Melbourne’s most iconic bridges, significant trees, as well as certain running trails around the city, will be illuminated all year round, with Nick Reece to extend his Light Up Melbourne Plan, if he is re-elected as Lord Mayor.
The plan is set to transform 20 of Melbourne’s laneways with new designer decorative lighting, to keep business booming for our hospitality industry after dark. Businesses will also be able to access grants to help light up some of Melbourne’s most iconic heritage buildings.
The extension of Light Up Melbourne follows overwhelming positive feedback by the community and will see an additional $3 million invested to install decorative spot lighting on some of Melbourne’s most historically significant bridges - Princes Bridge, Sandridge Bridge and Morell Bridge, as well as King Street Bridge and Queens Bridge.
These designer decorative and multi-coloured lights will be programmable for special events and significant cultural days, enhancing Melbourne’s nighttime appeal – making the Yarra River an even more vibrant nighttime destination.
Funding will also be allocated to illuminate some of Melbourne’s most significant trees, showcasing their beauty at night. This will go towards trees that are highly visible from public spaces such as the 100-year-old palm trees along the Yarra River the boulevard of elm and plane trees along St Kilda Road or the plane trees of Collins Street.
We’ll also add more lighting to running trails to keep them as lit up and safe as possible for Melburnians. The City of Melbourne will undertake an audit of running tracks and fitness areas around the city, and identify areas where lighting needs to be improved.
This will be done in close consultation with resident groups recognising the sensitivities around the interface between residential and recreational areas.
We will also work closely with businesses and other organisations to help light up other important landmarks across the city to make Melbourne even more attractive and safe for residents and visitors.
Quotes attributable to Lord Mayor Nick Reece:
“Melbourne is a great river city, and I want to celebrate our historic bridges by properly lighting them at night so we can create a new attraction for people. River cities like London and Paris make the most of their beautiful bridges and we could do more of this in Melbourne.”
“Melbourne has some of the most extraordinary trees of any major city in the world, we want to make a feature of these trees by lighting them up for public enjoyment and attraction at night.”
“The feedback we’ve received during this campaign about our Light Up Melbourne plan has been emphatically positive – so we want to take it even further, lighting up historic bridges and major trees.”
“This will make this great city of ours even better – it’s all part of our positive plan to make Melbourne even more vibrant, as well as safer for everyone.”
Quotes attributable to Councillor and Deputy Lord Mayor candidate Roshena Campbell:
“Lighting up iconic places around Melbourne will be fantastic for residents and visitors, help bring people into the city and give our hospitality sector a boost.”
“We know Melburnians love to stay active by getting around our city – by putting more lights on Melbourne’s running trails we can help people do that more often and as safely as possible.”
