The feedback is in

The City of Melbourne and VicUrban say they have consulted with 3701 people on the future of Docklands during the first phase of their Second Decade of Docklands project.

Of these, they say 1892 people have responded, with some 1772 giving written feedback.

The biggest single group of respondents (665) were people who were asked their thoughts on Docklands while visiting VicUrban’s office, the Goods Shed North, during Melbourne Open House in July.

They say they had a further 319 comments off a website as well as 292 comments via Herald Sun newspaper online polls.

They say they collected 150 comments from a Docklands “speak out” event on August 8 and 40 comments from specially organised sessions with “hard to reach” youth, disabled, culturally and linguistically diverse and elderly people. A further 35 community comments came from a community forum on July 29.

The rest of the comments came from business and government.

During the next phase of the project the council and VicUrban will analyse and present their findings. They promise to “clearly identify the actions needed to deliver the shared vision” by April next year.

At the Docklands Co-ordination Committee meeting on September 16, VicUrban social economic development director Sunny Haynes outlined the findings to date.

Ms Haynes said people had polarised views on Docklands. People either loved it or they hated it, she said.

She said the most popular themes emerging under the various headings employed were:

Embracing the harbour: Ferries, view-lines, boating events and water taxis;

Events and attractions: Markets, outdoor cinema and watching and playing sport;

Creating character: Diverse population, nooks and crannies, primary school, trees and green spaces and small businesses;

Getting to and around Docklands: Prioritise bike lanes and pedestrians and more parking;

Technology and sustainability: Windpower and free wifi.

Ms Haynes said “Darzin” software would be used to help analyse the responses.