Royal Park is the largest park in the City of Melbourne, covering 169 hectares of Crown land. It is highly valued and well utilised. On peak days the shared paths, Nature Play play space and the Grassland Circle can get thousands of visitors. There are also around 4500 members of sporting clubs playing on fields and courts within the park.

Over the years we have seen visitation to Royal Park increase as Melbourne’s population continues to grow. We have also seen community needs changing, as more people seek out a variety of spaces in Royal Park to be active and connected.

Like many open spaces, Royal Park is also under increasing pressure from climate change, which can impact on the usability and capacity of the park and the health of the landscape if not carefully managed

It is important for us to ensure we continue to provide safe and accessible spaces within Royal Park for everyone in the community.

The master plan will review and update the 1997 Royal Park Master Plan, continuing with the aspects that have proved successful and enduring, updating others and introducing new themes to reflect current day practice and values, particularly relating to Aboriginal culture and knowledge, the climate and biodiversity emergency and a health and wellbeing crisis.

This master plan will guide our planning and management of the part for the next 20 years.

The revised Master Plan will be developed in line with relevant legislation and our pre-existing commitments for Royal Park, including:

• Acknowledgement and celebration of Aboriginal history, culture and knowledge, and protection of sites of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage.
• Protection of the cultural heritage significance of Royal Park as a whole and the individually listed elements on the Victorian Heritage Register.
• The principle that there will be no net reduction of open space in accordance with Council's Parks Policy.
• Protection and enhancement of remnant vegetation areas of the park.
• Retention and protection of trees in accordance with Council's Tree Policy.

Over the past year (2023), we have undertaken studies and gathered information to help inform our work on this project.

Some of the priorities coming out of community feedback so far include:

• Increasing amenities like toilets, shade, play areas etc.
• Protecting open spaces and increasing greening.
• Improving safety in some locations within the park.
• Increasing maintenance.
• Improving spaces for sports, recreation and dog walking.

Read a full summary of what we know so far here.

Over five weeks, from 6 November to 10 December 2023, we want to continue the conversation with the community and key groups to build on what we have already heard and to further explore some topics to help shape the future of Royal Park.

All the feedback, research and studies from this stage of the project will be used to help inform the development of the Royal Park Master Plan Refresh. It will include:

• An updated vision
• Guiding principles
• An assessment of planning and operational issues
• Recommended actions to implement the vision

The draft master plan will be presented back to community for further feedback in the first half of 2024. We will use that second phase of community consultation to finalise the master plan to be presented to the Future Melbourne Committed for endorsement in late 2024.