Scotchmer is a Local Area Place Making (LAPM) neighbourhood in Fitzroy North.

Location of LAPM 3 Scotchmer. Image credit: City of Yarra, Google Maps.

Last LAPM review

Council conducted a LAPM review in 2018 and adopted a plan in March 2019.

Schools

Scotchmer hosts the Merri Creek Primary School, the German International School, and Simonds Catholic College; and students deserve safe routes to school.

Issues

Consultation identified a range of issues:

Summary of issues. Image credit: City of Yarra

Report

O’Brien Traffic delivered their final report in January 2019.

Final report (16 MB). Image credit: City of Yarra.

Plan

Council adopted a plan in March 2019:

Recommended plan. Image credit: City of Yarra.

Budget

Council approved a budget of $1.9m over three years ($500k, $720k and $720k).

Minutes from 5th March 2019. Image credit: City of Yarra.

Our view

Streets Alive Yarra applauds Council for adopting a LAPM plan with a budget of $1.9m. This is a great precedent and we hope that each LAPM area receives a similar budget. Even better would have been to:

  • Upgrade the whole area to one or more 30 km/h superblocks
  • Construct protected bicycle lanes on the higher speed arterials of Alexandra Parade, Nicholson Street, Brunswick Street, St Georges Road, and Holden Street
  • Convert free parking to either permit-only parking or metered parking
  • As part of a broad review of the LAPM process, commit to reviewing each LAPM area within each 4-year term of Council, so that infrastructure can keep up with the rate of population growth, and more treatments can be trialled more often.
Proposal for a 30 km/h superblock. Image credit: Streets Alive Yarra, City of Yarra, Google Maps.

Streets Alive Yarra supports the calls from local residents for faster action. Council and the DoT can use the principles of tactical urbanism to trial a variety of treatments, quickly and for low cost. Council has already agreed to follow this process in Elizabeth Street, and should follow this example for many streets in Scotchmer.

Proposals for specific streets

Take action

Sign this petition for safe streets where people want to walk and ride:

Image credit: Lisa Byrne

How you can help

You can help by appearing on the Streets Alive Yarra website as a champion for your local street, neighbourhood, or school.

Let’s build a beautiful, liveable and accessible city