2024
The conversation
The Urban Forest Precinct Plans are our street tree implementation guidelines that underpin our Urban Forest Strategy. They outline what is going to be planted where, when and why over the next ten years.
The urban forest is vital for the health and wellbeing of the city, it provides critical ecosystem services such as clean air, water filtration, shade, habitat and carbon sequestration. It also supports a connection to nature for people living in urban areas.
These plans are being renewed for each of our 10 urban forest precincts. We have been speaking to residents in each neighbourhood to help ensure the plans align with community values.
Gathering insights
We conducted community consultation to inform the South Yarra Urban Forest Precinct Plans between February and June 2023.
During this time, we held multiple community pop up events, an online survey and a community workshop.
Community priorities, values and preferences directly informed the urban forest vision, character and priorities.
Through an online survey on Participate Melbourne, we then sought community feedback on the draft plan. This survey was open from 11 July to 8 August 2024.
Who we heard from
- 22 people registered for the workshop.
- 9 people attended the workshop.
- 14 people engaged through an online survey to inform the draft plan.
- 174 people viewed the draft plan website.
- 70 people downloaded the full draft plan.
- 6 people commented on the draft plan via online survey on.
What we heard
Community vision
When asked if this community vision captured hopes for South Yarra:
- 50 per cent of survey participants agreed or strongly agreed.
- 33 per cent of survey participants disagreed.
- 17 per cent of survey participants were neutral (neither agreed nor disagreed)
Those who disagreed wanted to see a greater emphasis on the importance of the urban forest for health and wellbeing in the plan document.
Community priority areas
Community workshop participants identified areas for improvement in South Yarra. When asked how satisfied survey participants were with these areas:
- 50 per cent agreed or strongly agreed
- 50 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed.
Survey participants who disagreed wanted the entire South Yarra neighbourhood to be prioritised for greening and larger areas designated for wildlife.
Street character
The draft plans include a map of street planting types and some recommendations for neighbourhood character in South Yarra:
- 50 per cent of survey participants agreed or strongly agreed.
- 33 per cent of survey participants disagreed or strongly disagreed.
- 17 per cent of survey participants were neutral (neither agreed nor disagreed).
Survey participants who disagreed would like to see a greater emphasis on native trees to provide habitat and food for wildlife.
Biosecurity
The draft plans outline an approach of replacing certain species in some areas to create 'species breaks' to protect significant populations of high-threat species in South Yarra.
- 67 per cent of survey participants agreed or strongly agreed with this approach.
- 16 per cent of survey participants disagreed or strongly disagreed.
- 17 per cent of survey participants were neutral.
Survey participants who disagreed would like to see more plane tree replacement with a greater emphasis on replacement trees providing food and habitat for wildlife.
Street prioritisation
The draft plans outlined which streets will be prioritised for planting over the next ten years in South Yarra.
- 50 per cent of survey participants agreed or strongly agreed.
- 33 per cent of survey participants disagreed or strongly disagreed.
- 17 per cent of survey participants were neutral.
Survey participants who disagreed wanted more planting done and a greater focus on larger areas for biodiversity.
Responses to major themes
Most comments from survey participants in South Yarra related to biodiversity (32 per cent), followed by
- generally supportive comments (21 per cent)
- species selection and other greening opportunities (both 16 per cent)
- and maintenance (11 per cent).
We heard similar feedback regarding these themes from consultations conducted for draft Urban Forest Precinct Plans in Carlton, the CBD and South Yarra. Click to expand on common feedback across all four neighbourhoods regarding biodiversity, other types of greening, Traditional Owner engagement, tree species selection, and tree replacements.
We heard strong enthusiasm for biodiversity and nature in the city. The City of Melbourne declared a climate and biodiversity emergency in 2019. Prior to this we endorsed a strategy which is specifically aimed at increasing and protecting nature. The Nature in the City Strategy (2017) supports the creation and maintenance of healthy ecosystems and thriving biodiversity within the city and has much more information about our approaches to biodiversity protection and enhancement. It includes our current research on direct seeded indigenous grasslands and indigenous understorey streetscapes.
