Community infrastructure

Stonnington is advocating for measures to help us protect and enhance community infrastructure.

What is community infrastructure?

Community infrastructure supports residents' social, cultural, educational, and recreational needs. At Stonnington, this includes places that support service provision, such as theatres, libraries, community centres, sports pavilions, neighbourhood houses, men's sheds, and scout halls.

Our community infrastructure aims to allow access to programs and services. However, we face challenges that affect our capacity to deliver and maintain it.

Read our Community infrastructure fact sheet(PDF, 318KB).

The need for partnership

Inner-metropolitan councils face higher land costs, service relocation requirements, and limited opportunities to deliver infrastructure at scale. Funding is largely tied to designated growth areas, but demand beyond these leaves councils to fund the gap.

Stonnington has a growing population and ageing assets. There is significant housing growth in inner-metropolitan areas, but current frameworks will not sustain growth. We must work with the State Government and regional partners (such as the M9 group) to address this.

M9 is seeking increased infrastructure investment to manage future population growth. This supports areas expected to absorb significant population growth to 2050, under the Activity Centres program.

Victoria’s 30-year infrastructure strategy

This advocacy priority aligns with the following recommendations in Victoria’s 30-year infrastructure strategy 2025-2055:

Recommendation 2 – Facilitate markets and invest in kindergarten infrastructure
Recommendation 6 – Make government infrastructure more accessible
Recommendation 17 – Help government schools share their grounds
Recommendation 18 – Invest in maintenance, upgrades and expansions of community health facilities.

Policy asks

Reasonable funding streams

General rates fund services and maintain assets for existing communities, while rate-capping limits councils' capacity to fund growth infrastructure. Therefore, the State Government must commit to predictable funding tied to growth.

We also call for a reassessment of exemptions that shift costs onto councils and communities.

Support our Significant Community Benefit Policy

The State Government Activity Centres program reduces opportunities for community benefits in return for increased building heights in the Chapel Street Activity Centre.

Planning law changes must allow us to keep collecting funds to enhance and expand public spaces and local infrastructure. The State Government must commit to implementing our policy when assessing development facilitation pathways.

Infrastructure Contributions Plans that meet local needs

We welcome proposed Infrastructure Contributions Plans (ICPs) to fund infrastructure in State Government Activity Centres. These must be co-designed with Councils so they add to infrastructure without increasing costs and obligations.

ICPs need to:

remove exemptions so private Homes Victoria developments contribute fairly to local infrastructure (community housing should remain exempt)
fairly fund Council administrative costs, including those for ICP infrastructure, systems upgrades, and ongoing collection
cover all infrastructure in activity centre catchments, including:
- integrated water management infrastructure
- smart city infrastructure
- upgrades to street and public places within catchments but outside activity centre cores.
exempt Council infrastructure from ICP charges to reduce waste and not disincentivise Council-led initiatives.

Key projects

Council has a number of projects ready for delivery if we secure funding from external partners.

Project	Funding	About the project
Chapel Off Chapel	$500,000	Replace seating at the Chapel off Chapel theatre, uplifting an important and beloved community asset.
Chapel Street Masterplan	$600,000	Contribute to the masterplanning of Chapel St, a critical multicultural, transport, entertainment and business precinct.
Extended hours at library	$200,000	Upgrade Malvern Library to provide a ‘libraries after dark program.’ Invest in capital infrastructure to extend our library opening hours and provide a safe community space.
Hawksburn shopping centre public toilet	$500,000	Add accessible public toilet block to service the Hawksburn shopping precinct, a popular activity centre.
KooyongKoot master plan	$2.5 million	Gardiners Creek Shared User Path upgrade to widen the path, and create recreation and biodiversity outcomes.
New Williams Street Park	$880,000	Create new open space at William Street, South Yarra.
Orrong Romanis Precinct	$200,000	Masterplan the site including the reserve, recreation centre and Hickey pavilion. Determine the best investment pathway to support growth in grassroots sports and participation in basketball and netball.
Pocket parks in activity centres	Up to $1 million	Upgrade and construct Balmoral and Perry Street Pocket Park, South Yarra.
Pocket parks in activity centres	$400,000	Convert Chris Gahan Centre to open space, with pedestrian connections to Izett St Pocket Park, Prahran.
Pocket parks in activity centres	Up to $700,000	Construct a pocket park at Porter and Grattan St, Prahran.
Prahran Market Lizzy Lane redevelopment	$9.5 million	Redevelop the Elizabeth St façade of the market, modernising the space and making the market safer for visitors.
Prahran Market master plan	$10 million	Modernise the market as a world-class community food and tourism destination. Redesign the market square roof and and uplift trader fitouts and facilities.
Prahran Town Hall	$200,000	Roofing works to protect and restore the historic Town Hall, a key anchor point for the precinct.
Princes Close Early Years Hub and family services	$16.2 million	Rebuild into a fit-for-purpose family and early years hub for the western end of Stonnington. More licensed places support population growth and a projected shortfall in kindergarten places in coming decades.
Regional accessible playgrounds	$2.5 million per playground	Construct regional accessible playgrounds at Phoenix Park and Orrong Romanis.
Solar panels for Prahran Town Hall and Prahran Market	Town Hall: $150,000 Market: $200,000	Install solar panels to deliver on Council’s Climate Emergency Action Plan and roadmap to zero corporate emissions.
Winter Street Early Years Hub	$14 million	Refresh and co-locate Early Years services, Maternal and Child Health, and the Toy Library. This site is adjacent to Activity Centre growth areas in Armadale, Malvern and Caulfield. Redevelopment will create more licensed kindergarten places.

More information

For more information, please visit our Advocacy page.