Draft Urban Landscape and Canopy Vegetation Strategy

Submissions closed on 15 October 2018, 05:00 PM

Council adopted the Monash Urban Landscape and Canopy Vegetation Strategy at its 30 October 2018 meeting.

For more information on the adopted Strategy and details of future implementation actions, please visit Strategic Planning section: Monash Urban Landscape and Canopy Vegetation Strategy.

Consultation on the draft strategy

Council prepared a draft Monash Urban Landscape and Canopy Vegetation Strategy to look at what defines 'garden city' character, what can be done to improve this characteristic and how to balance development and greening of the landscape.

The 'garden city' character of Monash is highly valued by residents and is a defining feature of the municipality.

However, as Monash has grown, there has been a noticeable change to the leafy green character in some areas of the city.

Council sought community feedback on the draft strategy between May and August 2018.

A summary of the consultation was prepared for the Council Meeting on 30 October 2018 (including recommended changes to the Strategy).

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback through formal submissions, the online survey, and those who attended any of the five information sessions held in late July/early August.

Key documents

Information Brochure - Summary of the Strategy(PDF, 4MB)

Draft Monash Urban Landscape and Canopy Vegetation Strategy(PDF, 5MB)

Appendix A – Existing and preferred landscape character types

Implementing the Monash Urban Landscape and Canopy Vegetation Strategy – a discussion paper(PDF, 1MB)

Council reports

Endorsement of the Strategy for consultation: 29 May 2018, Item 1.1 (Agenda/Minutes)
Consideration of submissions and adoption of the Strategy: 30 October 2018, Item 1.2 (Agenda/Minutes) (includes the ‘Consultation Report’ as Attachment 2)

Key themes

This is an aspirational strategy that recommends a number of outcomes including:

A target of 30% canopy vegetation cover by 2040. Monash's tree canopy is currently at 22%, lower than neighbouring muncipalities of Whitehorse (23%), Stonnington (25%) and Boroondara (28%).
Identifying the existing and referred landscape character types
The possible introduction of planning scheme controls and/or a new local law to protect significant trees and canopy trees
Guidelines to maximise retention of mature trees on private and public land and provide guidance on appropriate plant selection and planting.

The strategy looks at the factors that may be impacting on vegetation including:

new developments in established residential area
limited canopy vegetation and greening in commercial/industrial precincts
the need to increase large canopy trees in public open space
the impact of climate change, including severe weather events, on the health of existing and proposed trees.