Spring 2013

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Community News

Readings – the story behind the store
page 1

People Who Work in Carlton – Dani and Emily both work at Readings
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Topical issues

Local Government Electoral Review –
A state-wide, independent review of Victoria’s local government electoral system is currently taking place.  The City of Melbourne (CoM) has its own, unique electoral arrangements. Focusing on Carlton, CRA participated in the formal public hearing and prepared a submission to the review.
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Greens Retain Melbourne
At the Federal Election on 7 September 2013, Greens sitting member, Adam Bandt MHR, retained the Federal Seat of Melbourne with a significantly increased primary vote. Sixteen candidates contested the seat, the largest number for any electorate across Australia.
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Reference Groups

Planning and development
Metropolitan Planning Strategy

On 9 October 2013 the Government released, for public comment, its final 180-page draft document of the new Metropolitan Planning Strategy called Plan Melbourne. Premier Napthine noted in the Media Release: ‘This is an integrated land, transport and economic strategy which will change our thinking about better using city-shaping policies and infrastructure projects to enhance the city’s liveability and attract investments and jobs’.
This new Planning Strategy replaces the previous melbourne@5million policies of the Brumby Government. Future impacts of the Strategy on Carlton are unclear.
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Planning committee report on Applications
page 4

Population Explosion

While Melbourne’s population continues to grow the government has few plans to enhance essential infrastructure to support this.
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VCAT

VCAT May Ignore Objector Numbers
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court of Victoria upheld the VCAT decision to overturn the Council decision in an Armadale development.
page 6

Depressing VCAT Decision Regarding ‘Transitional Planning Zones’
The VCAT order provides for the construction of a 15-storey, 193-apartment building at 135-155 Queensberry Street to the unchanged design previously rejected by CoM as inappropriate. The real danger is that a precedent has been set and that it could become urban consolidation at any cost.
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Royal Exhibition Building (REB)

World Heritage Community Celebrations, May 2014
The program will probably run for some weeks, culminating in the weekend of 10-11 May, when there will be activities at the REB and the Museum, involving children, parents, the community and, of course, the general public.
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Carlton Collaborative Framework (CCF)

The Opportunities for Carlton project established a range of key relationships and collaborative structures,
The transition of the OFC project into a community-driven mechanism was a central theme of the concepts for the CCF. Consultants, CoDesign, have been engaged to produce a CCF by the end of December 2013.
page 7

Traffic, Transport and Parking:

Rail Network Woes
The passenger-carrying capacity of Melbourne’s extensive rail network is constrained by its unreliable and antiquated signalling system, particularly for the all-important City Loop. The current State Government has delivered minimal improvements and has instead prioritised road construction.
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East West Link impacts revealed
As each month passes, new and ever more alarming impacts of the East West Link (Stage 1) are revealed by the Linking Melbourne Authority (LMA).
A Comprehensive Impact Statement (CIS) for the Link was announced by LMA on 30 October; comments close on 12 December 2013.
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