New library at Boyd

It is comforting to know we will soon have a new library in the almost completed built-to-rent development alongside our Boyd Community Hub.

While an expanded library is good news, as it is clear the current library is too small, not to mention the other facilities within Boyd Community Hub, Southbank Residents’ Association (SRA) is disappointed the City of Melbourne has dictated to the community about what will happen with the new community space.

For those who are unaware, the newly allocated space essentially came about owing to SRA’s lobbying of the council.

In March 2018 when the council was moving a motion to subdivide the park to allow the sale of that section of the land to a developer, we argued that if the council insisted on selling our precious open space to at least demand that the developer of the new site allocate the ground and first floors as community space.

After that meeting I personally engaged with Cr Nick Reece and continued to lobby for the benefits to the community in light of the travesty of losing our park. Cr Reece was certainly on board and agreed the initiative only made sense.

What was painful with the anticipated sale of the land is that all the sale funds would not be spent in Southbank but rather they would be allocated towards the Queen Victoria Market renewal project. A double insult to our community.

Some months later I personally received a call from Cr Reece to advise he was successful with ensuring community space would be part of the new development. What a win for our community!

While we didn’t get the ground and first floors as we requested, we ended up with 900sqm. Better than nothing, I guess.

Since this development began SRA always made it known that we wanted to be part of the discussion for how the space would be used. So, last month we were surprised to learn the council had already decided the new space would be a new library. So much for engaging with us!

While at the end of the day, we were probably unlikely to disagree this would be the most appropriate use of the space it would have been nice to have been consulted. Moreover, if it consciously decided not to consult us, then at minimum the council could have reached out to advise that while it was aware we wanted to be part of the consultation then inform us it had decided not to engage with us. Were they afraid to tell us?

So, this leaves the remaining space for the community to decide what should happen with it. It is obvious to us that the general assembly hall is too small, and a larger meeting hall would serve the community well. We also know an increasing number of families have decided to make Southbank home and there is currently much constraint on the family services facilities.

There are many competing interests that need to be considered. The City of Melbourne has some of the best designers and I am sure it will find creative ways to incorporate these into the new design of the community hub. In any case, the community has been given an opportunity to have a say via Participate Melbourne. We encourage you to let the City of Melbourne know what you think:

SRA’s connection with Boyd Community Hub goes back a long way, before the space was even owned by the City of Melbourne. In 2006 we were lobbying the council to get the state government to pass the land over to it when the school closed, as Southbank had no community facilities and this was essentially the only option, and most logical, that the community had.

The state government subsequently sold the land to the City of Melbourne in 2007. We like to think our extensive lobbying at that time went a long way to getting what we have today. We thought the council would respect this and include us with the decision making for how our space should be used – clearly not.

Our AGM is not too far away. We are keen to find like-minded members of our community who would love to assist us with our endeavours to improve our community and join our committee.

If you are keen or even curious, please reach out and introduce yourself. We would love to hear from you: [email protected] •