News / Planning
Big plans for new park in Brunswick
Road closure under consideration to provide more space
Mark Phillips
A STREET in Brunswick could be closed to through traffic as part of a planned new park that would face onto Sydney Road.
Under one of three options under consideration by Merri-bek Council, Staley Street would be closed to allow a much larger space for the new park.
The options will be released for public comment next month following the council’s purchase of a vacant block of land at 568 Sydney Road, opposite Hope Street.
The block has been an enduring eyesore on Sydney Road for more than a decade, but was bought by the council for about $3.6 million late last year under its A Park Close To Home program.
The council also owns a small car park adjacent to the east side of the block on Staley Street, which could be incorporated into the new park.
The most ambitious of the three options would be street narrowing or closure in Staley Street to further increase the available green space.
The site bought by the council is 946 square metres. The park would increase in size to 1600 square metres if it also incorporated the car park, although this would mean the loss of nine off-street parking spaces.
An extra 400 square metres would be gained and 20 parking spaces would be lost if Staley Street was also closed and added to the park.
A report to the council’s October 8 meeting said the new park would not only provide more open space and shade in a densely populated part of Brunswick, but would allow for an improved connection to Brunswick East for cyclists and pedestrians.
Staley Street connects Stewart and Blyth streets. There are about two dozen properties that are accessed from Staley Street, including Saint Vasilios Greek Orthodox Church.
Councillor Liz Irvin, within whose Randazzo ward the site is located, said closing the street could free up extra land to allow a much larger park with distinct zones that could be used by a wider demographic of people.
Staley Street is so wide that it could be closed in a way that local traffic would still be allowed so residents could get in and out of their properties, but it would no longer be a rat run, she said.
“I really like the idea of option 3 [closing Staley Street] because while we have an opportunity it’s great to go for the biggest size possible,” Irvin said.
“There are so many benefits from turning the road which is a hard surface into a park which would improve water flow and drainage … and residents in Staley Street would benefit from reduced traffic.
“It’s a big change to go from a through road to not being one, but there’s lot of spaces in Merri-bek where it’s been done successfully.”
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The site at 568 Sydney Road has been an empty block of land since about 2010, when several buildings were demolished.
Prior to that it had a number of uses, including the shopfront for Waddingham’s Fashion Boutique, Brunswick Medical Centre, and a dry cleaning business.
Today it is a rubble and weed strewn eyesore surrounded by temporary metal fencing, with a narrow lane running along its northern side from Sydney Road to the Staley Street car park.
Property records show it was sold for $3.57 million last November.
“Since the news became public that the council had bought it, I have heard so much from residents who have been saying we’ve been asking the council to buy this for years or for someone to buy it and do something with it,” Irvin said.
“Being on Sydney Road which is such a bustling, vibrant street a completely vacant block of land [like this] is not contributing anything.
“It’s exciting to see because the [state government’s] activity centre program is so housing focused and the council is really pushing for supporting infrastructure to be included as well and there is so much open space that needs to be identified [to cope with population growth].”
At the council meeting on October 8, Bullek-bek ward councillor Jay Iwasaki said the purchase of the land was a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to provide more open space near one of the most densely populated areas in Melbourne.
The concept of partly or fully closing streets to provide for parks and open other space has been a pet project of Warrk-Warrk councillor Adam Pulford.
“That would be a bold change and we want to hear what people think, whether they think car parking needs to remain there, whether they could lose some car parking to get more park land or whether they could close that street, improve road safety and make more park land.”
The council has budgeted $120,000 this financial year for planning and design of the new park. It is expected it would be opened in 2027.
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