If being cooped up in our homes has taught us anything, it’s that we relish wide open green spaces more than ever. To appease our greenery deprived souls, the state government has announced it will be funding the construction of more than 20 new pocket parks and off-leash dog parks across Melbourne.
Fifteen pocket parks will be established across South Melbourne, St Kilda, Bentleigh, Moorabbin, Brunswick, Caulfield South, Flemington, Sunshine West, Ivanhoe, Preston, Oakleigh, Prahran, Collingwood and Yarraville. The off-leash dog parks will be built in Cairnlea, Cranbourne East, Mickleham, Carrum, Rowville, Eltham North, Maribyrnong, Werribee and South Yarra.
The locations were chosen due to the fact that they are easily accessible by roads and public transport, or that they are linked to bike and walking trails. Councils were asked to nominate potential locations and then were chosen by an independent panel.
These new locations are the first component of the state government’s $154 million Suburban Parks Program which is expected to create 6,500 hectares of new parkland, walking trails, bike trails, pocket and dog parks. Apparently that’s the equivalent of over 170 Royal Botanic Gardens.