a sports ground.
  • Exploring how our playgrounds can cater to persons (children, parents, carers) who experience disability. This includes physical barriers that make open space difficult to access for persons with disabilities / mobility impairments including prams, such as: uneven terrain, stairs, lack of accessible parking, paths, and toilets.
  • Explore how facilities in our open spaces can better cater for persons experiencing homelessness.
  • Exploring how our open spaces can better include sensory considerations and provide for persons with sensory disabilities

We also thank the community for many difficult conversations we have had, including when discussing safety and the continuation of devastating events, including events along our Creek corridors. We will continue to explore these with the community and build upon the Merri Merri Wayi work and ways that we can help make our open space safer.

Our open space plays an important role in promoting safety, including when using open space and moving in open space – such as promoting safe transport when integrating cycling corridors with open space. Council has also been working closely with stakeholders when trying to improve safety in our open space. The new Open Space Strategy will explore how we can further progress this work and this Theme.

Key questions