Miles and Dodds Street Reserve has been highlighted in our Open Space Strategy as a space to investigate expanding in size and upgrading to better cater to the recreational needs of the local area.

By improving the reserve, we can create a safer, greener and more welcoming space for everyone in Southbank to enjoy, while ensuring smooth and efficient movement for bikes, traffic and pedestrians.

At the Future Melbourne Committee meeting on 18 March 2025, Council resolved to deliver a third phase of consultation for this project - giving more people a chance to share their feedback and ensuring that best-practice passive and active safety measures that mitigate anti-social behaviour were included in the draft design.

The third phase of consultation took place from 14 to 28 April 2025.

The broader Southbank community was asked to have their say on the draft design plan for the Miles and Dodds Reserve expansion which was developed based on feedback collected during the first two phases of consultation (which took place in November-December 2023 and July-August 2024).

Feedback was collected via a survey on Participate Melbourne and conversations with key stakeholder groups.

We received 243 submissions, with 45.27% very supportive of the proposal, 9.88% supportive, 4.53% unsure, 7% not supportive, and 33.33% very unsupportive of the proposal.

We also presented to stakeholder groups and had direct conversations with many businesses and owners' corporations in the area.

We heard a range of ideas, reflections, and suggestions to help further understand the community’s view on the proposed reserve expansion.

Examples of what we heard

Key theme 1 – Support for greening

• "Green space is much more valuable than the existing half-road. Our area will be more a pleasant place to live with this new Reserve."
• “Green spaces are important for people living, working and passing by this area as they visit the local Art and music venues. Also for Seniors living in nearby area a park with organised sitting space would benefit in terms of relaxation and recreation.”

Key theme 2 – Improved access to public open space

• “At present the reserve is small and not an inviting place to spend time. Increasing the size of the space, reducing traffic flow and creating a safer space would encourage people to use the reserve.”

Key theme 3 – Concerns about changing the traffic flow on Miles Street from two way to one way

• “I have no issue with updating the park, but I am against losing the road. There are already traffic flow issues and locals use that road to avoid congested areas. I can't see how the updated plan has addressed this.”

The phase three community consultation report and a recommendation with next steps was presented to the Future Melbourne Committee on Tuesday 3 June 2025.

At this meeting, Council resolved to:

• Approve the Miles and Dodds Street Reserve concept plan (refer Attachment 1 of the report from management) to proceed to detailed design and tender documentation.
• Notes that a formal statutory road discontinuance process for the partial discontinuance of Miles Street will be undertaken and referred to Council at a future date.
• Authorises the General Manager Strategy, Planning and Climate Change to make any further minor changes as required to the proposed open space for Miles and Dodds Reserve concept plan prior to completion of detailed design and tender documentation.

We will now proceed to the detailed design stage of the project. Council will commence a statutory process to discontinue part of Miles Street. This will involve public notice and the consideration of submissions as directed by the Local Government Act 1989. An update will be posted to the Miles and Dodds Street Reserve expansion homepage when the public notice is published.

Works to deliver the project are planned to take place in financial year 28/29 as outlined in City of Melbourne’s Draft Budget 2025/26.

City of Melbourne’s Open Space Strategy recommends exploring the expansion and redesign of Miles and Dodds Street Reserve to better serve the community’s current and future needs. As part of this process, we conducted a second phase of consultation to gather community feedback on the proposal.

The community was invited to review a draft concept plan—shaped by key themes from the first phase of engagement—and share their input through in-person pop-up sessions or an online survey on Participate Melbourne.

The second phase of community engagement ran from 8 July to 5 August 2024.

To connect with the community, we hosted two in-park pop-up sessions and shared information through signage, printed materials with QR codes linking to the Participate Melbourne website, and postcards delivered to over 5,000 properties.

Feedback was gathered via an online survey and in-person at pop-up events, ensuring inclusivity for those without internet access.

Throughout the second phase of engagement, we heard from a wide range of community members at the pop-up events in the park, and 113 people shared their feedback via the online survey on Participate Melbourne.

For more detailed information on who we heard from please refer to the community engagement summary report below.

We asked respondents whether they supported the plans to expand and improve Miles and Dodds. Fifty-three per cent of respondents did not support the plans, while 47 per cent did.

Generally, most people are supportive of Council’s strategic ambition relating to parks and city greening, with some positive feedback and enthusiasm received in response to the draft concept plan.

In response to the draft concept plan, we heard:

• A positive response from many local families who live nearby in residential apartments that do not have access to private open space within their properties.
• There is a lack of street lighting, particularly on the east bound section of Miles Street.
• The current network of parks in this neighbourhood is good but could be better.
• Exercise equipment for adults is missing in Southbank and that play opportunities could be better for families.
• People are looking forward to greening of the ACCA forecourt.