We have recently gathered data on the biodiversity potential of all our tree species. Biodiversity value will be a leading component of tree selection choice over the next ten years.
Many comments showed enormous enthusiasm for greening in general within our city. These precinct plans focus on street tree planting, but we have heard ambitious visions for a pedestrian led, green and sustainable city. We received suggestions for closing streets, removing carparks, vertical and rooftop greening and community greening initiatives thriving. There are many other City of Melbourne initiatives that cover some of these areas, such as the Future Streets Framework, Greenline, The Green Factor Tool, Gardens for Wildlife and The Urban Forest Fund.
In the full draft document, you will find our approach to Traditional Owner engagement. This includes on-going aspirations for engagement with First Nations Peoples which are included here:
- Respect Aboriginal values and priorities through the planning of the urban forest.
- Maintain regular meetings with Traditional Owners to discuss. management of our urban forest.
- Identify culturally significant trees and collaborate with Traditional. Owners on programs to protect and celebrate them.
- Ensure that pre-colonial tree species and other vegetation are visible in the urban forest and throughout the city.
How people feel about their local urban forest matters. We heard a range of diverse opinions on street trees.
Many comments related to species selection. For example we heard that people love plane trees, dislike plane trees, love native trees, dislike native trees, like deciduous trees for winter sunlight and dislike the litter from falling leaves each autumn. Some participants would like trees that provide habitat, while others would like colour in the urban forest and some are concerned about the climate suitability of different trees.
Specific tree species selection is overseen by qualified and experienced arborists. They consider factors such as site locations, space requirements, community preference, biodiversity value, Traditional Owner engagement, climate suitability and environmental tolerances in the decision of every tree planted in the municipality.
One of the benefits of a precinct-level approach to planning the urban forest is that we can capture and incorporate a wide palette of species in the municipality but maintain unique neighbourhood identities through urban forest design.
We heard comments related to protecting existing trees and how we replace our trees.
Replacement of individual trees is an on-going process. Replacement trees are planted the following season where possible. New trees undergo three years of intensive maintenance after planting to give them the best start. It is best practice to plant young trees so they can grow and adapt safely to the site conditions, rather than mature specimens which typically find it harder to adjust to the urban ecosystem when transplanted. All trees are maintained through their lives and routinely assessed for health and risk.
As outlined in the Urban Forest Strategy, the City of Melbourne identifies its tree population as critical infrastructure and an asset that provides innumerable environmental and health benefits to the municipality. All works that have the potential to impact public trees owned or managed by The City of Melbourne are covered by the Tree Policy (2021). This policy outlines protection and retention requirements for public trees.
Examples of what we heard
Impact
The findings of this engagement include both the early conversations had during the workshop engagement period and the more recent survey focusing on the draft document Together, this feedback will inform the final South Yarra Urban Forest Precinct Plan.
The support we have received throughout this process indicates the value in involving the community early to create a collaborative document with a joint sense of ownership.
This precinct planning process contributes to the unique urban forest identity developed and maintained by each neighbourhood.
The new South Yarra Urban Forest Precinct Plan will seek to preserve the neighbourhood's green heritage whilst still embracing greening innovation.
Next steps
The draft South Yarra Urban Forest Precinct Plan was presented to Future Melbourne Committee (FMC) on 9 July 2024.
Council is now considering and incorporating community feedback from the public comment period. The final precinct plan will be presented to FMC for consideration early-2025.
2023
The Draft Urban Forest Precinct Plan for South Yarra was informed by extensive data gathering and investigations into the local urban forest complimented by a community workshop, online survey and community pop-ups in 2023. This combination of data and community values helps us plan a strong and healthy urban forest for everyone.
The communities values and priorities that we heard through our workshops and surveys were integrated into the draft urban forest precinct plans. This draft plan was then released for public comment in 2024.
If you would like to hear more about these community workshops, please get in touch at melbourneurbanforest@melbourne.vic.gov.au
