Heritage-listed Mowbray Park is up for a major transformation. Locals will be delighted to note that the final concept plan for Mowbray Park includes a lot of green spaces.
Mowbray Park is a District General Recreation Park purchased by Brisbane City Council in 1903. The park features tree-lined paths and lawns spanning 3.1 hectares plus a ferry terminal and other leased facilities.
Council has released a concept plan that identifies potential park improvement projects for better park utilisation and to enhance Mowbray Park’s green space.
According to the final concept plan, the existing car park will be relocated from its location near the river bank to a new site located next to Lytton Road, where the East Brisbane Bowl Club is currently located.
The East Brisbane Bowl Club, which has not been used for a decade, will be demolished to create a new green space plus a parkour and active play facilities will be introduced as well to further enhance the recreation experience in the park.
Backbone Youth Arts, which used to lease the former bowls club site, will transition to a new performing arts facility at the Seven Hills Hub starting February 2022.
The car park will leave behind over 2,733 sqm of riverfront space which will be transformed into a new green space. The plan also includes the installation of picnic facilities, kickabout space, and a large flat informal recreation space next to the riverfront.
Also included is a planned extension to the south of the existing playground with the existing picnic facilities to undergo an upgrade and installation of creative lighting to activate the park in the evening.
Moreover, a bandstand will be reinstated as an open contemporary structure that will take advantage of the river views.
The release of the final concept plan comes after a series of community consultations conducted mid-2021 with 560 residents responding through online and in-person meetings.
The community engagement summary revealed, among other things, the improvements that locals would like, including an upgrade of the playground and pathways, reinstatement of bandstand/rotunda, more native vegetation, more shrubs with colour, and an upgrade of the Bowls Club site for community use.
Some Opposition
The plan, however, has not been without some opposition.
Save Our Bowlo has actively opposed the planned demolition of the East Brisbane Bowl Club. In a recent statement, the group said that the concept plan “represents poor planning that is environmentally questionable and will impact social cohesion and degrade resident amenity.”
The group said that the club’s demolition exposes the park to pollution (air, noise and visual) from six lanes of traffic on Lytton Rd. The removal will also destroy a “highly activated and valued community space that is affordable, safe and socially & culturally significant to East Brisbane.” According to them, it will remove a public asset that “supports a broad spectrum of creative and collective activity.”
