Marrickville residents vote on their feet against Metro expansion
- Author:
- Staff Writer
- Posted:
- Thursday, 19 August 2010
By Sophie Trevitt
Marrickville is a unique community.
It’s very young community, with most residents falling under the age of 34 years. It’s diverse, with one of the largest Greek and Vietnamese communities in Sydney. It’s vibrant, with an ever-changing, ever-growing artistic scene.
It’s rare in the increasingly gentrified, increasingly overcrowded, busy, anonymous suburbs of Sydney that you come across a place where cafes are still frequented by locals (and the wait-staff know that you take your coffee long, black and with four sugars); where community markets are a place to while away the Saturday morning whilst collecting fresh produce for you and your neighbours, where picnics and music in the park are a regular occurrence.
Marrickville is one of the closest things to a self-sustaining community that Sydney offers. It has a library, markets, shopping centre, doctor’s surgery and a plethora of unique, speciality shops and galleries along its shopping strips. Sometimes described as a “bubble”, residents have almost everything they need within a 5 minute bike ride; and if greater choice is needed then Newtown is a short bus trip away.
This unique community is being threatened AMP capital who propose to double the size of the Metro to offer residents a “district shopping outlet”. If that truly is their intention, and AMP is driven by compassionate concern for Marrickville’s consumers, then it would have been useful to consult the residents of the area who are quite satisfied with their ample supply of clothes, services and fresh produce.
Last Saturday, residents rallied together in Enmore Park to send the message loud and clear that they do not want a Broadway-style shopping mall disrupting the equilibrium of their community. They gathered to say that they do not want a 56% increase in traffic, nor the lack of parking spaces or congestion that will accompany the proposed Metro expansion.
The real problem is arguably with the introduction of Part 3A by the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Infrastructure and Other Planning Reform) Act 2005 which takes the decision making process out of the hands of local councils and places the power firmly in the grasp of the State Government.
Put simply, it promotes a top-down approach that eliminates local communities from involvement in processes which will fundamentally affect them and the area in which they live.
This is what has happened in the case of the Marrickville Metro expansion proposal. The proactive and committed resistance demonstrated by local residents, business owners and councillors is testament to the strength of the community.
Make sure you have your say before the August 27 when the public exhibition of the Metro expansion will close. Write to the Department of Planning, your local member or submit an online response http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/
Marrickville residents take action against AMP's plans to expand the Metro shopping centre. Photo: Liz Cush
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August 29th, 2010 @ 12:18 am
This massive overdevelopment is entirely unnecessary and unwanted. I live near the Metro, and it currently services all my day-to-day needs. It is on one level, it is easy to navigate, it has banks/post office/RTA/NRMA facilities plus 2 supermarkets, K mart, liquor store, and plenty of other fresh produce retailers, hairdressers, boutiques, optometrist, medical centre, etc etc. I go to Newtown, Enmore or Marrickville for more quirky shops or for coffee and dinner, and to the city or Broadway for other generic-brand shopping. If the Metro is DOUBLED in size, on multi-levels and on 2 building sites, it will become a labyrinth of bland, generic, blah blah blah stuff and just won’t be so easy and accessible to get around in. So many people I know come to the Metro because it is easy to find your way around, not to mention – a lot of house-bound/disabled/elderly people are also bussed to the Metro (in favour of any other centre such as Leichhardt or Broadway) for exactly those same reasons. I grew up in Cronulla, and when the Miranda shopping centre doubled in size, it became a nightmare, it was so big that it was simply exhausting to shop there.
I experience negative impact from the existing centre – such as cars trawling up and down the street hunting for a parking spot (instead of using the rooftop carpark), double-parking or parking over the driveway, abandoning trolleys in driveway and on footpath, dumping litter. Then there is also the pollution and noise, and the constant racketty clanking trolley-collection truck, plus massive truck deliveries (air breaks, reverse alarm beep-beep-beep, refrigerated truck engines on all the time) and the unloading of pallets etc; the constantly-faulty KMart alarm going off all night … I could go on and on …. but if the centre is doubled in size with an estimated 50-60% more traffic expected, plus the hugely increased number of service truck deliveries required, well, our lives will be hell.
The Metro is not just near residential properties, it is SURROUNDED on THREE SIDES by tiny mostly Federation single houses! The expanded Metro will LOOM over these small houses like a hulking monster. There is not a main arterial road nearby, and all the roads around the centre are narrow 1 lane streets, that already get extremely congested during peak periods. How can a proposed major centre be serviced by these tiny narrow local roads – it just doesn’t make sense.
Marrickville is an ethnically diverse, vibrant, interesting VILLAGE – it is no place for this inappropriately large and inappropriately located development. Please write a letter of objection to the Dept of Planning (the body that will review and approve the plans, not the local council) BEFORE 10 Sept 2010 (the deadline has been extended by 2 weeks.) EVERY SINGLE submission will count to help prevent this monstrosity going ahead.
http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=3734
There is also more information available on what you can do, and what is being done by local residents and businesses, on http://www.metrowatch.com.au
September 20th, 2010 @ 10:58 pm
I support the Metro expansion and its about time. I’ve lived in Marrickville my whole life and have always hated the centre. Its small and boring.
February 19th, 2011 @ 6:19 pm
The Dept of Planning has received NEW PLANS for the expansion & public submissions are accepted – NEW DEADLINE Fri 18 March 2011
http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=3734
The new plans have made some modifications to the original proposal eg some increased set-backs, removal of 1 spiral car ramp, retention of most trees. However the majority of concerns remain unaddressed or refuted by AMP.
• Almost double size & height – 75.3% increase in gross floor space, 100% height increase to 14.5m • Inappropriate location surrounded by small houses & narrow streets • Increase already congested traffic on all surrounding streets & not on a main arterial rd • Increase existing local parking problems • Huge spiral car ramp will visually impact houses on Bourne & Edinburgh Sts • A Metro “Civic Place” on Victoria Rd facing a row of small houses which will become “fishbowls” & lose privacy • Bulky building mass behind Bourne St homes • 2 more major brands plus 3rd supermarket – unnecessary duplication of facilities at nearby shopping centres • Increased noise & air pollution will affect amenity & health of nearby residents • Many original concerns eg litter, abandoned trolleys, noise disturbance etc have not been addressed & instead shuffled off to a future report not disclosed • Devastation of local shopping strips by drawing trade away from Marrickville Rd, Enmore Rd & South King St
March 7th, 2011 @ 4:12 pm
I was absolutely dismayed to find that the Marrickville Metro shopping centre had cut down a tree between the Mill House and the centre entrance last week. All that is left is a stump. This tall leafy tree helped to screen and camouflage part of the ugly roof top car park level from the street, as well as provide shade and beauty to the area. Upon further investigation, it appears the Metro did not seek council permission to remove this tree. I hope the council will pursue prosecution against the Metro for this infringement of the Marrickville Tree Preservation Order.
The Metro currently has a redevelopment proposal pending a decision by the Dept of Planning, to expand by 75% over its current size – so perhaps this tree was an innocent casualty in their pre-mature plans to “revitalise” the shopping centre? I hope it is not a sign of worse things to come … and even more trees being cut down for the sake of a more manicured landscape