The Notting Hill Story

The following are the notes on a short speech made recently on behalf of Notting Hill residents to a meeting of community groups with the Minister for Planning Justin Madden.



Notting Hill is one of the smaller suburbs of Melbourne situated in the Monash City Council area. The residential part of the suburb is near the Clayton Monash University campus. It is often confused with Clayton.
The suburb includes a distinct residential area of 700 dwellings. This distinct area of housing and streets is encircled or surrounded by major traffic arteries on three sides. The residential estate is bounded by Blackburn Road, Ferntree Gully Road and the Monash Motorway. These are among the largest multi land traffic arteries in Melbourne.
The suburb has only two entry and exit streets and cannot be exited without crossing or entering the six lanes of Blackburn Road or Ferntree Gully Road.
On the other edge of the suburb is an industrial area and the rapidly expanding Monash science park/business park (along Blackburn Road and including the new Australian Synchrotron). This is a major area of expanding employment - the result of planned structural change.
The development of the Notting Hill suburb is also perhaps unique. The residential estate was built in the 1950’s and 1960’s by A V Jennings as the first planned suburb in Melbourne. It was planned in the sense that shops and schools were within walking distance without crossing major roads, and traffic flow was limited.
Unfortunately when finished the “planned” suburb failed to include any parkland or open recreational space for residents.
As the suburb filled up a primary school and a secondary college were built along with a kindergarten/preschool. (Monash Primary School, Monash Secondary College and Westerfield Pre School)
The playgrounds and an oval of these schools became the recreational spaces of residents as well as their children.
In recent years the community has lost its kindergarten/preschool, primary school and secondary school (the primary school in 2004 and the secondary college in 2006). On 7 August the Monash Council agreed to rezone the Monash Primary School and its open space for high-density housing.
The school closures were justified in terms of declining school attendance numbers and an aging population despite vigorous objection from local residents that the demographics in the suburb were changing quickly again to young families. Now as the Government moves to cash in on the land value of the school the Education Department is still attempting to justify its decision by using the same population figures that are a decade old and were disputed even then.
In 2007 residents conducted their own survey of households in Notting Hill and accessed the latest census data. This research demonstrated an increasing number of children of school age in need of a school and a turnover in occupancy in the suburb with more families moving in. An increasing density of residential use was also noted with suburban in fill and unit development.
The result has also been an increase in car travel as children are driven daily to schools several kilometres way.
The Monash Secondary College faces the same fate as the Primary School. It has been declared surplus to requirements and is being allowed to decay into dereliction. This includes a theatre built at the Secondary College by community support and public fund raising. The local cricket club has been banned from using the school oval for the local cricket competition.
The kindergarten (a Monash Council venture) was last used as pre school in May 2007 and is now a Neighbourhood Centre supported by Monash Council.
This has all occurred while:
• Occupancy change and suburban infill has lead to increased population density in Notting Hill and increased number of children of school age.
• Increasing congestion of the highways that grid-in Notting Hill
• Forced increase in car use out of Notting Hill as children are transported out for schooling
• Loss of publicly owned spaces used for recreation by a community with no dedicated parks or recreational areas
• From the edge of the Notting Hill housing area high-density accommodation is encroaching into the suburb. Several hundred units have been built by private developers between the suburban streets and Blackburn Road as part of a speculation into the market for accommodation for overseas tertiary students. This is to be the ultimate fate of the land where the Monash Primary School used to provide its public services.
• Transport and other amenities are to be put under further pressure by a massive increase in employment in the business park area adjoining Notting Hill. Recently Telstra announced it was moving 4000 employees into this area. Until the loss of state government services these employees could have walked from their place of work to a pre-school, a primary school and a secondary college.

It is clear that liveability in Notting Hill is secondary to short-term speculative development.
The disappointing aspect is that the State Government is in no way neutral but a participant and beneficiary of this sale of public amenities.
This loss of public space will never be rectified.

Some Times We Are Not Alone - There Maybe No Escaping Development

Sometimes we forget we are not alone in the current period of rampant development. Far down the coast to the East another community battle is blazing.
Bastion Point is located in Mallacoota, the most easterly coastal township in Victoria. An icon on Victoria’s Wilderness Coast, Bastion Point is part of an outstanding natural environment. Immediately to its north is the entrance to Mallacoota Inlet, a natural estuary and lake system renowned for its unspoilt beauty. To the east are Cape Howe Marine National Park and Gabo Island, home to the largest colony of little penguins in the Southern Hemisphere. A wilderness coastline stretches in either direction as far as the eye can see. This spectacular marine and coastal environment is surrounded by Croajingolong National Park which is recognised by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve.
The Save Bastion Point Campaign
A coalition of concerned groups and supporters has formed to fight the East Gippsland Shire Council’s proposal for a boat ramp and breakwater development at Bastion Point, Mallacoota. The campaign opposes such inappropriate development: it aims to protect the many values of Bastion Point and to promote safe and sustainable use of the area.
Where is Bastion Point - Why is it so special?
Bastion Point has extensive indigenous cultural heritage sites, has one of the few accessible shallow reef habitats in East Gippsland, and has ecological, geological and landscape values of state significance. It is the town beach and is used for surfing, swimming, beachcombing, bird-watching, rock pool rambling, scientific study, snorkeling, relaxing, angling and other recreational and social activities throughout the year.
What is the issue?
The East Gippsland Shire Council wants to construct a large ocean access facility at Bastion Point. Bastion Point currently provides ocean access for the abalone industry, government departments and recreational boating. The existing single-lane concrete ramp is 40 years old, and has not been maintained. It is in poor condition and is often covered by transitional sand. We recognize the need for improvement at Bastion Point; however all of the options considered by Council would require heavy engineering works, including large breakwaters, and would result in irreversible damage to Bastion Point. The Council’s preferred option, 150 metres south of the current boat ramp, includes ~
• a 2-lane boat ramp
• a large car/trailer turning area on the beach
• a boat holding area, with jetty
• a large breakwater approx 130m long, 2.3–2.8 high and 15m wide
• permanent sand dredging equipment
• road access through the headland
• catch-weighing, boat washing and fish cleaning facilities
• a boat trailer, car park and toilet facilities.
The Council is currently preparing an Environment Effects Statement (EES) for their proposal, which is a requirement by the Victorian Minister for Planning before any decision can be made about the development.
What’s wrong with the process?
To date, the Council’s conduct of the EES process has been substandard. They have failed to provide genuine, transparent and inclusive engagement of the Mallacoota community. A number of the reports that have been commissioned by Council have been inaccurate and flawed. Options for Bastion Point that could be environmentally, socially, culturally and economically sustainable have not been considered or assessed.
What’s wrong with the proposed development?
It will degrade a significant wilderness coastal environment & habitat.
The proposed boat ramp and breakwater would cut through the geologically significant Bastion Point reef, resulting in the destruction of diverse and species-rich marine habitats. It would also interfere with the coastal processes and require an on-going dredging operation that would further impact the reef and nearby beaches. Construction of the access road and turning area would remove significant coastal vegetation and habitat, and threaten fragile dunes and a cliff-face of geo-scientific importance. Impacts on the wider environment from the proposed development are also likely. An outstanding coastal panorama would be seriously interrupted, and the natural integrity of a wilderness coast destroyed forever.
It will be inequitable and discriminate against all other users
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