Below are some direct quotes from the feedback received in support of the draft concept plan:

• “I like the fact that you are trying to retain as many of the existing large trees as possible.”
• “I think that the propose green space will be a fantastic way to boost mental health, increase traffic to local shops and strengthen a sense of community in the area.”
• “Thanks for improving this park for local residents”

When compared to similar greening projects, an unusually high number of objections and negative feedback was received in response to the proposal and draft concept plan. Many residents and other community members shared frustrations with Council regarding the overall process. The road closure and loss of car parking is a very sensitive topic amongst locals. Some direct quotes from those who do not support the changes proposed in the draft concept plan are listed below.

• “Vital road infrastructure will be removed. Car spaces will be lost. I see no use for a tiny park when there are better options within 5 minutes walking distance”
• “With the council approving more high-rise developments in the area, this will result in increased motorist traffic and with less two-way roads, it will move more traffic to Coventry St. In peak time, it's hard enough getting out of this pocket, and this is going to make it worse.”
• “There are already significant green spaces in our area, namely the Botanical Gardens and Kings Domain only one block away.”
• “It will have a detrimental impact of the community with area for unwelcome lingering and the changes to the streets already limited parking and take way access to the area by changes to street.”
• “Unnecessary. will still “be a tiny space when there are more attractive open spaces elsewhere with better access, light and existing play equipment”.
• “It does not make sense to expand an area that is only used by suspicions adults after dark, it will only attract more of these persons and will reduce privacy, safety and security, not to mention loss of needed parking spots. Resources would be better used to expand Grant st. reserve for example.”
• “To give up a road and car parks including our privacies and safety will not be worth the rocks and logs. And the ugly power station will still be there including a street with car fumes blowing right into us when we sit there.”

On 18 March 2025, the community engagement summary and recommendation not to proceed with the project was presented to Future Melbourne Committee for consideration, and Council resolved to reopen consultation.

As part of City of Melbourne's Open Space Strategy, there was a commitment to investigate the potential to expand the size of Miles and Dodds Street Park. The proposed plan was to create more local open space, improving its design and value to better cater to local recreational use and contribution to urban heat island effect mitigation.

In late 2023, Council invited community feedback on the proposal to expand Miles and Dodds Street Reserve, by discontinuing the east bound section of Miles Street and creating a larger green space for the community.

This first phase of engagement for the proposed expansion of Miles and Dodds Street Reserve ran from 6 November to 17 December 2023.

We collected feedback through:

• two in-person sessions in the park
• an online survey on Participate Melbourne (paper copies were also available during pop up sessions).

We also:

• distributed postcards to surrounding residents and businesses
• installed signs throughout the park with information about the proposal and a QR code linking to the Participate Melbourne survey.

To see a more in-depth breakdown of who we heard from, please see the full engagement summary report.

The engagement findings overall were supportive of the expansion project.

Of the 123 responses:

• 54 per cent supported the proposal
• 33 per cent did not support the proposal
• 11 per cent felt impartial or did not answer.

The feedback has been reviewed and summarised into the below themes.

Mixed views on greening in the area

We heard that participants are generally supportive of more greening in the neighbourhood and see the expansion of Miles and Dodds Street Reserve as a positive contribution to increasing green spaces for residents to enjoy. The benefits of increasing habitat and biodiversity for local wildlife was also frequently mentioned.

We also heard a positive response from many local families who live close by in residential apartments that do not have access to private open space in their properties.

Some respondents unsupportive of the proposal said the area has many parks within walking distance and is already well serviced with green space. Some respondents suggested improvements should be made to Sturt Street Reserve and Grant Street Reserve instead. Some participants said they have access to private open space and amenities within their complex, so they didn’t see a need for additional open space in the area.

Improve usability / access to local park

Participants told us they would visit the park more often if it was expanded and more accessible. Some participants said the space currently feels small and uninviting, and the proposed expansion would provide a new park for locals to enjoy.

Traffic

We heard support for changes to the road layout and parking as this will reduce traffic speeds and the likelihood and frequency of incidents at the intersection. Participants also acknowledged that the park expansion could encourage more local walking and cycling.

Some participants noted the proposed expansion may not address the existing traffic issues.

Local traffic speed, lack of signage, proximity of the park to the road are concerning to most participants who shared feedback about traffic. Multiple participants shared experiences of witnessing traffic incidents at the intersection of Miles and Dodds Street.

Parking

Some participants highlighted concerns about existing issues with the lack of parking in the area. These participants shared that they were not supportive of removing parking form the area because their guests struggle to find parking.

We also heard questions and concerns about:

• The size and amenity of the proposed expansion wouldn’t change the park’s limited usability.
• Potential increase in antisocial activity because of the park expansion.
• The cost of the proposed expansion.

Please see the Engagement Summary Report for a more in-depth breakdown of community feedback and findings.

Overall, most participants supported the proposal.

The outcome of this first phase of community engagement is to proceed with developing a draft concept plan, taking community feedback into consideration, with particular attention to concerns raised and experiences that inform the differing areas of community support.