What can residents do to help make this happen?
The consultation closed in October 2025. The council votes at its 12 May meeting. To get it over the line, councillors need to hear from residents who support it.
- Register your support - gives us direct evidence of resident backing to take to councillors before the vote
- Write to your councillor - a short email from a constituent puts your view on the record now
- Speak at the council meeting - speaking in person in front of all nine councillors carries a lot of weight if you’re up for it; registrations open the week before 12 May
- If you’ve previously expressed opposition, it’s not too late to change your mind
If you support the idea but not every detail, there’s a section for that too.
Show your support
Register your support first. It takes a minute, and you don’t need to live locally to register. Local voices carry the most weight with councillors, but support from across the city matters too. Add your suburb and we’ll present both. Registering also means we can reach you with specific asks as 12 May approaches (speaking at council, calling your councillor) when those asks will count most.
Write and call councillors
A short, specific email is more useful than a long one. A phone call as well is even better. Consider mentioning:
- That you support Option 1 (Bicycle Street) for Stage 4 (the Clifton Hill section) and Stage 3 (the Collingwood section)
- How the upgrades are going to improve Wellington Street for you, your family, your friends
- That you are a local resident (and, if relevant, a Wellington Street user by foot, bike, or car) or a Yarra resident if you are - you can and should still contact them if not though!
All councillor contact details are on Yarra City Council’s councillors page. To reach the full council at once: crs@yarracity.vic.gov.au.
The decision on both stages is made by all nine councillors, not just those for the wards through which it passes, but these are the most important ones to contact.
- Cr Stephen Jolly (Mayor) leads the council.
- Cr Sarah McKenzie (Yarra Bend ward) covers the Clifton Hill section of Wellington Street directly.
- Cr Sophie Wade (Hoddle ward) covers the Collingwood section.
- Cr Kenneth Gomez (Nicholls ward, mainly Fitzroy North) represents the ward at the Queens Parade end of the corridor.
The southern end of the project is in the City of Melbourne, and has no wards, so has no specific member to speak to.
Speak at council
The council is expected to vote at its 12 May meeting. Speaking in person, in front of all nine councillors, carries more weight than any written submission.
Register to speak. Yarra Council allows members of the public to speak on agenda items at council meetings. Register via the meeting page during the week leading up to the meeting and by 6:30pm on 11 May.
Support it, but not quite convinced by the options?
If the general direction is right but something doesn’t sit well, the answer is not to oppose the project. The two options put out for consultation are not fixed: feedback from the consultation informs the officer report, council staff use that to refine what is presented to councillors, officers make a recommendation, and councillors may then take a different path again. There is real scope for the final decision to reflect specific concerns raised during this process.
The most useful path is to register your support and tell councillors specifically what you’d like adjusted. Opposing the project doesn’t remove just the parts you’d change: it removes the raised zebra crossing at the school, the speed limit reduction, the new trees, and the quieter street, while keeping a huge number of vehicles a day rolling past. A note to your councillor that says “I support the shared street approach, but I want to see X addressed” gives them something concrete to act on.
Register your support and write to your councillor with your support but flagging your concerns. That combination is far more likely to produce a better outcome than a no vote.
If your child attends Clifton Hill Primary
The school’s formal support would carry weight with councillors. Clifton Hill Primary can submit to council or write directly to ward councillors in favour of the shared street option.
As a parent, you can raise it at a school council meeting, with the principal, or through the P&C. The shared street option directly improves safety at the school gate: a raised zebra crossing, the speed limit for cars and bikes dropping from 40 to 30 km/h, and through-traffic removed from in front of the school. A school submission to council supporting these changes would be meaningful evidence for councillors weighing the decision.
Changed your mind?
The concerns circulating about the proposals seemed plausible enough. The parking number is large. But the 66-space figure applies only to Option 2, the traffic diversion claims don’t hold up against the data, and the school safety evidence points the other way.
If you signed the petition, put up a sign, submitted feedback against the options, or wrote to council in opposition and have since reconsidered, there are a few practical things you can do.
The sign. Take it to the Clifton Hill Recycling Centre on Roseneath Street. If it’s easier, get in touch and I can collect it.
Your petition signature. Change.org allows you to remove your signature. Instructions on the Change.org help page.
Your consultation submission. The consultation has closed and submissions can’t be withdrawn, but you can still write to your councillor to let them know your view has changed and to disregard your earlier submission.
Your email to council. If you wrote to a councillor in opposition, you can write again with your updated view. A brief note saying you’ve looked into the proposals more carefully and now support Option 1 (Shared Street) gives the councillor a concrete and useful data point: a constituent who moved in the other direction after examining the evidence.
Anything else?
If you’d like a sign for your fence or window before the vote, let us know. If something on this site isn’t clear or you have a question we haven’t answered, get in touch.