ad

Southbank Residents Group

Southbank Residents Group
Tony Penna

As the state election approaches we need to hold the parties to account and ensure they are not just providing us lip service.

There are a few issues which affect Southbank and should clearly be on their agenda. Southbank voters make up at least a quarter of the Albert Park electorate and therefore our concerns should not be brushed over.

As such, SRG has arranged exclusively for the residents of Southbank a “Meet the Candidates” question and answer session with Martin Foley (Labor), Shannon Eeles (Liberal) and David Collis (Greens) all confirming their attendance.

So get on over to Boyd Community Hub, 207 City Rd, at 6pm on Tuesday, October 28 and ask the questions that matter to you.

After last month’s appalling council consideration for Southbank, I met with the Greens candidate, David Collis, and he has asked his party to move a disallowance motion in Parliament to stop the Planning Minister, Matthew Guy, from approving an amendment to the planning scheme to allow CBUS to build an enormous development on Collins St, which would overshadow the public open space on the Crown Promenade and Queensbridge Square.

However, for this motion to get up, it will require the support of Labor. I know how passionate Martin Foley is about protecting the scarce public open space in Southbank so I certainly hope he will be supporting this motion.

I will also be lobbying for amendments to the notice provisions in the Capital City Zone asking for notice to at least be given to surrounding businesses and residents for any development applications.

At present, since there are no rights of appeal, notice is not required. However I still think that it would be nice to know so that potential objections/concerns can be voiced allowing consideration by the responsible authority.

Council was nicer to us this month voicing their objection to an atrocious development proposal at 248-250 Sturt St. However I also attended council arguing against this application as the previous month has taught me we cannot rely on council to see things in the same light.

The AGM date has been set – Tuesday, November 18 – also in Boyd Community Hub at 6pm. Please mark this into your diary and come along. In particular we are looking for committee members, so if you have a passion for Southbank and would like to assist with ensuring our voice is heard, please consider joining the team.

See you at the Q and A on October 28.

Tony Penna
President

Join our Facebook Group
ad