The draft Merri-bek Council Budget will be endorsed by Councillors at the coming meeting (April 10, 2024). It includes six new projects that were proposed by community members (called Community Budget Ideas) and voted on by the community. Community members had submitted 92 ideas to Council, and 30 of these were selected for community voting.

Climate Action Merri-bek was promoting five of these projects. We are delighted that three of those have been recommended for funding, and the other two also received a high number of votes. Perhaps they will be winners next year? See below for more details and the voting results.

Projects recommended for funding

Here are the projects that Council officers have recommended for funding in the coming budget:
i) Accelerate the installation of sunshades over Merri-Bek’s playgrounds $150,000
ii) Take the Next Step (family violence peer education program) $59,000
iii) Drinking fountains in shopping strips $60,000
iv) More seats on walking routes to the shops $40,000
v) Free basketball court and soccer field for all of Fawkner $30,000
vi) Half-court basketball ring in Glenroy $60,000

Accelerate the installation of sun shades over Merri-bek’s playgrounds: CAM has long been highlighting the need for sunshades in playgrounds. (See here and here.) This idea was proposed last year by a community member and was funded in the 2022/23 budget for $80,000. Recently a resident started a petition for more sunshades. It received 1533 signatures, and was presented to Council in March 2024. This idea also received the most support in the Council’s voting process (see below).

Drinking fountains in shopping strips: CAM submitted this idea last year, and it was chosen for funding. See our article here. Another resident submitted the idea this year and it was successful again! Clearly people want more drinking fountains.

More seats on walking routes to the shops: This idea was submitted by Walk on Merri-bek. It’s a great way of helping people with mobility challenges to increase their walking. This will help improve people’s health and reduce car usage.

Other projects recommended for funding are:
Take the Next Step (family violence peer education program): this important program was funded last year for $33,000. It is pleasing to see that it has been recommended again.
Free basketball court and soccer field for all of Fawkner: Merri-Bek Youth Ambassadors have proposed that the sports facilities at John Fawkner College be made accessible to the public by removing the fences. What a great initiative!
Half-court basketball ring in Glenroy: Another great idea that increases opportunities for residents to be more physically active. This one is intended for the valley side of Glenroy.

Details of voting

Community members had the opportunity to vote on the 30 proposed projects. 1223 people voted at the pop-ups and online. The number of votes for all projects is in the Council agenda. The top eight projects are given below.

Climate Action Merri-bek was also supporting the following projects (which were clearly popular, but not recommended for funding this year (but hopefully in 2025!):
Permaculture education: “Permaculture is a design system for the creation of socially, economically and ecologically sustainable settlements, whether in rural areas or metropolitan cities.” (Bill Mollison) You can find out more about permaculture education here.
Picnic tables in our neighbourhood parks: There are plenty of studies that show how picnic tables can encourage people to use our parks. Having a picnic table encourages people to socialise in parks and be more physically active.

Onward to more climate-related projects in next year’s community budget ideas!