Consulting on park projects

Victoria’s parks and reserves play many important roles – a big one is providing experiences for people to get into nature.

Most of those experiences are supported by park facilities, big and small.

That’s why we’re constantly improving facilities across the state: campgrounds, tracks and trails, piers and jetties, lookouts, playscapes, visitor centres, heritage buildings (to name a few!).

To make sure these park facilities are loved by those who use them most, we spend a lot of time talking with visitors, local communities and stakeholders.

We regularly hold in-person or online engagement sessions to discuss park projects and plans. Where appropriate we get community input on designs and other aspects. We consult with Traditional Owner corporations, government and non-government organisations, community groups, catchment management authorities, private landowners, friends groups, volunteers, licensed tour operators, lessees and research institutes.

We’ve been busy recently, talking with community, visitors and stakeholders as we develop a bunch of projects to improve the visitor experience and help support nature’s future.

At Halls Gap, we've been discussing designs for a new trailhead to better connect the town with the epic 160km  Grampians Peaks Trail (GPT).

Feedback from local businesses, visitors and community members help us understand how to plan and deliver this upgrade at the centre of the town. 

In addition to the bustling main street of Halls Gap, we'll be delivering new trailheads to improve access along the length of the GPT.

 

 

At Warburton, the team has been talking to the community about plans for an upgrade around the mighty Californian Redwoods of the Yarra Ranges National Park.

The planned upgrades include additional car parking, an accessible public toilet, a safety gate and a wet-weather visitor shelter.

This site can draw big numbers of visitors, so it’s important we can get out and chat with the local community.

 

 

Wilsons Prom is one of Victoria's most loved (and visited) national parks.

To help improve visitors' experience at the Prom, we're delivering a $23 million project that includes a range of park upgrades. This includes a revamp to the busy Tidal River visitor area.

This year we shared designs and gathered feedback on this revamp, which include an upgraded visitor centre, covered outdoor spaces and better connections.

 

 

Community Reference Groups are a great way to get a cross-section of people to guide a project, making sure local knowledge and needs are reflected.

A group like this has been at the heart of a new plan to develop former freeway reserve into a 35-hectare park for the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

For this project, a group of 30 participants were selected from 111 applications to meet a diversity of community demographic and interest group representation.

Read on for more information about this consultation, including our consultation summary report. . 

 

 

 

 

Jells Park is a much-loved park in Melbourne’s south-east, offering plenty of opportunities to soak up the benefits of being in nature.

To improve the experience here, we're developing a shared-use Bushland Trail, made up of some new track and through the resurfacing of existing trails at the park.  

Through community consultation on the project, which saw more than 460 people provide feedback, we updated designs to include a second trail. This 2.5km loop trail would appeal to a wide variety of visitors and be focused around the café and playscapes with views across the lake. 

 

 

 

The local knowledge and ideas that we hear from local communities are helping us to create the best experiences we can. 

Learn more about community engagement on our website and Engage Victoria, and visit www.parks.vic.gov.au/projects to discover more of the projects we’re delivering to help people get into nature