North and West Melbourne Association » Open space

CoRBA Meeting with Lindsay Tanner

Bill — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 05:28:31 +0000

Last Tuesday, 8 June 2010, the Coalition of Residents and Business
Associations – Melbourne (CORBA) met with the Federal Member for
Melbourne, Lindsay Tanner at his Melbourne electorate office. The
North and West Melbourne Association (NWMA) was represented by Kevin Chamberlin, Vice Chair and Bill Cook, Treasurer.

CORBA had meet with Lindsay previously on the issue of Melbourne City
Council (MCC) reform. He was very supportive of the need for reform
and offered strong views on some aspects of the problem. The CORBA
position paper on MCC reform, supported by the NWMA , is on the
website of CoRBA ( www.corba-melbourne.com )and this may be reached through the link on the NWMA website. www.nwma.org.au

Lindsay pointed out that he had raised the matter with Richard Wynne,
the Minister for Local Government, who advised that the Government was
satisfied with the current MCC structure and electoral system and no
review would take place. The NWMA understands from a number of sources within the
ALP that Richard Wynne actually wants the MCC reformed, but our Local
Member Bronwyn Pike and the Premier John Brumby do not. Hence, the
Cabinet position of no reform prevails.

Lindsay undertook to discuss the matter further with Richard Wynne after he had met with CoRBA and to write to him again requesting a comprehensive review of the MCC.
For example, the election system and structure of the MCC is so unjust, as it is never required to be reviewed. Every other municipality in Victoria is required by the Local Government Act to be reviewed every two terms. A number of other aspects of the MCC election system and structure are also of concern as they are designed to reduce the influence of small business and residential groups and hence undermine the democracy and good governance in our Council.

Please refer to the CORBA position paper for a comprehensive
presentation of all the reasons for reform of the MCC. You will be
very surprised at how undemocratic the system is and how the Labor
State Government actually made the system worse than the one left
behind by the former Liberal/National Government.

Several other matters affecting individual CoRBA members were raised generally supporting the CoRBA dissatisfaction with the Council structure, voting system and consequent performance. These included:

Latrobe Close and the use of Federal stimulus money to provide social housing in a way that excluded community input, ignored the planning scheme and would be to the long term detriment of the intended occupants;
the housing scheme on the Carlton Public Housing Estate creating an exclusive gated community;
the thwarting of the purchase of a suitable facility for a community centre in Carlton;
the decision on the Swanston Street upgrade, involving a process that failed to take into account the needs of affected business interests, especially small business;
the process for the purchase of the JH Boyd site in Southbank, by the City of Melbourne, which has failed to provide much-needed open space for this intensely developed area by selling off a major part of the site for further intense development and has failed to consult properly with local residents; and
totally inadequate consultation with the community by the Council.

La Trobe Close submission to Minister Richard Wynn

alba — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:16:11 +0000

The NWMA’s submission sent on the 15 January 2010 to the Hon Richard Wynne, Minister for Housing on the proposed redevelopment of La Trobe Close. For readers information

Dear Minister

Re 210-232 Chetwynd Street, 21-43 Courtney Street and 181-197 Howard Street, North Melbourne.
We wish to make the following submission to the Minister for Housing, Richard Wynne MP, on the Government’s proposal for the Latrobe Close redevelopment on the corner of Howard, Chetwynd and Courtney Streets, North Melbourne.

The North and West Melbourne Association (NWMA), through its predecessor the North Melbourne Association, was established in 1967 and has operated continuously since that date. Its substantial membership consists of residents and workers from North and West Melbourne. The Association and its members were involved in the initial consultation with the government authorities and its consultants regarding the purchase of this site and its proposed redevelopment. Undertakings were given at that time to the community regarding a number of issues in relation to this site, particularly child care and open space.

The Association became involved in this latest proposal for this site when it became public knowledge and was well advanced in government and Council processes in late November/early December, 2009. By this time, the Local Member for Melbourne, Bronwyn Pike, had been briefed by the Department of Housing in late October 2009. The City of Melbourne Planning officers had also had a number of meetings with Government representatives and their consultants on this redevelopment.

