Johns Reserve playground upgrade 2020

Council will be upgrading the playground at Johns Reserve as part of the playspace renewal under the Merri-bek Play Strategy 2016-20 (PDF 2Mb).

Johns Reserve is a small local park located in McLean Street, near Dunstan Reserve in Brunswick West. The existing playground has some well-loved pieces of play equipment that will be refurbished and retained, along with some exciting changes to the playground and surrounds.

Community consultation - draft concept plan

A draft concept plan was prepared, showing new play equipment together with refurbished play items and the inclusion of nature play elements to provide a great variety of play opportunities for a broad range of ages. The addition of a drinking fountain to the park provided an opportunity for informal water play with run-off into a small rock pool set in a native garden.

View the draft concept plan (PDF 3Mb).

Community feedback

Council asked for feedback on the Johns Reserve Playspace Upgrade draft concept plan during
March 2020. Postcards were distributed to households in the neighbourhood surrounding John
Reserve, notifying residents of the Draft Concept Plan available for viewing on Council’s website.

Overall, responses were in favour of the proposals for upgrading the existing playspace, other than replacement of the existing carousel. There were two petitions submitted with a combined total of around 150 signatures, both asking that Council reconsider removal of the old carousel.

Since hearing the overwhelming response from our community it has been decided to
keep the carousel and further investigations are underway to determine options for its refurbishment.

A full summary of all the feedback received has been prepared and this can be downloaded from here (PDF 121Kb).

Final Concept Plan

The community response to the proposed playspace upgrade has been heard and the feedback is now incorporated into the final concept plan for this park and playspace upgrade. The Johns Reserve Park & Play Upgrade Final Concept Plan is provided as a black & white plan for information.

View from the Final Concept Plan (PDF 1Mb).

Key changes from the draft plan are:

• retention of the old carousel in its existing location
• retention of the egg spinner near its current location
• new spring rocker to replace Seal in current location
• an additional park seat in the native garden
• proposed future shelter over picnic table

Construction

Plans for construction are being finalised and it is expected that works will commence on site in early April and be completed by start of June 2020, subject to weather conditions in that period.

It is not known what effect the emerging restrictions due to the Covid-19 virus will have on construction of Council's current projects, including this one. Those restrictions may affect our ability to complete the Johns Reserve upgrade within this forecast timeline.