MELBURNIANS will have less room to kick the footy, walk the dog or take personal training sessions in coming years as population pressure squeezes the city’s cherished public open spaces.
A ground-breaking report released today by the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council warns that public open space, such as local parks, gardens and public golf courses will have to cater for communities swelling by more than 1500 new residents a week.
”Public open space per capita is likely to decrease over time for almost all municipalities,” the report concluded. It looked at 29 metropolitan councils.
Population growth in areas such as Bayside, Brimbank, Glen Eira and Moonee Valley had already exceeded population projections for 2016, the report noted. ”The community perceives that Melbourne’s increasing population will result in a loss of quantity and quality of public open space,” the report commissioned by the state government found.
”Without the retention and creation of public open space on both public land and local council land, public open space per capita will decrease over time for almost all municipalities in the investigation area.”
The report recommends the Baillieu government prepare a ”metropolitan open space policy and strategy that provides a long-term plan for public open space” and maintains ”an open space inventory” to keep track of open space.
