Open space and outdoor recreation
- street trees
- park trees
- gardens
- grassed areas
- playgrounds
- public furniture (like seats, picnic settings and bins)
- road reserves
- spaces for outdoor dining
- sportsgrounds
- sport pavilions and club rooms.
Thank you to everyone who shared their feedback during community consultation. Over 430 people provided their feedback through a survey and at an in-person workshop activity.
View the adopted plan
Visit our website to read the adopted Boroondara Asset Plan.
Summary of our Asset Plan
Our Asset Plan guides how we look after community assets such as roads, footpaths, drains, parks and community buildings.
It sets out how we’ll maintain and renew these assets over the next 10 years to keep them safe, reliable and continue to meet community needs. The plan also outlines the costs involved and how we’ll manage them in a financially sustainable way.
Each Council is required to update their Asset Plan every 4 years through the Local Government Act 2020. Ours supports the goals of the Boroondara Community Plan, which sets the vision for our city – and the Asset Plan shows how we’ll make that happen.
Our assets
Council owns a range of buildings and infrastructure across Boroondara. Every year, we carefully allocate money to provide and maintain our assets.
These assets help us provide important services for the community and can be grouped into the following 3 categories:
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Community buildings
- libraries
- healthy ageing centres
- community centres
- arts and cultural centres
- early learning centres
- maternal and child health centres
- public toilets
- leisure centres and pools.
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Streets, lighting and drainage networks
- council-owned local streets
- council-owned car parks
- footpaths
- laneways
- off-road paths for walking and riding
- public lighting
- stormwater drains.
Community consultation
Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts during consultation. We received more than 430 responses through the survey and community workshops.
- Email alert to people signed up to this website, whose interests match this topic
- Email alert to people who opted in to hear more through the Boroondara Community Plan survey
- Posters displayed at our Customer Service desk and libraries
- Fortnightly Feed email newsletter to around 35,000 community members
- Social media posts on Council’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.
We invited the Boroondara community to share their views on Boroondara’s assets through 2 activities.
1. Community survey
In September 2024, 281 community members helped us rank which assets – such as parks, buildings and streets – were most important to them. People from all suburbs in Boroondara had their say. Of those who participated:
- Most were aged 50 or over (75%)
- 15% were aged between 35 to 49 years
- Over 16% lived in Kew, 15% lived in Camberwell, followed by 14% in Hawthorn.
We also received feedback from members of Boroondara Youth Voice, a group of young people aged 12 to 17 who regularly meet to discuss local issues. The asset groups the community said we should prioritise are:
- Park trees and gardens – (selected by 73% of participants)
- Street trees – 61%
- Off-road paths for walking and riding – 60%
- Public toilets – 58%
- Libraries – 47%
- Footpaths – 48%
- Customer service centres, rubbish and recycling depots – 44%
- Street seats and litterbins – 42%
- Leisure centres and pools – 40%
- Stormwater drains – 39%
- Park and off-road path lighting – 39%
- Street lighting – 38%.
"Boroondara is known and loved for its leafy green character. Recently the number of trees being lost is of great concern."
(70 to 84-year-old from Camberwell)
2. Community workshops
In February and March 2025, about 150 community members were asked to consider where Council could spend more or spend less on essential infrastructure. Working in small groups, people considered 15 different asset categories and different cost scenarios.
This process allowed community members to rank areas they consider most important for funding to least important.
More than half of participants supported keeping the current level of spending for 11 of the 15 asset groups.
Where participants wanted to spend more:
- Public lighting – received the strongest support for increased funding (54%). Community members backed upgrades to the streetlight network so that about 70% of streets meet current standards, rather than only upgrading when issues arise.
- Off-road paths – also had strong support for more funding (48%), with many wanting to see all stages of the Bicycle Strategy delivered.
Other asset groups where more than 30% of participants supported higher spending included:
- Trees – for more frequent pruning and planting an additional 200 trees each year.
- Footpaths – to replace paths earlier and improve their appearance.
- Public toilets – for better cleaning, clearer signage and one new facility each year.
“Spend more, as it supports all members of the community and the vulnerable. It's not waste but an investment in the health of Boroondara”.
Where participants preferred to spend less:
- Grass maintenance received the strongest support for reduced spending (54%), with suggestions to mow every 3-4 weeks in less prominent areas.
- Sports fields, pavilions and clubrooms – also received some support for reduced funding, as they serve a smaller part of the community. While these facilities provide important health and wellbeing benefits, there may be opportunities to explore alternative funding or shared-cost arrangements in future.
- Roads and kerbs received mixed feedback – 50% supported the current spend, while 32% preferred to spend less by extending pavement life. 18% supported extra funding to replace roads earlier.
"There are lots of council owned facilities that sit empty 90% of the time- scout halls, community centres, heritage society buildings et while the kindergartens are full with waitlists. Would be great to see some existing facilities made into multipurpose."
(25- to 34-year-old from Canterbury)
