Melbourne’s city kiosks set to be scrapped

Melbourne nine CBD footpath kiosks will be scrapped before the end of the year.

Two of the kiosks are already gone, and another seven will not have their leases renewed in November.

Councillor Nicolas Frances-Gilley, council transport chairman for the City of Melbourne, told Ross and John the kiosks are being removed due to overcrowding in the city.

“We just really need the space,” he said.

There are nearly a million people using CBD footpaths everyday and that figure is expected to rise to 1.5 million people in 15 years.

“When you put something quite big on the pavement people walk around it and it’s getting people walking in the curb or onto the road and that’s really unsafe,” Cr Frances-Gilley said.

Cr Frances-Gilley said it had also become harder to find and retain tenants for the kiosks due to the decline of cigarette and newspaper sales.

The council hopes to find new homes for the footpath kiosks. The two kiosks which have already been shut down have been moved to Chesterfield Farm in Scoresby and Collingwood Children’s Farm.

Other measures the council is taking to remove obstructions from footpaths include introducing more street parking to get motorbikes off footpaths, and negotiating with Telstra to remove advertising booths.

Press PLAY below to hear what Cr Frances-Gilley had to say to Ross and John this morning.