The NWMA is very concerned about the quality of the consultation, the planning process surrounding this development and the situation we now find ourselves in. The Association believes this proposal fails every principle of good governance and proper and orderly planning of this area, apart from the provision of increased social housing in the area.

The concerns of the NWMA are as follows:
Height and Built Form
The height and built form is grossly excessive and should be no greater than 9 metres and should be consistent with the built form of the Residential 1 parts of North Melbourne. The proposal as it stands creates an alarming precedent, should it ever be approved and constructed. It would essentially open up most of the inner Melbourne Residential 1 zone to inappropriate high rise development.
The Association also believes that the building proposed has little relationship with the surrounding streetscapes and, in fact, detracts from their value and amenity.

Heritage
The proposal has little or no regard for the heritage built form in the area, where it is proposed to demolish or significantly modify important heritage buildings on the site. It is of concern to the Association that our Council did not vigorously pursue this matter with the Department. Other submissions will deal with this issue in more detail. The Association requests that an independent heritage advisor be consulted to assess all structures on the site and to advise on the appropriate form of any new development.

Sustainability.
• Due to the inadequate public consultation and lack of publicly available documentation on this development, it has not been possible for the NWMA to make an informed response to the issues around sustainability. The NWMA is of the view that this development should not be designed using minimum standards but should be state of the art in its environmental performance standards. We also believe that the height and density and orientation of the current proposal does not promote good environmental practice.

Traffic and Parking

The Association believes that development as proposed by the Government does not provide sufficient resident and visitor car-parking on site. We have been advised that this development will not have access to the resident parking scheme administered by the Council. Given that all kerbside and centre of road parking in the area is time limited, we believe that this mix is a recipe for disaster. Where will the residents and visitors park? This reinforces our conclusion that the proposal represents an over development, and is inappropriate for the site. The Association is of the strong opinion that Government should be leading by example and make an informed assessment of the actual needs for parking and traffic and not rely on the minimum provisions prescribed under the planning scheme.
The Association is totally opposed to any modification to centre of road medians and nature strips in the surrounding streets.

Current Public Housing Stock on site
The Association is totally opposed to the sale of the area identified as Stage 2 in the development onto the private market. We believe that this important family and other accommodation is of a reasonable standard to be upgraded, and retained in public ownership.

Child Care and Open Space
When the site was purchased, amongst many other things, agreement was given for the construction of an employment and community based child care facility incorporating a shared open space component on the site of the proposed stage 1 of the development (the warehouse at 210 Chetwynd Street and the adjoining vacant land to the North).
Several attempts were made by both the Community and the Council to have the proposed childcare facility and open space developed – without success. The Association now believes that the need for quality early childhood education and care in inner Melbourne has reached a critical level and the obligation on the landowners to provide such a facility should not be allowed to lapse, as it was part of the original agreement with the community.

Recommendations.

The NWMA recommends that:
1. The staged development proposed for the entire site in its current form be abandoned.
2. In consultation with the Association and the community, a strategy be drawn up for the future use and development of the site, including
a. More appropriate built form and scale
b. Recognition of heritage issues
c. Appropriate tenancy and occupancy mix in public ownership
d. Satisfactory resolution of traffic and parking issues
3. The Government approach the Church of England Property Trust with a view to acquiring the land immediately to the South of the site fronting Queensberry and Chetwynd Streets. This will allow for an expanded site that will accommodate an appropriate social housing development with a much-needed early childhood education facility included. We believe the process for the sale of this land within the Church is well advanced.
4. Any planning to be undertaken on this site for the provision of an early childhood education centre be subject to consultation with the Melbourne City Council in the preparation of its ‘Municipal Early Years Plan’ for families and children aged 0-12 years for the 2009-2013 period.
5. The planning and implementation of this development should incorporate the highest available standards of environmental performances and be an exemplar for buildings of this residential type in the same way as Council House 2 has been for commercial administrative buildings.
6. Consideration be given to the future of the eastern carriageway of Chetwynd Street between Courtney and Queensberry Streets for public open space.
7. The existing housing stock on the site be retained for public housing and that it be upgraded.

Yours sincerely,

Kevin Chamberlin and Bill Cook
On behalf of the North and West Melbourne Association Inc.

