In 2005, Council bought a residence at 7 Well Street, Brighton with the aim of developing a carpark at the 700 square metre site.

To facilitate this process, we commenced a planning scheme amendment C165 in 2019 to rezone the site from a General Residential Zone to a Public Use Zone. If the amendment was adopted, it would have enabled an extension of car park at 5 Wells Street and provide additional car parking in the area.

A total of 20 submissions were received to the amendment and an independent Planning Panel was appointed to consider the submissions, ultimately recommending that the amendment be abandoned.

This rezoning process was also unsupported by the Minister for Planning. At this stage, the planning scheme amendment was not linked to a Council policy or strategy document that supported the site being transitioned to a car park.

Following a council meeting in March 2021, Council decided to investigate alternative uses for Well Street. For that purpose, it set out to understand community views through a public consultation that ran from 7 October 2021 to 7 November 2021.

We asked the community for ideas on the best ways in which the site at 7 Well Street could be improved for community use.

This was also an opportunity to evaluate the level of community support to transform the space into a pocket park and understand what the community would like to be able to do there.

You can read the full summary of feedback in the engagement report below.

Residents

• Residents of Well Street and surrounding suburbs, principally Brighton, Brighton East, and Hampton, visitors to Church Street, as well as those working in Church Street Activity Centre.
• Church Street Traders Association
• Local traders not in the Church Street Traders Association
• Brighton residents within walking distance
• The wider Bayside community
• Shoppers and visitors to the area
• Public transport users
• Young families

Stakeholders
(identified in the Future use of 7 Well Street Brighton Community Engagement Plan Overview)

• Church Street Traders Association
• Local traders not in the Church Street Traders Association
• Brighton residents within walking distance
• The wider Bayside community
• Shoppers and visitors to the area
• Public transport users
• Young families

The engagement was conducted during COVID-19 restrictions. Therefore, we utilised mainly online tools to connect with both the wider community and our community partners.

As well using the Have Your Say survey, we offered bookable meetings with the project team to gather more information and ask questions and provided hard copy surveys on request.

The project was promoted through the following communication tools:

• Direct email to Have Your Say subscribers and key stakeholder groups.
• Flyers to nearby residents.
• Website news stories and This Week in Bayside e-newsletter.
• Signage installed within the Church Street shopping precinct.
• Direct liaison with Church Street Traders Association and Bayside’ Reconciliation Action Group Committee.

We received a total of 689 responses, including 618 surveys completed via Have Your Say, one hard copy survey, 65 Facebook comments and replies, and five email submissions.

Of the 619 survey respondents, 538 answered the question that involved ranking their preferred use of the site, with about two-thirds (64%) nominating a pocket park as their top preference.

There was also support (27%) for more carparking. The most popular second choice for the site was for a community building (53%).

A key priority of Bayside’s 2050 Vision is to provide more open space. Respondents were therefore asked if the site was transformed to a pocket park, what would they like to be able to do there. 555 of the 619 survey respondents provided an answer to this question, at an average of approximately 1.5 ideas each.

By far the most common response was a park for relaxation, a space to sit, read, eat, enjoy the open space, with more than one-third (45%) of respondents.

There was also support for a skate park (41 or 7%) and even affordable/emergency housing for the disadvantaged (11 or 2%).

Other responses indicated a preference for a basketball court (13 or 2%); other sports such as rock climbing (8 or 1%); Public Art/Sculpture (15 or 2%). Others said the location was not suitable or too small/busy an area (2%).

These results confirm the importance of a passive open space function for the site for many respondents, and less support for active uses including a skate park, a dog park, and some other sporting activities.

There was some variation in the preferred activities nominated by respondents depending on their age. Young respondents (10 to 24 years) were more likely to want a skate park while older respondents (60+) wanted a space just to relax in, sit and/or read/eat.

We asked respondents to highlight any issues that we should consider if the site was to become a pocked park. Of the 619 survey respondents, one-third (205 respondents) reported concerns.

However, many of these responses highlighted that their concerns were that the site might not be used for a park, and instead would be used for other purposes such as car parking.

Where as those that voted in favour of extra parking had concerns relating to the site being used as a pocket park because of the perceived need for more carparking in the area (including underground or multi-level).

A few respondents highlighted concerns about safety, security, and anti-social behaviour that might occur if the site was used for a pocket park, and a few highlighted concerns if the site was used for active open space (including skating) or as a dog off-leash park.

A report summarising community feedback will be presented to Council at its 21 December 2021 meeting. Council will then make a decision on the next steps for the future use of 7 Well Street.