In 2023, the City of Melbourne introduced a Parking and Kerbside Management Plan that committed to regular reviews of the kerbside parking system based on proactive engagement in local areas and sharing the data that underpins decision-making.

Kerbside space is limited with on-street parking making up just 4% of road land use across the City of Melbourne. In Kensington, there are roughly 5,600 residents who own cars. Kensington’s car per capita is the second highest in the CoM (0.52 cars per person).

To make parking more reliable and available across Kensington, a series of parking improvements works were rolled out across Kensington from November 2024. Find out about the Kensington parking improvement works.

We’ve now returned to hear your feedback on the parking improvement works to gain a better understanding of how all residents, visitors and businesses use on-street parking across Kensington.

A key principle of these parking improvements is that the changes are not 'set and forget'. As part of our commitment to review them each year to make sure they are working well, we checked in with the Kensington community in May 2025.

This check-in process included two online workshop consultations held with external facilitators and online surveys. We also spoke to residents at the Kensington Neighbourhood Centre. Following this check-in, we began further parking improvement works in June 2025.

We will be back in Kensington in 2026 to see how these changes have worked and hear from community again.

This check-in was part of our ongoing engagement with community around parking. We are constantly taking feedback from community members in a range of ways including surveys, workshops, meetings and on site visits. Since engagement began in Kensington in November 2023 up until the end of June 2025, we have heard from:

• Over 110+ people in person.
• Over 12 businesses and groups for direct interviews.
• Over 400+ survey responses via our 'always on' survey.

We are just getting started. You can still have your say on Kensington parking via the 'always on' survey.

Key themes identified within the community check-in have led to immediate actions and further feedback that will form the Kensington Annual Review.

• Epsom road 4P signs will have resident exemptions added.
• Mulgrave Street to be included in current schedule of works.
• Updates to Pick Up/Drop off spaces on Barrett Street and Fink Street.
• Additional quality assurance checks on new line marking in all completed areas.
• Update future communication and engagement including:
  • advertise engagement opportunities in FlemKen news
  • run in-person sessions during the Annual Review.

• Accessible bays monitored with occupancy data informing updates or changes on:
  • Ormond Street
  • Childers Street
  • Parson’s Street
  • Robertson’s Street.
• Need for further resident exempt parking around JJ Holland Park including Ormond Street.
• Parking updates in response to increasing pressures on parking in:
  • High development areas
  • Adjacent to the new Kensington Community Aquatic and Recreation Centre.
• Review of 2-hour time restrictions not meeting needs of visitors, workers and businesses in key locations including:
  • Ormond Street
  • Macauley Road
  • McConnell Street
  • Stubbs Street.

Under the Parking and Kerbside Management Plan we have already committed to the following which address key concerns from Kensington community:

• Develop a Strategic Parking Permit Policy that updates current parking permit framework.
• Refresh and communicate our parking enforcement approach.

Read more about the feedback we heard and engagement process in the Kensington check-in report below.

We won’t set and forget the new conditions.

We will be returning to Kensington in 2026 to see how these changes have worked in our Annual Review.

Over the coming weeks, any immediate actions identified from the Kensington Check-In will begin to rollout with adjustments to some parking controls.

Any further feedback regarding these changes will be incorporated in the next Kensington parking review, which will happen in 2026.

For more information about the general improvements to parking we’ve made in Kensington and changes in your street go to parking improvement works.

You can have your say any time on parking in your neighbourhood by completing the survey.

In 2023, the City of Melbourne introduced the Parking and Kerbside Management Plan that committed to regular reviews of the kerbside parking system based on proactive engagement in local areas and sharing the data that underpins decision-making.

Data was provided, and opinions were sought on the following topics:

• The allocation of space at the kerb between parking and other kerbside uses.
• Short-stay parking. Defined as bays with a stay limit ≤ 3P that support several Arrivals across the day.
• Long-stay parking. Defined as bays with a stay limit ≥4P that support one or two Arrivals per day.
• Off-street parking. Commercial parking facilities open to the public.
• Home-base vehicles including shared kerbside vehicles for zero-car households (car share), private home-base vehicles stored off-street and private home-base vehicles stored at the kerb under the permit system.
• Enforcement of the rules of the parking system.

In Kensington, the cycle of regular reviews began with a round of engagement between February and April 2024.

The engagement process included 2 workshops (attended by over 60 residents), online surveys and interviews with key stakeholders such as sports and recreation groups, developers and State government projects.

We will be back in Kensington in 2025 to see how initial changes have worked and hear from community again.

We heard from residents, workers and businesses across Kensington.

• Residents of Kensington expressed concerns regarding the absence of on-street parking bay markings, and inadequate signage in the neighbourhood, which they perceive as a safety hazard for road users.
• Stakeholders noted the low number of disabled parking bays in Kensington.
• The community expressed concerns about the simultaneous occurrence of numerous construction projects, leading to trades parking for extended durations. This situation hampers access to on-street parking bays.
• Highest number of concerns related to Construction Permit Zones (20 per cent), following by long-term parking (13 per cent), resident priority parking (11 per cent) and safety (10 per cent).
• The community expressed dissatisfaction with the land use in the neighbourhood, residents believe that an excessive amount of public space is allocated to on-street parking, and the high volume of cars in Kensington is not conducive to a vibrant neighbourhood.

The City of Melbourne committed to aligning its engagement and works undertaken in Kensington - with a particular focus on McConnell Street and surrounds - to make it easier for the community to understand proposed and planned works and activity, and how they can have their say.

Examples of what we heard:

• 'I think it is crazy giving up so much public space for the storage of private vehicles. Should be parklets, seating areas, wider footpaths, kerb-separated cycle lanes - anything other than parking!'
• 'Parking by construction workers has been invasive.'
• 'There are to many commuters parking in Bellair Street from the train station right through to Arden Street and in side roads, people are travelling to and parking here because there are no restrictions.'

The consultant report recommendations include:

• Line marking all parking bays, starting in the area around Smith St and Rankins Rd.
• Improve enforcement outcomes through more consistent controls and regular patrols within the neighbourhood. This aims to reduce the number of fines and increase overall compliance.
• Apply consistent time limits in mixed use areas.
• Consider priorities for increase the number of bays. This includes disabled parking, pick-up drop-off (“No Parking”) and the amount of short-term compared with long-term parking.

We are designing changes for Kensington parking which are planned to commence implementation in July-August 2024.

We designed changes for Kensington parking that were rolled out from November 2024.

For more information about the general improvements to parking we made in Kensington, read about our parking improvment works.

You can also learn more about residential parking permits, including permit types and availability.

We won’t set and forget the new conditions. We are committed to regular reviews and engagement with the community.

Feedback from the Kensington check-in will be available in June 2025.

You can have your say any time on parking in your neighbourhood by completing the survey. Survey responses will help us understand what’s important to the community and inform any changes that come from the check-in.