One of the top three priorities identified from the consultation on improving the local parks and streets included:

“Use road space and some parking to allow for more greening and open space (with a focus on prioritising the remaining parking for resident permit parking).”

In order to create new public open space, we will need to remove some parking and reconfigure some existing parking. An overall reduction of approximately 28 car spaces is proposed. The pocket park project aims to maintain sufficient resident priority parking for local residents.

Separate to the Bedford Street Pocket Park project, data is currently being collected for analysis on resident permit parking activity within the North Melbourne resident parking permit area.

All the land proposed to create the new parkland is designated for the purpose of road. This includes the existing two parks known as Bedford Street and Courtney Street reserves.

To protect the existing reserves, and also allow for the creation of the new proposed open space identified in the draft concept plan, we are commencing a public notice process to discontinue the portions of road that are existing or proposed to become public parkland. If successful, the discontinued portions of road will then be reserved for the purpose of public park which will then match the existing and proposed new areas of open space that are identified in the draft concept plan.

The proposed road discontinuances to create the Bedford Street Pocket Park include removing a section of Courtney Street, at its eastern end. Previous traffic studies have identified that this small one-way section of Courtney Street, where south-east bound traffic can only turn left onto Peel Street, has very low traffic volumes.

Access to the private laneway between 182 Capel Street and 4 Courtney Street will still be maintained from Courtney Street, and traffic will still be able to turn left into Peel Street via Queensberry Street.

Closing this small section of road and repurposing it to create additional public parkland will benefit the community and improve the amenity of the local area.

Re-designating the road portions to park will also allow Bedford Street Pocket Park to be rezoned appropriately under the Melbourne Planning Scheme.

We are seeking feedback on the draft concept plan to determine if we have accurately captured the feedback received through the first phase of community consultation. The online survey on the draft concept plan is designed to capture this feedback so that we can finalise the concept plan.

The public notification process for the proposed road discontinuances is a formal (statutory) process that provides an opportunity for the community to respond to proposed changes to roads, including changes to traffic flow such as the proposed partial closure of Courtney Street at its eastern end.

Although separate, these two processes will enable us to capture a wide range of community feedback and inform the next steps for the Bedford Street Pocket Park project.

Previous traffic studies have identified that this small one-way section of Courtney Street, where south-east bound traffic can only turn left onto Peel Street, has very low traffic volumes.

Closing this small section of road and repurposing it to create additional public parkland will benefit the community and improve the amenity of the local area.

Access to the private laneway between 182 Capel Street and 4 Courtney Street will still be maintained from Courtney Street, and traffic will still be able to turn left into Peel Street via Queensberry Street.

Community feedback received though the first phase of community engagement suggested a number of ideas to improve the function and use of open space. This included providing more trees and greenery, larger and more useable parkland, and encouraging more people and activity. Specific feedback on recreation opportunities was also received, which included a BBQ, seating and picnic benches, casual games area and play opportunities.

This area of North Melbourne is identified as being poorly serviced for play needs.

The combination of community feedback and need for play opportunities informed the inclusion of a playground and recreation opportunities in the draft concept plan.

Design, site constraints, amenity, accessibility and other considerations informed the proposed locations for these play and recreation opportunities.