Notes and Comments from the Fitzroy Residents Association Pubtalk “Trees, Nature & the Future of Fitzroy”, Stone Hotel, September 24th 2025

Recommendations for City of Yarra (CoY)

• Extend the Urban Forest Strategy[1] to ensure it takes a holistic view of streetscape biodiversity – from trees, to shrubs, to ground cover

• Develop a CoY water management plan, following water sensitive urban design principles[2] and deploying nature-based solutions for urban flood management[3], to make better use of the rainwater for street gardens – permeable pavement, flow to garden sites, improved rainwater retention programs, storm water interceptor pits etc.

• Establish and develop a plan to increase diversity and establish biodiversity objectives and staged activities, managed by a ‘CoY Street Garden Team’, to meet those objectives

• Review, adapt and promulgate street garden[4] and plant guidelines to encourage use in back lanes and adapt and change laneway management policies where necessary i.e. reduce heat sink elements, (bitumen and bluestones), encourage micro gardens and green creeper wall cover

• Further develop incentives for residents and traders to manage street and laneway greening projects – rate relief, $ for $ assistance for pilot projects, greening grants, etc.

• Review CoY vacant land sites and institute strategies to further develop open spaces

• Develop Fauna policies and processes to reduce risk to wildlife and reduce canopy damage – removal of feral cats, encourage ‘cat evening confinement’ policy adoption, establish appropriate possum management policies

• Update main street (Smith, Brunswick, Johnston, Gertrude) strategy plans to incorporate biodiversity programs and implement them. Establish and fund accordingly

• Ensure greening and biodiversity projects are integrated into street maintenance and renewal projects.

• Work to change power line regulations relating to low fire risk areas such as CoY to help increase canopy cover

Summary of comments and suggestions from speakers

Shane Delphine

• The public and private tree canopy % for CoY is currently 17.7% with a target of 21.5% by 2040. Fitzroy is currently 13%

• Trees under assault from pruning and pests

• Street and public space gardens not effectively maintained by council (primarily tree watering and weed eradication) – recommend establishing a Street Gardens Team

• Yarra has 225km roads and 85 km of laneways – opportunity for greening on both roads and laneways.

• Should protect significant trees in gardens, parks and streets. (e.g. Mornington Peninsula policy).

Sarah Bekessy

• Need to invite nature back into the city

• Retails trips incorporating nature perform better, Buildings/developments with greenery sell better i.e. economic value in greening (9% value increase)

• People live longer in green/natural environments

• Past monoculture tree planting (e.g. elms) creates ‘biological deserts’

• Biodiversity and sensitive design allow/encourage more species, reduce likelihood of species extinction

• Wildlife needs water, nesting places and threats mitigated – reduce lighting, under-overpasses for fauna movement

• (Sarah also emailed the following suggestions)

  • Council should establish a plan for including diverse native vegetation in parks and streetscapes across the municipality

  • establishing biodiversity objectives for the City of Yarra including species we’d love to see thriving and even returning to the City

  • supporting residents to establish biodiverse nature strips (and not removing existing plantings!)

  • supporting gardens for wildlife program engaging residents, schools and businesses in bioblitz

  • providing schools/kindies etc. with planting stock and support to establish biodiverse gardens

  • cats indoors (not just curfew) – we will not have much biodiversity in the City of Yarra until this happens

  • install wildlife friendly street lighting provide guidance for new buildings (and retrofits) to provide habitat and minimise threats (bird friendly glass for example)

Greg Moore

• Victoria is the most cleared state in Australia and Melbourne has poor canopy cover

• Trees create/maintain canopy if soil moist – need larger openings in pavements for trees, often losing big trees, replaced by smaller ones, checking for survival not being done.

• Poor maintenance costing a lot

• Should adopt a 3/30/300 policy i.e. all residents have three trees nearby, live in a neighbourhood with 30% tree canopy and are no further than 300 metres from open green space

• Need to develop tree maintenance schemes for public good
  

Comments and suggestions from discussion

1. Develop CoY and local neighbourhood strategies to improve the greening of streets and lanes

Reaction from speakers/others

• Establish or change council/CoY protocols which encourage greening

  • enable bluestones removal to be replaced by grass, creeper and shrub gardens

  • change tree replacement policy to enable undergrowth around street trees, not hard compacted gravel

  • encourage residents to report potential new public spaces

  • advice on acceptable plants/creepers which grow on walls and lean over lanes

  • establish a garden and maintenance team to manage greening in lanes, not just weed poisoning

  • Encourage native rather than European tree planting

  • Expand tree watering program to include street gardens

  • Offer positive support for neighbourhood groups

    • Help establish street greening committees

    • advice on acceptable plants and provide seedlings, seeds, etc. by having ‘little/pop-up’ shops in main streets

  • Encourage greening projects in schools

2. Urban and Street development to include greening

Reaction from speakers/others

• Design step in sections along streets to slow traffic and enable low and mid cover green spaces

• Co-ordinate pavement, gutter, pipe/wire replacement by different service providers to minimise digging up replication

• Develop energy provider policy to remove overhead wires and put underground

• Enable permeable materials to be used for footpaths and roads

• Encourage traders and/or residents to take responsibility e.g. establish/maintain planter boxes outside premises, (e.g. Gertrude St), offer rates rebates?

• Encourage ‘meadow’/grass/dry plant rooftop gardens

3. Possum problem in a residents’ gardens

Reaction from speakers/others

• learn to live with possums – create alternative locations, more other trees, relocate to other trees

• encourage natural solutions – great owls in urban regions

• Council to manage street trees to minimise possum problem in resident’s gardens (possum guards, prune from overhead power lines etc.)

4. Tree roots problems in streets with large trees

Reaction from speakers/others

• Use root barriers

• Better tree selection when replacing old trees

• Place trees in centre or other locations in streets to slow traffic

• Root problems from trees within house boundaries, and/or other house foundation issues, are often more significant than street tree roots

5. State Government housing policy problem

Reaction from speakers/others

• Need a mass community protest/strike against the policy to knock down social resident towers and ‘steal’/reduce existing open, green spaces

[1] See https://www.yarracity.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-04/urban_forest_strategy.pdf accessed 4/10/2025

[2] See https://waterbydesign.com.au/wsud  accessed 4/10/2025.

[3]  “Strategic deployment of nature-based solutions for urban flood management in high-density urban landscapes” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25006119?ssrnid=5037712&dgcid=SSRN_redirect_SD accessed 4/10/2025

[4] See https://www.yarracity.vic.gov.au/residents/plants-and-trees/maintaining-street-garden#6monthtrial accessed 4/10/2025