Tuesday, 13 May 2025

 Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:53): (1603) The action I seek is from the Minister for Planning, and that is to save Blackburn. The residents in Blackburn are deeply worried about the future of their suburb, having been made an activity centre. Just a few kilometres down the road in Box Hill, and again in Burwood, the government have repeatedly shown a willingness to sacrifice green space, livability and public amenity in the name of their version of development – and to bastardise the consultation process in the process. Box Hill Gardens now faces permanent destruction. Gardiners Creek in Burwood is going to have 20-storey towers either side of the creek. The Box Hill brickworks site, the last feasible open land in the area, the government is seriously considering turning into high-rise development – I think it is a certainty. This pattern of bad-faith behaviour has set off alarm bells in Blackburn and what may now occur under a Blackburn activity centre. Residents rightly fear that their suburb is in the firing line, and they want answers.

Under the new planning process, we will lose massive amounts of tree canopy; there will be less setbacks for buildings; developers will be able to overshadow neighbours, overshadow neighbours’ bedroom windows and overshadow their solar panels; and the south and north parade in Blackburn is slated for eight 12- to 20-storey towers in either case. Let us not forget in this consultation process in Ringwood the ambit claim of, ‘We’re going to put 20 storeys here, there and everywhere’ and then, ‘Look how reasonable we are; it’s only going to be 12.’ We are awake to that game. The community are awake to that game also. We cannot continue down this path where the community is the first casualty of bad planning every single time. The community should not have to fight, park by park, shop by shop, home by home to protect what makes their suburb livable. Blackburn residents do not want to turn into the next Box Hill, where high-rise towers tower over family homes. Blackburn deserves better. The community must not be subject to the same pseudo-consultation conducted elsewhere, and local voices should not be silenced. There is a simple action, as simple as the stroke of the pen used to throw this community under the bus in the first place, and that is: listen to the community and remove Blackburn as an activity centre. Save Blackburn.