Council Plan

The City of Yarra has a 4-year council plan, covering 2021 to 2025:

The plan contains six strategic objectives, of which Strategic Objective 5 is a ‘Transport and movement’:

Yarra prioritises sustainable and active transport, to help people move safely and sustainably through and within our municipality. Council is committed to creating a city that is accessible to all, irrespective of levels of personal mobility, to support a fulfilling life without the need for a car. It is an integral part of our climate emergency response to reduce transport emissions towards net-zero emissions by 2030.

City of Yarra Council Plan

We deliver and advocate for an integrated transport network that prioritises sustainable and active transport that is safe, accessible, equitable and reduces barriers to community movement. This includes delivering, working with partners and advocating for high-quality and connected walking and cycling routes and public transport options to enable our community, including older persons and people with mobility limitations, to move about the city with ease.

City of Yarra Council Plan

Initiatives

The council plan includes the following initiatives:

• Develop and deliver a Transport Action Plan that prioritises safe and connected cycling and walking infrastructure networks to facilitate an increase in active transport and reduction in car usage
• Review and update the Parking Strategy and parking management approach (incorporating technology utilisation) with a view to reduce car dependency in Yarra and support a modal shift towards active and public transport
• Plan, design, deliver and maintain high-quality active and sustainable transport infrastructure
• Advocate to State Government and agencies for increased and well- connected public transport options including DDA tram upgrades and safer cycling facilities particularly on strategic cycling corridors
• Support shared micro-mobility, car share and ride share schemes
• Develop and deliver road safety studies and work with State Government for support to implement 30 kms zones
• Deliver shared zones in local streets

Our view

The Council Plan 2021-2025 looks great and we look forward to it being implemented. Unfortunately, council didn’t deliver all of the initiatives from the last council plan, so delivery is not guaranteed. Some failures from the Council Plan 2017-2021 include:

• Objective 6 Council is committed to creating a city that is accessible to all irrespective of levels of personal mobility, to support a fulfilling life without the need for a car.
  • This wasn’t delivered, i.e. via low traffic neighbourhoods that are linked by a network of protected bike lanes. Nor did council support a significant expansion of car sharing to e.g. 2,000 vehicles, to give people options to car ownership.
• Strategy 6.1 Manage traffic movement and promote road safety within local roads
  • This was sidelined, with no new modal filters installed (to mange traffic movement), and no improvement to road safety on key routes to Richmond High School, such as adding slow points to Coppin Street.
• Initiative 6.1.1 Transition Local Area Traffic Management program to Local Area Place Making programs
  • This was reversed, with the Local Area Place Making (LAPM) replaced with a traffic-focussed ‘Road Safety Study Policy’
• Strategy 6.3 Investigate and implement effective parking management options
  • This was ignored, with council failing to implement modern, best-practice parking management options such as digital permits, demand responsive pricing, and enforcement via automatic number plate recognition, nor even to publish a review of the options
• Initiative 6.4.2 Continue to facilitate the upgrade of local tram stops to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act to support both access and viability of activity centres
  • This was ignored, with both the Brunswick Street Streetscape Masterplan and the Swan Street Streetscape Masterplan projects defining tram stops as out of scope (which is not what happened in the City of Boroondara and their masterplan for Glenferrie Road).