About the southern end of Creswick Street

From February 2021 to late 2022, important sewer replacement works at the southern end of Creswick Street in Hawthorn had been underway. Due to these required works, the road was closed between the one-way Burwood Road access point and Denham Street.

Opportunity for feedback on the southern end of Creswick Street

During the sewer replacement works, we received requests from local community members to keep the one-way access from Burwood Road permanently closed. Through the Boroondara Community Plan 2021-31, you also told us that parks and green spaces are a priority.

We identified an opportunity to explore creating more open space in this area once the sewer works were finished.

Some options included:

• a partial closure, which would close the one-way section of Creswick Street from Burwood Road to where the existing car parking started.
• a full closure, which would close the length of Creswick Street and existing car parking, from Burwood Road to where Denham Street intersects with Creswick Street.

In June and July 2022, we consulted our community to better understand their preference for the future of this southern-end of the street.

We also completed a traffic study with electronic traffic counts in the surrounding streets to better understand the impact this possible permanent closure would have.

Outcomes of your feedback

We reviewed all community feedback we received and prepared a report based on the findings. You can view a summary of the community consultation findings in our news listing above.

The report was presented to Councillors for their consideration at the Services Delegated Committee (SDC) meeting on Monday 12 December 2022.

At the SDC meeting, Councillors approved to:

• keep Creswick Street closed to traffic between Burwood Road and Denham Street. This includes allowing for a small amount of permanent parking at the north end of the closure, and occasional parking and access such as that needed during the Head of the Yarra event.
• engage with the community and key stakeholders during 2023 in further developing the design of the Creswick Street closure in line with Option 3.
• consider funding from the Open Space Reserve to develop Creswick Street as a new open space during the annual budget process for the 2023/24 financial year.

Next steps

Following the decision at the SDC meeting, we will now keep the southern-end of Creswick Street closed to traffic from the Burwood Road entrance through removable bollards and signage.

Access to car parking at the north end of the closure will be available via Denham Street.

We will also:

• work through the third closure option.
• complete a second round of community consultation in early 2024 to help shape the draft concept design for the open space.
• work with a heritage consultant to make sure the open space design supports the heritage character of the area.

The access road off Denham Street to the Yarra Bank Reserve playground and Hawthorn Rowing Club site will stay open in the open space design.