Shining a light on our beautiful waterfront

Published on 11 November 2024

Our City’s most popular visitor attraction is now better than ever, with lighting added to key pedestrian hot spots along the Frankston foreshore.

In the past months, Council has added specialised lighting – designed to meet requirements for public safety on a path in an open space, while still minimising impacts on the environment, including marine life and local fauna - at:

• The foreshore boardwalk from the Frankston Pier to Grandview Grove (ensuring continuous boardwalk lighting is now in place from Waves Restaurant to Olivers Hill Beach.
• Frankston Yacht Club – pedestrian lighting from the Davey Street Bridge along the path connecting to the yacht club.
• Wells Street Bridge – floor-based lighting to remove dark spaces, and improve accessibility and safety for people walking over Kananook Creek at night.

The lighting design and operating hours (5am to sunrise and sunset to 10pm in summer, and 6am to sunrise and sunset to 8pm in winter) are in accordance with all Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), Dark Sky and National Light Pollution Requirements for Wildlife.

Lighting the Frankston waterfront and foreshore was the top priority identified by the community during the development of the Lighton Frankston Plan.

As part of the plan engagement in 2021, the community was asked “what places would you visit more in the evening if better lighting was provided?” Of the 136 respondents, 85 (62.5 per cent) chose the waterfront.

Participants were also asked “where would benefit from better lighting in Frankston City?” The waterfront and foreshore were again highly prioritised:

• Key city street and laneways (88 responses)
• Frankston waterfront and foreshore areas (77 responses)
• Open spaces such as parks and reserves (74 responses)

During intercept surveys, many participants also considered the waterfront to include coastal boardwalks, piers and open around foreshore businesses.

DEECA and other key stakeholder groups were also engaged as part of the new lighting designs.

The lighting upgrades are expected to bring more visitors to our shores - visitor numbers to the boardwalk area have also almost doubled in the past three to four years making it one of Frankston City’s five most popular destinations, with about 50 per cent of users being local.

More information about Lighting Frankston Plan https://www.frankston.vic.gov.au/Planning-and-Building/Major-City-Projects/Urban-Design