NEW ‘MINISTER FOR REZONING’ IN BAILLIEU GOVERNMENT

MEDIA RELEASE
20 February 2012
NEW ‘MINISTER FOR REZONING’ IN BAILLIEU GOVERNMENT

Following his outrageous and clearly suspect decision to rezone land at Philip Island to allow a Liberal ‘mate’ to make vast profits out a new housing development, Minister Matthew Guy is at it again in inner-city East Brunswick.
Last week with no warning he rezoned a large parcel of land along the Merri Creek from ‘Residential 1’ to ‘Special Use’ to allow power companies to proceed with a fourfold expansion of the existing Brunswick Terminal Station. This is despite the fact that local government, Moreland Council, has twice rejected this proposal on the grounds that it is an unsuitable development for such a highly residential and environmentally sensitive area.
It appears that we now have a new portfolio in the Baillieu Government – Minister for Rezoning.
When they don’t like a decision made at the local government level, they simply send in the Minister for Rezoning to make a decision that overrides the state’s democratic planning processes – and cut out any opposing voices. Those concerned at the Minister’s plans for greater development of the Melbourne skyline should be alarmed.
Minister Guy’s decision, based purely on the economic arguments put forward by power companies for development at this site in preference to moving the terminal station to a more appropriate industrial location, mean that social, community health and environmental considerations are being completely dismissed. It also means that a VCAT hearing due for March is now null and void.
“Both the Planning Minister and the power companies have deceived Council and residents by effectively removing this decision from VCAT’s hands, after having told us that they would follow by the ‘proper planning processes’ for this site”, said Merri Creek Residents Group spokesperson, Ramon Colodetti.
“People living in the vicinity of the Brunswick Terminal Station, and those who live under the high voltage power lines leading into the site, have serious concerns about the safety of the proposed new facility” said Mr Colodetti. “But now that the Planning Minister has intervened and effectively rezoned the site from Residential to an Industrial site, none of our concerns will be heard.”
For further information about the residents campaign to move the power station, contact Ray Colodetti on 0416 235 391 or go to http://powergridsolutions.blogspot.com/

PLANNING MINISTER OVERRIDES PLANNING PROCESS – AGAIN BRUNSWICK TERMINAL STATION REZONED OVERNIGHT

MEDIA RELEASE
16 February 2012
PLANNING MINISTER OVERRIDES PLANNING PROCESS – AGAIN
BRUNSWICK TERMINAL STATION REZONED OVERNIGHT

Planning Minister Matthew Guy has once again ignored the concerns of residents and sided with business interests to approve the controversial expansion of the Brunswick Terminal Station in East Brunswick. Overnight he has rezoned a residential site in inner-city Melbourne to a ‘Special Purpose’ site to effectively override State Planning laws.
CitiPower and SPAusnet had their application for the expansion rejected by Moreland Council in November last year, and had signalled their intention to appeal through the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). Minister Guy also assured residents that they would be able to use the “proper planning processes” to have their voices heard and concerns about the four-fold expansion of the plant aired.
“Both the Planning Minister and the power companies have deceived residents by effectively removing this decision from VCAT’s hands, after having told residents that they would follow by the planning rules”, said Merri Creek Residents Group spokesperson, Ramon Colodetti.
“People living in the vicinity of the Brunswick Terminal Station, and those who live under the high voltage power lines leading into the site, have serious concerns about the safety of the proposed new facility” said Mr Colodetti. “But now that the Planning Minister has intervened and effectively rezoned the site from Residential to an Industrial site, none of our concerns will be heard.”
“CitiPower claims to have the interests of its customers at heart, but this sneaky move to override the democratic planning process shows that all they are interested in is the commercial gains from building the cheapest possible facility – even if it does happen to be smack bang in the middle of a residential area and next to the environmentally significant Merri Creek” said Mr. Colodetti.
For further information about the residents campaign to move the power station, contact Ray Colodetti on 0416 235 391 or go to http://powergridsolutions.blogspot.com/

New BTS Facebook Page (and upcoming Council meeting details)

We believe that Moreland Council will decide on the BTS application at the Planning Committee meeting on Wednesday 23 November at 6pm. Put that date in your diary if you want to come along and be part of the democratic process to make sure the application gets rejected by Council! Around 200 residents turned up last year when the first application was put rejected - this time we may need even more.

Also, we now have a Facebook page up and running (thanks to Gary, our IT guru) so it would be great if you could visit and LIKE it, and share it around with as many people as you can. Visit us at http://www.facebook.com/brunswickterminalstation

Finally, it's not too late to put in an objection to the BTS application - see earlier posts on this blog with details of how to do so. They can be submitted right up to the date when Council makes a decision.

Documentation for the BTS Application

If you've got a couple of days to spare (!!), here is the link to all of the documents for the BTS application as posted on Council's website. Even if you can't read them all, there may be specific ones you are interested in;

http://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/building-and-planning/planning/major-planning-applications.html

You have to scroll down a bit on this page to get to the actual documents (Application for 46 King Street, East Brunswick).

Council's "Consultation" Meeting on the BTS - 3 October

Moreland Council has advised that it will be holding a "Consultation Meeting" at 6pm on Monday 3 October at the Civic Centre, 90 Bell Street, Coburg (entrance off Urquhart St). Apart from the fact it is right in the middle of family dinner time for most of us, it would be great to have a good turnup to this important meeting that precedes Council's formal decision-making on the proposal (muted for 26 October).

