Meyers Place, near Parliament House, was greened to launch the project with plants, fake grass and a temporary street closure, but Alana Bascombe, owner of Bar Carlo in the laneway, said it had been “a total waste of time and money”.
“They overpromised and under-delivered,” she said. “They promised it would look like a laneway in Positano. It does not at all.”
Bascombe said there were countless meetings, but the council had failed to research whether its ideas were possible or practical.
“I don’t know where the money went,” she said. “Trees down the Little Collins Street end of the laneway have been destroyed and ripped out. Some businesses put fake green plants on the fence of the car park, and it’s just awful. They were going to put fairy lights up, but then they discovered the trucks could not get through, so they abandoned that plan.”
The project’s vision included upgrades to Coromandel Place, near Melbourne Town Hall, with seats, planter boxes, green walls and art installations.
However, the council’s own audit of the laneway notes negative feedback around “a lack of maintenance, littering in the planters and the laneway, a lack of canopy trees, insufficient lighting and disappointment that there wasn’t more vegetation”.
Plastic plants on the fence at Meyers Place, which was part of the Green Your Laneway project. Credit: Arsinhen Houspian
A “miniature boulevard” of trees was planned for Katherine Place near Southern Cross Station, complete with an ivy-covered archway, but the council audit notes many of the street trees have been vandalised, creepers failed to grow and the planters and garden beds are littered with cigarette butts.
“The original design vision of turning Katherine Place into an inner-city oasis with a profusion of greenery running up the walls has so far been unsuccessful,” the audit notes.
Di Keser, owner of cafe Hardware Societe in Katherine Place, said if money was spent on greening the laneway, she couldn’t say where it went.
“You walk up the pavement and there are a series of planter boxes, but all the trees are ripped out and nothing has been put back,” she said. “It’s a pretty sad, terrible situation. If they think that is greening Melbourne, there is nothing greening Melbourne about it.”
Coromandel Place near the Melbourne Town Hall was part of the pilot, but the council’s own audit noted “disappointment that there wasn’t more vegetation”. Credit: Arsineh Houspian
Keser said she had to send several emails over eight months to get one tree replaced after it was ripped out.
“At the City of Melbourne, no one knows what the right foot is doing,” she said. “People get paid to go to meetings. Having meetings and then making things happen seem like they are worlds away from each other.”
The one laneway in the project that has been a greening success is Guildford Lane, near Melbourne Central, which has become a tourist attraction and regularly features in City of Melbourne promotions.
Residents say while the council instituted the project, they were crucial in transforming the laneway themselves.
Katherine Place near Southern Cross Station has suffered from the vandalisation of its street trees and littering in planters and garden beds. Credit: Arsineh Houspian
“The council brought to the table pallets of plants and planters,” long-time Guildford Lane resident Katherine McPherson said. “From that point, they basically said, ‘Here are the plants, our job is done.’ We knew there could be some thefts, so we bolted some down.
“What we learnt was that the small plants and pots were very vulnerable, like children, and they needed to be protected and nurtured, and that was the role that we took up as a community, and we coalesced around this idea.”
McPherson said residents still regularly dealt with visitors vandalising and stealing plants. Residents paid for them to be replaced, not the council.
Capp said Melbourne’s laneways provided an important opportunity to boost greenery in urban environments.
Guildford Lane near Melbourne Central has been the most successful of the four pilot laneways and features in promotional material for the City of Melbourne. Credit: Arsineh Houspian
“We’re exceptionally proud of Green Your Laneway pilot projects like Guildford Lane, where council has worked with residents and traders to provide advice and funding to nurture its green shoots,” she said. “Now, the laneway is an urban oasis and offers inspiration, joy and a new element to our city landscape.”
Capp said a grant of $2000 had been awarded to Guildford Lane residents this year for a community gardening day and community planting meeting. Since the pilot ended, she said the council had issued eight permits for residents to install private green infrastructure in public laneways.
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“Turning our laneways into green, lush spaces has so many benefits – including more shade, better environmental outcomes, and an even more beautiful city for residents, workers and visitors,” she said.
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