Council, please remember Parkville!

With only just over a month to go trains will be arriving in Parkville and discharging passengers. This was mentioned previously as good news!

However, before the end of the year the Westgate Tunnel will open, discharging cars into West Melbourne, North Melbourne and more importantly Parkville.

There has been much in the press about the works being done from the Transport Amenity Program (TAP), which I understand was around $130 million. It was set up to alleviate traffic issues when the tunnel opens.

So far the spend has included tram improvement works on William St, cycle lanes along La Trobe, Abbotsford and Peel streets and some roundabouts near the Dynon Rd exit. A further $30 million has been set aside for the Franklin St transformation building, a park linking Queen Victoria Market and the new State Library Station.

With nearly 50 per cent spent, what about Parkville?

Curzon St (a category three road) is an arterial road and through Harker St enters Flemington Rd (category two) – a seriously busy main road leading to the city and airport.

These roads pour traffic into Gatehouse St, classified as a local road.

At a meeting with senior council officials trying to address the issues we were told that the council would wait and see what happens post the opening … NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

While all residents know the outcome, there is no allocation of funds for Parkville in the TAP fund and frankly no consideration of the likely result, both on Gatehouse and the subsequent “rat-running” through our suburb. We appreciate we are only a small part of the city, but we are a totally residential suburb and cars, trucks and buses should not be choking small roads.

The Lord Mayor Nick Reece said in a recent article “we believe we can deliver new projects that stop the rat-runs, protect the amenity of North and West Melbourne, and unlock a major new transport option nearby”. We can just feed it all into an overcrowded local road! Seriously, Nick, please look over Flemington Rd.

While we are an integral part of the city at times it feels that the council is so CBD-focused and the suburbs are an afterthought. We have had several buildings with graffiti recently and the call out time has been well over 10 days yet we hear about 24 hours in the city, again I stress in the city.

Please remember that Parkville which is now 153 years old, heritage listed and part of our university and bio-science precinct is as important to the city and Victoria as any other suburb. Help!

In a recent article in The Age the sale of 35-39 Royal Parade was mentioned. For those that remember, two years ago we went to VCAT to support the council against an appeal by the new owners of the property contesting the decision not to allow a planning permit. Now the building is up for sale!

Since then, there is a stricter heritage status for “intra-war” buildings. The time, effort, and community support was brilliant with a very heavy cost funded by residents. Hopefully a better outcome will come from the sale.

Finally, several residents had the opportunity to attend the Janet Clarke Hall Spring Concert last weekend where Dr Joshua Hooke, a renowned Australian pianist performed several pieces. He was superb and we all enjoyed a very special event. Thank you, to Eleanor and her team for the invitation! •