Peppermint Gums Reserve Upgrade

Peppermint Gums Reserve is a park that is located at the corner of Dean Street and Barker Road, Prospect.

The Open Space Strategy identifies every park/reserve in our Council area and defines the priority parks for upgrades (see Document Library above). Peppermint Gums Reserve has been identified for an upgrade in the 2022/23 Financial Year.

It will be funded through Council’s Annual Business Plan for the 2022/23 Financial Year.

Any park furniture and services that are worthy of retention and have not reached their end-of-life will be retained.  All existing significant trees and trees with a high retention value will be retained.  Some garden beds and vegetation will be retained, depending on community feedback and the new design of the park. Other feedback from this community consultation may also inform what will be retained.

The playground equipment has reached its end-of-life and will be removed. Any other park furniture not worthy of retention will be removed. Some vegetation (including trees that have been identified on the draft concept plan) may be considered for removal.

Park furniture and equipment is recycled where possible, including stripping various components for recycling where appropriate.

Trees that have been identified on the draft concept plan will be considered for removal. These trees are not significant and do not have a high retention value.

Only trees with a low-retention value will be considered for removal and only if it is considered that the benefits of the new design outweigh the value of the tree proposed for removal.

As this park is classified as a ‘neighbourhood’ park in Council’s Open Space Strategy, the play area will contain both junior and senior play elements. Other features of the park will be able to cater for all other age groups, depending on the feedback from the community consultation.

The consultation will influence the various components that will be installed as part of the upgrade, based on the way the community uses the space (eg. more lawn area, or more park furniture, or improved accessibility, or improved safety, etc).

Funds must be spent within the boundary of the reserve, up to the road kerbing, and including any murals on the Lewis Lane boundary walls.

The feedback will inform a final concept plan that will be prepared for the Reserve.

The upgrade is intended to occur in the 2023/24 financial year, subject to the budget endorsed in the Annual Business Plan for that year.

We are currently working through the budget for the design and will develop a cost estimate to inform the Annual Business Plan for the 2023/24 financial year. The final allocation of the funds will influence the design of the reserve and what we will be able to install.  Grant funding availability will also influence the budget.

Round 2 consultation was deferred to the end of 2022 because there was no construction budget set for the 2022/23 financial year for the construction of Peppermint Gums Reserve and a deferred consultation better aligns with the revised project timeline, in consideration of other project priorities.

Round 1 Consultation occurred in October - November 2021 and gathered information about how our community currently use the reserve and what they would like to see as part of the upgrade. Prior to this, community engagement for this park was through the consultation process for the endorsement of the Open Space Strategy in March 2018.