The playground at Holland Park is the major public playground for Kensington. It is well used by the local community, as well as people visiting Holland Park. The play existing playground is due for renewal as it is an important community resource and there are an increasing number of families in the area. There are opportunities to increase and diversify play in this space.

The play space will complement, not duplicate, the different experiences that are available at the supervised Kensington Adventure Playground at the Venny.

The feedback from this phase of consultation will inform the final plan. The next steps are for the plans to be documented for construction. Following a tendering process the play space will be built. We anticipate this could commence in August 2019, subject to the budget allocation.

As this is a relatively large project and there will be a great deal of work required to prepare the site, the construction phase will take approximately 6 months.

Council officers will be available to speak to people about the project, and to gather information to help with the development of the concept plan. They will be at the playground on:

• Thursday 14 March 2019, 9:00-10:30am
• Tuesday 19 March 2019, 3:00-4:30pm

Off leash dogs are not allowed in the play space at Holland Park. Off leash dogs are prohibited in all playgrounds in the municipality.

In the municipality, where dogs are not prohibited, dogs must be on leash in a public place.

Dogs are only allowed off leash in areas designated for that activity and must be under voice control. There are a number of off leash locations in the city of Melbourne, listed here: https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/residents/pets/pa...

The designated off leash area in JJ Holland Park is adjacent to the play space. Dogs must remain on leash whilst walking on the pathways to the off leash areas.

A number of people have raised concern at dogs entering the play space off leash. While many children and adults appreciate dogs, there are also a number of adults and children who are frightened by dogs in general, whether they are slowly or rapidly approaching them.

The design team have responded to better inform dog owners of the play area boundary (dog prohibited area) and discourage dogs from entering the space. The play space design uses a combination of planting, bollards and climbing poles to form a visual edge to the boundary. This clearly defined space will discourage dogs from running directly into the site, and will make it easier for dog owners to maintain sight of their dog and monitor behaviour at the edge of the playground. The design will also include ‘dog tie-up’ spaces to allow them to be safe and secure on the edges of the play space.

Provision of accessible and family friendly public toilets are an important amenity to provide at any large park.

There is currently one public toilet adjacent to the Altona street entry to the play space at Holland Park.

A number of families have requested that the toilets be upgraded to be more accessible and provide a change table.

The request to upgrade the toilets has been submitted to seek future funding.

It can be assumed that most open spaces in the City of Melbourne are likely to have some level of soil contamination due to various industrial uses from the past.

Given JJ Holland Park’s history as a tip prior to the 1950s, park redevelopments since then have been managed to limit exposure to hazardous soil in the interests of public health.

An Environmental Site Investigation and Site Contamination Management Plan has been prepared for the JJ Holland Park Play Space site, and identifies existing capping layers that create a separation from contaminated soils. The Management Plan outlines design and construction methods that City of Melbourne and its contractors will follow, as well as all necessary regulatory and safety requirements.