Parks, Playgrounds & Trees

Community Consultation and Involvement

Adopt a Tree

Whilst we have had plenty of rain this
summer, the years of drought have had
an impact on our beautiful plants, trees
and bushes in the City of Port Phillip and
they still need your care and attention.

You can make a difference, by adopting
and watering a tree in your street or local area.
All you need to do is water your tree weekly;
using greywater from your shower, bathtub,
sink and washing machine (using
biodegradable detergents ).

Adopt a Tree Today !

Visit the Adopt a Tree page, watch the Adopt a Tree video, read the tree care tips and find out where to get your free bucket .

Background - Community Consultation

Initial consultation with the community regarding the tree policy occurred in August and early November of 2009. In order to ensure that a representative number of individuals, groups and opinions were represented, council requested information from the community through a variety of mediums: a telephone, online and in person survey; two tree summits and a community reference group. Participation by the community in the various types of consultation is summarised below.

There were:

380 telephone surveys
130 surveys completed on line or via Councillor Conversation Tents
186 participants at two tree summits (Port Melbourne and St Kilda)
Young people and children consulted at the South Port Youth Festival using video media
Establishment of a target=_self>Tree Policy Community Reference Group

Each type of consultation identified different opinions and competing needs associated with trees. All of the information collected from the community was used to inform the development of the policy.

The results from all of the community consultations have been compiled into two documents titled The City of Port Phillip Consultation Summary Part A and B

For more information please visit the Tree Summit – Outcomes page

The key themes to emerge from the community consultations include:

Strong awareness in the community of the need for the right tree in the right place to avoid infrastructure damage, minimise water use and maximise shade. This seems to be a higher priority than planting a particular tree type such as natives.
Most people feel council’s trees on nature strips, parks and other open spaces are generally well maintained to very well maintained, with some area for improvement (particularly from the online and telephone surveys).
Most people are aware of the reduced water availability for trees and open spaces and are worried about the impact of the drought on trees. There were comments about the need for council to take action to increase the amount of water available to trees through such things as storm water harvesting.
The tree summits highlighted divided opinions in the community on several issues which relate to net community benefit versus individual benefit. For example the removal of mature trees causing damage to infrastructure and the issue of planting trees for shade that block views.
The majority of people have indicated that they would be prepared to water trees and nature strips. The results from the telephone and online surveys indicate that there are already many community members watering trees and nature strips.
There is a clear theme that the community wants to be engaged, involved and informed in relation to trees. Copies of the draft Greening Port Phillip Strategy, which includes the tree policy, were made available to the community for review and comment over a three week period online and at the service centres and libraries.

All comments were considered for inclusion in the final document.

More Information

Have Your Say - online community consultation and involvement pages

Adopt a Tree

Tree Summits

Contact us

If you have feedback relating to parks & open spaces use e-services or e-mail ospace@portphillip.vic.gov.au

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