Let's Talk Parks!
Have your say on the places you play, walk, rest and explore.
Wellington Shire is developing a new Public Open Space Strategy to guide the planning, design, and management of our parks, reserves, and green spaces over the next 10 years and we want to hear from you.
Open spaces play a vital role in our community’s wellbeing. They support active lifestyles, connect us with nature, bring people together, and contribute to climate resilience. As our community grows and changes, it’s important that our open spaces meet the needs of everyone now and into the future.
Why the Strategy Matters
Our Public Open Space Strategy will:
- Provide a long-term vision for the open space network
- Identify gaps in access, diversity, and quality of open spaces
- Guide investment and upgrades to parks, playgrounds, and recreational areas
- Support environmental and cultural values
- Ensure our public spaces are welcoming, inclusive, and adaptable to climate change
We want your input to help us better understand how you use our open spaces and what improvements you’d like to see.
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What is next?
During August we held 17 drop-in sessions, as well as ran online consultation to provide our community opportunity to engage with Council in understanding how open spaces are used across the shire. An overview of the feedback received can be found here.
We are currently reviewing this data, and along with demographic data and industry benchmarking we are developing an Issues and Opportunities Paper.
Using this, we’ll begin drafting the Public Open Space Strategy 2026–2036.
Once the draft is ready, we’ll check back in with the community and stakeholders to get more feedback.
To stay in the loop, click the Follow Project button below!
Frequently Asked Questions
Public open space is all publicly owned land that is primarily set aside for recreation, leisure and nature conservation.
This includes public reserves, recreation reserves, parks, gardens, civic spaces (Cunninghame Street Mall) that are outdoors. In most instances, Wellington Shire manages the open space network for the purposes.
Other public spaces that complement the public open space network, but are not considered public open space includes streetscapes, public school grounds, rail trails, and drainage reserves/wetlands (Glenhaven).
The Public Open Space Strategy will set the strategic framework for how our public open spaces will be planned, delivered and maintained across Wellington Shire Council.
As our publicly accessible open spaces are enjoyed by all in our community, it is therefore important for those that have interest in the outcome of the Public Open Space Strategy that their aspirations and need for these spaces are taken into consideration when developing a strategy.
Public open space plays a critical role in the health and wellbeing of our community, enhances township character, and supports biodiversity and a healthy environment.
To ensure equity across our townships, diversity of experiences, and to cater for future communities, Council needs to the Public Open Space Strategy to holistically and strategically plan for the current and future needs.
Wellington Shire Council's Public Open Space Strategy 2026-2036 will inform decisions, guide future provision, design and management of public open spaces for the next decade and beyond.
The Public Open Space Strategy will guide the future supply, design and management of open spaces (new and existing) over the next 10 years.
The Strategy will examine the provision of existing publicly accessible open spaces, what the community values, and any issues that negatively impact the current use; it will identify the vision of where we need to be with our open space network to cater for population growth, new estates and creating liveable communities, social context and equitable provision, as well as addressing broader environmental opportunities.
