By Dora Houpis
Brimbank council’s recently-adopted plan for the city’s future design aims to focus less on car travel and more on creating liveable and greener neighbourhoods.
Councillors recently voted to adopt in full the 41-page Creating Streets for People Policy, focused on how Brimbank’s streets should look, function and support the community in the future.
The guide to designing streets in the future supports less car driving and parking and more walking and cycling. It also focuses on planting more trees and vegetation and reusing storm water.
Although the policy discourages local car trips, it acknowledges the continued need for car travel.
Some of the policy’s initiatives are already in place in Brimbank, like the vegetation and moveable seating in Hampshire Road, Sunshine. But the policy contains examples of intiatives adopted by councils nearby, in NSW and in London. It also includes low-cost, cost-neutral and no-cost proposals. These include road artwork and creating parklets.
Brimbank infrastructure and city services director Neil Whiteside car parking spaces may not necessarily decrease.
“The number of car spaces removed is not determined. The implementation of the policy will not necessarily require removal of car spaces,” he said.
“With each project, council will complete an assessment of existing and required car spaces to ensure adequate on-street parking.”
Although the councils’ agenda stated the policy would have “significant financial impacts”, Brimbank council last week could not say how much it would cost to implement.
Mr Whiteside said the council had not yet decided on the policy’s funding.
“The implementation of this policy will be considered by council in future budget submissions with some costs associated with existing budgets,” he said.
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Mr Whiteside said the policy did not have an end date, but identified actions to be taken within the first year, in two to five years as well as beyond.
