When change happens one conversation at a time, we need to keep our conversations going. Well-managed conversations help us maintain hope and momentum.
I saw your piece 🙏 I have a new very long laneway verge from watching Gardening Australia. In fact, I moved out of an apartment and into a rented house and started gardening in my 60s for the first time after watching GA during lockdown - over and over again to keep me sane and stop the claustraphia.
On my verge, I'm planting a mix of natives and edibles - herbs, chillies, passionfruit, chokoes as it also has a wire fence as one border. Renting and on a budget it is what I can grow from seeds and cuttings mostly.
Thank you for your inspiration, learnings and positive activism on verges. I am part of a group working with a council in Melbourne's West advocating for a change in their approach to Nature Strip management. If we can help to remove impediments and provide the support and informative guidelines for community to encourage verge planting then that would be brilliant. 🤞💚
and the permits are the sticking point, then it could be worth accepting the requirement for a permit to get it approved. They've obviously put a lot of thought and work into that document.
Community education is very expensive and doesn't necessarily work - just look at the trouble getting everyone to put the right things in each waste bin.
One of the roles of community groups I work with is to help ensure that residents who take part in their projects understand and respect their own council's guidelines. The longer I do this and see what people do while claiming that they've read and followed guidelines, the more I understand the caution of people who work in councils. That's why I did the Understanding the Space articles.
What if we view the application for a permit as a way for residents to signal their cooperation and commitment for the nature strips to be a positive learning experience for all stakeholders, including the council who has to cope with disputes when things go wrong? It could also give the council a way to monitor how well their documents are understood to feed into their next review of the guidelines.
I absolutely agree. There is a lot of education, trust and respect going both ways, however we need to move forward with increasing our green canopy, cooling our streetscapes, increasing biodiversity and highlighting an appreciation of storm water run off and healthy water catchments +++.
Permits are not a show stopper, however the less impediments in the way and more supports are in place then the community may be more inclined to plant out their verges especially if they are fully aware of the guiding frameworks and the benefits in doing so.
They also need to go into it with the mindset of 'it's not my garden' and be prepared for what goes with planting in a public space.
A questionnaire which is more of a education and comprehension tool could be an approach so long as is sensitive to the needs of our culturally diverse community. We felt that there could be more diagrams and graphics incorporated in the guidelines to make it easier for the diverse needs of the community to comprehend and more supporting fact sheets and reference material.
The education material already exists so I think maybe naively that councils need to collaborate on this more and share this material, which lightens the load on budgets.
There will always be outliers on each end of the spectrum no matter what the initiative.
I will have to review your 'Understanding the Space articles" as I wasn't aware of them. This is still a relatively new area for me.
I saw your piece 🙏 I have a new very long laneway verge from watching Gardening Australia. In fact, I moved out of an apartment and into a rented house and started gardening in my 60s for the first time after watching GA during lockdown - over and over again to keep me sane and stop the claustraphia.
On my verge, I'm planting a mix of natives and edibles - herbs, chillies, passionfruit, chokoes as it also has a wire fence as one border. Renting and on a budget it is what I can grow from seeds and cuttings mostly.
Thank you for all that you do.
Hi Gayle,
Thank you for your inspiration, learnings and positive activism on verges. I am part of a group working with a council in Melbourne's West advocating for a change in their approach to Nature Strip management. If we can help to remove impediments and provide the support and informative guidelines for community to encourage verge planting then that would be brilliant. 🤞💚
Which council? Do they already have a policy or proposed policy?
Hi Gayle,
Maribyrnong Council. They have a draft Policy and Guidelines in place and are about to review their by-laws that require a permit.
I know the one. That's been in draft form for a long time so I assumed they were having trouble getting a consensus.
Permits have pros and cons. Lots of different approaches from councils.
- have fairly strict guidelines and provided you stay in that, you can go ahead without getting a permit.
- require permits and say you can go ahead as soon as you've submitted which makes it more like a registration.
- require permits and they review before allowing you to go ahead.
- most are free permits, few are paid.
- some want detailed plans, others just a sketch.
Which way is the council leaning? What does your group want?
Hi Gayle,
Yes, you are right it has been in draft for some time...
The council leaning is dependant on if the by-lay will be changed or not. I am not sure as yet what the voting preferences are.
We are advocating no permit and a guidelines approach with a lot more support and education than is currently provided.
Moonee Valley Council and Hobsons Bay Council provide great benchmarks.
I am happy to share the presentation we gave if you would like to forward your email address.
If the draft on this page is what they are proposing (free permits, immediate approval if within guidelines)
https://www.yourcityyourvoice.com.au/nature-strips
and the permits are the sticking point, then it could be worth accepting the requirement for a permit to get it approved. They've obviously put a lot of thought and work into that document.
Community education is very expensive and doesn't necessarily work - just look at the trouble getting everyone to put the right things in each waste bin.
One of the roles of community groups I work with is to help ensure that residents who take part in their projects understand and respect their own council's guidelines. The longer I do this and see what people do while claiming that they've read and followed guidelines, the more I understand the caution of people who work in councils. That's why I did the Understanding the Space articles.
What if we view the application for a permit as a way for residents to signal their cooperation and commitment for the nature strips to be a positive learning experience for all stakeholders, including the council who has to cope with disputes when things go wrong? It could also give the council a way to monitor how well their documents are understood to feed into their next review of the guidelines.
I absolutely agree. There is a lot of education, trust and respect going both ways, however we need to move forward with increasing our green canopy, cooling our streetscapes, increasing biodiversity and highlighting an appreciation of storm water run off and healthy water catchments +++.
Permits are not a show stopper, however the less impediments in the way and more supports are in place then the community may be more inclined to plant out their verges especially if they are fully aware of the guiding frameworks and the benefits in doing so.
They also need to go into it with the mindset of 'it's not my garden' and be prepared for what goes with planting in a public space.
A questionnaire which is more of a education and comprehension tool could be an approach so long as is sensitive to the needs of our culturally diverse community. We felt that there could be more diagrams and graphics incorporated in the guidelines to make it easier for the diverse needs of the community to comprehend and more supporting fact sheets and reference material.
The education material already exists so I think maybe naively that councils need to collaborate on this more and share this material, which lightens the load on budgets.
There will always be outliers on each end of the spectrum no matter what the initiative.
I will have to review your 'Understanding the Space articles" as I wasn't aware of them. This is still a relatively new area for me.