Box Hill tower call-in – an appalling removal of community’s rights

Mr CLARK (Box Hill) — The decision by the Minister for Planning to call in the planning application for a 38-storey tower at the corner of Station Street and Carrington Road, Box Hill is an appalling and unjustified removal of the community’s rights in relation to a proposal that is pivotal to the future direction of Box Hill.

The Brumby government has given no good reason for the call-in. Whitehorse City Council gave the application full and careful consideration. It was listed for appeal before VCAT (Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal) where, I understand, it was due to be heard within the month and where all of the issues involved could be publicly debated and examined.

By taking this application out of the hands of VCAT the government is usurping its own umpire which the government itself has designated to decide planning issues in accordance with the government’s own planning laws. The call-in has been condemned by planning experts as an unjustified abuse of process that sets a bad precedent for the integrity of the planning system.

The site in question has potential for substantial development, but only if problems such as traffic flow, pedestrian flow, parking, overshadowing and integration with the Box Hill transport interchange can be properly sorted out first. This should not be done through the government snatching the decision from the community and having it imposed by the minister.

If the government really wanted to work with the community to achieve a good outcome, it should be upgrading the Box Hill transport interchange and ensuring it is properly integrated with any development.

However, instead the government is continuing to treat the residents of the Box Hill electorate with contempt by imposing high-rise, high-density developments with none of the public transport improvements that Box Hill was supposed to receive as a transit city.