We received some great community feedback for the renewal of Bolton Street Reserve Playground through an online survey and emails directly to the Open Space Planning Team. Thank you for your comments and suggestions about the space. The design was well received by the community and they felt it targeted their needs.

Some discussion points were:

• Design a space for younger and older children: We received a few request to design a space for mixed ages. The final playground design will cater to younger children. Unfortunately we were unable to design this space to cater for both younger and older children.
• Basketball court: We received requests for a half court. Budget and Site constraints did not allow for this inclusion.

The Banyule Youth Spaces Implementation Plan has just been adopted by Council. We've done a lot of work to identify the best locations for outdoor youth spaces across Banyule. As part of this work we've considered outdoor spaces for preteens and early teens (12 to 14 years), teens and young adults (15 to 25 years), and district spaces for all young people across the municipality.

The Bolton Street Reserve playground upgrade is now complete and is open to the community.

Community engagement

From August - September 2023, we consulted with community and received great community feedback for the renewal of Bolton Street Reserve playground.

43 people provided feedback through an online survey and emails directly to the Open Space Planning Team. Thank you for your comments and suggestions about the space.

From the design options provided, nature play was the most popular and has been incorporated into the design.

View the final concept design to see how your feedback was incorporated.

Some important points:

• Tree planting: tree planting will be included as part of the playground replacement to provide more natural shade to the space.
• Basketball court: we received a number of requests to install a basketball court. We won't be able to include this feature as the budget for the project is insufficient to fund this change.

The play space includes a new and improved area to meet the needs of the local community.

The new playground includes:

• A new playground unit
• Swings
• Seating

The playground was inspired by the surrounding landscape and has a natural look and feel.

As part of the improvement works for Bolton Street Reserve playground, we undertook a detailed site analysis. The site analysis helped us determine the opportunities and constraints for the project and helped the Open Space and Planning team develop a concept that aligned with the project budget, the playground classifications, Public Open Space Plan 2016-2031 and Council initiatives to provide Local Play Networks and Play Diversity (see definitions below).

Key considerations for Bolton Street Reserve playground were:

• Play experience and diversity - considering nature play elements and diversity of play.
• Connectivity - improving the location and layout of the picnic tables and seating so that it provides better connection to the playground.

Bolton Street Reserve is located in Lower Plenty. The reserve contains a playground, seating and multiple trees.

This parks is classified as a local play space as outlined in the playground classifications of our Public Open Space Plan 2016-2031. The park sits at the intersection of Bolton Street and Old Eltham Road and can be accessed from Bolton Street, Lower Plenty.

Parks classified as local play spaces are small playgrounds designed to cater for residents living within 400 metres. These playgrounds include one to two items of play equipment for a limited number of age groups. Local playgrounds are usually only used by residents from nearby streets who normally access the park by foot or bike.

The playground is well used by local families and and is now scheduled for renewal. We are excited to continue to provide a high-quality playground experience at Bolton Street Reserve and value your support as we re-imagine the park for current and future users.

1. Play Networks: where there are several pocket or local playgrounds located within walking distance of each other, Council will endeavour to create a local play network by strengthening connection between playgrounds.
2. Play Diversity: Council will work towards providing a complete range of play experiences in each precinct. When designing, upgrading or replacing playgrounds, we will give consideration to the types of play experiences already available in the neighbourhood and include play experiences currently not available locally.