The purpose of this meeting is to discuss various aspects of the proposal with the applicant, objectors and supporters. So far Council has received 25 formal objections to the BTS proposal, but anyone completing an objection prior to this meeting date should also be able to attend. If you haven't already done so, you can download a form and submit it to Council:

http://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/building-and-planning/planning/planning-permits.html .

The details you will need to include are:

Planning Application No. - MPS/2011/420
Address of proposed works - 46 King Street, East Brunswick 3057

See the blog post from 21 September for some suggested grounds of objection or you can include others, particularly related to how the proposed development will affect you.

Next Steps in the "No BTS 66" Campaign

Around 80 local residents and supporters attended the community meeting on Monday night (19th September). It was a great show of support, and there was a strong sentiment that the latest plans should be strongly opposed. After presentations by Ramon Collodetti and Anne Voss, and many questions, the meeting concluded with the following motion, passed unanimously:

“That the local community supports the Merri Creek Residents Group in continuing to oppose the application for a new 66kV facility at the Brunswick Terminal Station”.

As discussed at the meeting there are a number of actions that individuals can take to support the campaign, as well as encouraging friends and neighbours to do likewise.

1 – LODGE AN OBJECTION WITH MORELAND COUNCIL
Attached is an electronic version of the objection form we handed out at the meeting. These can be lodged any time up until Council makes a decision (currently muted for late October) but the earlier you can send in your objection the better. Some of the grounds you may wish to include in your objection are:

• The new 66kV facility is an inappropriate development for a residential zoned area. Also, the design of the new facility makes no effort to reflect the residential nature of the area.



• Insufficient evidence presented about the safety of the facility for local residents, particularly in the event of an emergency event (such as a fire or explosion).



• Concern about the impact on households (particularly children) under the high voltage transmission lines coming into the BTS. At a minimum, these could be placed underground given the significantly increased EMF exposure they will create.



• Concern about the impact of excavation activities on a highly contaminated industrial site (for residents and users of the recreational facilities adjoining the site).
  


• The application indicates an inadequate type and scale of landscaping to screen the new buildings and electric fences.



• Concern about increasing the size of an already identified ‘security threat’ in a residential area (power companies have argued that the electric fence is required to deter terrorists).



• Inadequate consultation by Moreland Council with local residents, despite a policy indicating it is required to do so on developments of such scale.
  

2 - CONTACT LOCAL COUNCILLORS
Email, write or phone Moreland City Councillors who will be making a decision on this application in the next month or so. Encourage others to do the same. This does not require you to go into technical details or grounds of objection (although you can) – just let them know you do not support it and want them to oppose the application when they vote at Council.

South Ward (this is the Ward where the BTS is located):
Lambros Tapinos – 0433 419 075 – ltapinos@moreland.vic.gov.au
Jo Conellan – 0428 348 447 or 9387 8254 – jconnellan@moreland.vic.gov.au
Alice Pryor – 0416 219 261- apryor@moreland.vic.gov.au

North-West Ward
Kathleen Matthews-Ward – 0428 573 785 or 9300 3567 - kmatthewsward@moreland.vic.gov.au
John Kavanagh – 0427 550 935 or 9379 4734 - jkavanagh@moreland.vic.gov.au
Enver Erdogan – 0412 266 245 - eerdogan@moreland.vic.gov.au
Oscar Yildiz (Mayor) – 0413 850 357 - oyildiz@moreland.vic.gov.au

North-East Ward
Toby Archer – 0466 004 652 - tarcher@moreland.vic.gov.au
Michael Teti – 0435 105 368 or 9387 5217 - mteti@moreland.vic.gov.au
Stella Kariofyllidis – 0466 004 650 or 9240 1193 - skariofyllidis@moreland.vic.gov.au
Anthony Helou – 0419 515 593 or 9384 3147– ahelou@moreland.vic.gov.au

3 – JOIN THE CAMPAIGN EMAIL LIST
Obviously if you're reading this message you're already on the list, but it would be great if you could encourage others to sign up so we can use this forum as the primary means of communicating about the campaign. Ask others in your neighbourhood to go to http://powergridsolutions.blogspot.com/ and enter their email address to subscribe.

Finally, thanks for your ongoing support – our community can be a much better place for years to come because of your active involvement.

COMMUNITY MEETING - MONDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER

The Merri Creek Residents Group is organising another community meeting for local residents and other interested parties to discuss the proposed Brunswick Terminal Station expansion.

Date: Monday 19th September
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Merri Creek Primary School - Main Hall (enter via Ida Street)

This is a critical meeting for all those concerned about the proposed four-fold expansion of the current site to include a new 66kV terminal station.

Letters have been sent by Council notifying local residents of the application lodged by the power companies - you may have received yours on Friday this week - giving less than the required 2 weeks for objections to be submitted. This may be indicative of yet another series of blunders and insincere 'community consultations' that we saw last time this matter was taken to Council in 2010.

We urge you to come along to the meeting on the 19th, talk to your neighbours about the importance of having their voice heard, and make sure you take this opportunity to help shape our local community. Make no mistake - once this next upgrade goes ahead, there will be others in the years to come making this the largest industrial site in the whole of Moreland. If you don't want this for your neighbourhood, now is the time to stand up!