Latest Resident Meeting on Latrobe Close on December 3

Bill — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:00:05 +0000

On Thursday 3 December 2009, the NWMA in conjunction with the Latrobe Close Group, convened a public meeting at the Castle Hotel, attended by 24 people.

Latrobe Close is bounded by Chetwynd, Courtney and Howard Streets North Melbourne, where the State Government, with Federal Government funding propose to construct a seven storey block of residential units. This proposal has been opposed by the Council of the City of Melbourne.

As a result of public protest and pressure applied to the local member, the Minister for Housing, Richard Wynne has agreed to defer a decision on the this development to allow further consultation to take place between Monday December 7, 2009 and closing on Friday January 15, 2010. The public meeting has appointed a sub-committee where further members are welcome, to prepare a community submission.

This sub-committee will be meeting on Wednesday 9th at 6 to 7,30 pm at the Castle Hotel, first floor, corner of Wreckyn and Courtney Streets North Melbourne – all welcome.

It is important that members of the community make their own submission on this development to the Minister for Housing, with copies to local MP’s Bronwyn Pike

LaTrobe Close Redevelopment-meeting with Bronwyn Pike 1/12/2009

alba — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:36:25 +0000

A briefing meeting on Latrobe Close was held for local residents at the office of local member Bronwyn Pike at 6.00pm on Tuesday, December 1, 2009 with between fifty and sixty people from the surrounding area attending. As well as Minister Pike and representatives from her office, there was a representative from Minister Wynn’s office, project team members from the Department of Human Services and representatives from town planning consultants, Davis Langdon.

Despite the number of experts in attendance, many of the questions asked by the locals failed to receive convincing answers. It was all about trusting the experts, who inevitably gave answers that did not conform with the opinions of the attendees as to how the development should proceed, especially with the lack of consultation on the part of the proponents and the appalling lack of a proper due process to deal with the planning of these projects involving State defined ‘social housing’ and ‘nation-building’ money.

Examples of the ‘spin’ answers include:

The justification of seven stories, being objectively determined by the proper design team process – nothing to do with the Ministerial brief!
The project could go to seven stories because there was no design or development overlay to restrict the height – only a heritage overlay.
The trees to be removed were decided on the recommendation of an arborist.
The justification of the small number of car parks, particularly in the social housing section on the basis of predetermined ratios (.43 per unit in the social housing and .77 per unit in the Stage 2), which took no account of the local conditions or the needs of existing residents and business.
Failure to answer the question about whether Stage 2 would actually be done, as it was not to be funded with Federal money.

There were a number of speakers who raised questions about the design and management of the social housing. A lack of confidence in Melbourne Affordable Housing to consult with and, to manage the relocation of exiting residents was voiced and questions were raised about the high number of one bedroom units.

Our local member, who is also the Minister of Education, answered concerns about how Errol Street Primary School would manage an influx of new local students.

Questions raised about the existing open space on Chetwynd Street and in the development were not adequately answered. The open access claimed by the experts as recreation space was clearly mainly for access, even though it was denied that it was a gated community.

The question about an agreement with the State Government that had been made long ago to use the Chetwynd Street open space for a child care centre appeared to be news to many of the planners.

Many other questions were asked, such as whether the medians would be breached and whether links could be made to the Church.

There was great concern about the measurement of heights, as the plans measured height above sea level and not above ground level, which gives a much more realistic picture of how high the buildings are relatively. This created difficulties as the site dropped by 4m from east to west.

Our local member will take the issues raised at the meeting to the Minister of Housing, Richard Wynne, for further discussion. It was not clear how this would be reported back to residents and local business, although a comprehensive list of attendees and their addresses were collected.

Latrobe Close – 210 Chetwynd St. – Proposed development.

alan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:23:23 +0000

This site, owned by the State Government, is a very substantial site in north and West Melbourne. It is bounded by Chetwynd Street, Courtney Street and Howard Street, the whole block north of St Mary’s Anglican Church. The site is to be redeveloped intensively, 220 units, with about 120 Social Housing units being funded under the Federal ‘Nation Building’ Program. The State has instituted procedures for these projects which allow it to bypass normal planning processes. The following general information has been provided by the Office of Local Member Bronwyn Pike. Download details – Latrobe close north melbourne SITE-1