News

SAVE THE PRESTON MARKET CAMPAIGN UPDATE

A big thank you to all of those folk who signed the Darebin Council petition to save Preston Market from overdevelopment.

You can still sign, if you haven’t yet, here: http://chng.it/jQRGZdr6Kv

The Victorian Planning Authority (VPA) has released the draft structure plan for the market and is calling for feedback to be submitted before July 13^th 2021.

We want to encourage everyone to tell the VPA how phenomenally disappointing their recommendations are for such a important site.

Key documents can be accessed via this link: https://vpa.vic.gov.au/project/preston/

Some points to help guide a submission are;

• It is an over development.
• It is an excessive number of dwellings
• The proposed height of the residential towers on the site is excessive
• Mostly 1 & 2 BDR flats, creating a demographic with a lack of diversity and failing to meet the future housing need in Darebin
• This plan is ‘developer driven’ not ‘demand driven’, being to max out the site with insufficient consideration for future community need
• The suggested heritage overlay does not guarantee the current market will not be demolished
• There is not enough protection of the significant and recognized heritage features of the market
• The 20 storey proposed on Murray Rd does not satisfy ESD standards(Environmentally Sustainable Design) as other buildings including the market will be overshadowed from northerly solar access during trading hours.
• Open space is also negatively impacted
• Ask the Minister for Planning to keep the footprint of the market as is
• Ask the Minister to respect the heritage; the intactness of the fabric
• Ask the Minister to restrict height of new buildings near the market buildings
• Ask the Minister to remove the site from the fast track list
• Ask the Minister to proceed with the public acquisition of the site

We reject what has been proposed by the VPA as it is ill conceived and does not adequately reflect the community expectations for the protection of the market and the future development of the site.

Registering your support for the future of the market on a single page or many pages will help.

Thank you.