In 2019, the hottest and driest year in Australia’s recorded history, the City of Port Phillip (CoPP) declared a climate emergency. The most effective way to mitigate urban heat islands is through greening, that is planting trees and diverse vegetation. Greening provides additional benefits including improved biodiversity, health and well-being, reduced air and noise pollution and enhanced commercial areas all of which contribute to liveable, sustainable, equitable and vibrant neighbourhoods. To improve urban greening across the municipality, the City of Port Phillip (CoPP) released its second Urban Forest Strategy in 2024 (2024–2040), setting the following vision: In the City of Port Phillip, urban greening is healthy and abundant, biodiversity is valued and supported, and nature connects the community. The Urban Forest Strategy contains five objectives:

• Objective 1: Increased canopy cover on public and private land for a liveable, sustainable, equitable and vibrant city.
  
  
• Objective 2: Cooler and greener city which is resilient to more extreme weather and changes in rainfall.
  
  
• Objective 3: Our community is engaged, trees and plants are valued, and we build partnerships to green our urban environment across all land types.
  
  
• Objective 4: A well-managed forest, including tree health and quality, pest and disease management, and succession planning for iconic species and locations.
  
  
• Objective 5: A biodiverse urban forest with diverse species, healthy ecosystems and habitat.

As part of the Urban Forest Strategy, CoPP has set a target to achieve 30% canopy cover on streets and a minimum of 40% canopy cover in public spaces (excluding sports field areas) by 2040, along with an increase in biodiverse planting and permeable surfaces.

This draft Urban Forest Precinct Plan (UFPP) for St Kilda and St Kilda West provides guidance on greening projects based on the neighbourhood’s current and future character, the objectives of the Urban Forest Strategy, and local challenges related to urban forest planning.

The 7 key actions are:

1. Designing new streets for greening and shade
2. Enhancing and maintaining existing streetscapes
3. Increasing canopy and biodiversity in parks and open space
4. Greening beyond council land through partnerships and advocacy
5. Canopy that can withstand foreshore conditions
6. New canopy planting to address significant heritage conditions
7. Proposed canopy trees, including replacement species and staged transformations to address issues of disease and site specific challenge

Review the draft Urban Forest Precinct Plan (UFPP) for more detail about these key actions (pages xx)

An urban forest is all the trees, plants and green spaces in a town or city. It includes street trees, park trees, vegetation in nature strips, and other greenery that helps cool the area, support wildlife, and make neighbourhoods healthier and more pleasant.

The suburbs of St Kilda & St Kilda West form one of nine neighbourhoods within the City of Port Phillip (CoPP).

In 2023, the CoPP assessed tree canopy cover on both public and private land between 2012 and 2022. The study examined canopy cover on roads, public spaces, and private properties.

Over the ten-year period, the analysis revealed a slight overall decline in tree canopy cover of 0.69%. Roads had a canopy cover of approximately 26%, significantly higher than the average for inner-city Melbourne.

Most canopy growth came from the growth of existing street trees, while canopy levels in parks remained largely unchanged. However, tree removals on private land reduced overall canopy cover by 1.09%. Notably, more than half of the private land canopy resulted from new plantings during this period. iThis study revealed that the St Kilda & St Kilda West neighbourhood has an overall canopy cover of 19% - the third highest in the municipality after Elwood & Ripponlea and Balaclava & St Kilda East.

Following the adoption of this UFPP, the next phase will involve detailed designs for priority streets, applying appropriate greening interventions. This will involve further community engagement Initiatives such as tree planting programs will fill in any gaps and work with residents on streets where we can slowly transition the species to improve canopy cover and resilience. Partnerships with other agencies will enable Council to increase shade and promote biodiverse planting.

Some problems along the foreshore in the iconic precinct include:

• Choosing the right plant species and planning how we plant them.
• Taking care of old, important heritage trees and protecting areas with heritage value.

Some streets will need bigger changes to improve shade from trees and support more biodiversity.