Bedford Pocket Park nears completion 

North Melbourne is one step closer to having more green space as the Bedford Pocket Park approaches completion.

Construction for the project began in April 2024 and is expected to be completed later this year or early 2025.

Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece is pleased with the progress of the park and said that it was “wonderful” to watch the City of Melbourne successfully deliver this “fantastic” new green space.

The new park will provide North Melbourne residents with an additional 1500 square metres of open space and will feature native plantings, trees, lawn areas, park furniture, a barbecue, play equipment and a ping-pong table. 

The Lord Mayor is confident that the park will be “very popular with the locals” after its design underwent two rounds of community consultation before it was endorsed by the City of Melbourne in November 2022. 

Throughout the consultation process, it was revealed through a survey that 90 per cent of 134 respondents supported the proposal due to increasing greening and biodiversity and providing new recreational opportunities. 

In a report tabled at the November 22 Future Melbourne Committee meeting, the council said that some people were concerned about loss of parking, vehicle access and road congestion. 

However, others advocated for pedestrians and cyclists to be prioritised over cars through more cycle infrastructure, fewer carparks, and additional traffic calming measures.

“As we near completion, it’s looking fantastic and I’m very confident that this is a green space the local community is going to embrace and love,” Cr Reece said. 

The new greenspace for North Melbourne is a part of the Suburban Parks program, which has seen the state government partner with local government to invest $35 million towards delivering 29 pocket parks across Melbourne. 

The pocket parks are a mix of new and existing parks and reserves that have been underutilised.

These projects aim to combat Melbourne’s increasingly hotter summers and are designed in a way that increases shade and cools local streets. •