Jewell in Mail’s eye

LOCAL identity David Jewell is a strong advocate for all things Tecoma and the hills, and he led the charge against one of the biggest issues the Mail has covered to date – McDonald’s in Tecoma.
Mr Jewell was nominated as a finalist in 2011, but his continued work as the spokesman for the group opposed to McDonald’s last year cemented his place as the Mail’s Person of the Year 2012.
While the Mail remains unbiased towards controversial issues such as the Tecoma McDonald’s, Mr Jewell’s passion for his cause that earned him the title.
Mr Jewell, who is also the vice-president of the Tecoma Village Action Group (TVAG), led the community to VCAT in a battle against McDonald’s after the fast food giant challenged Yarra Ranges councillors’ unanimous decision to refuse its planning permit in Tecoma.
He was one of the key speakers during the eight-day hearing in September, which ended when the tribunal chose to grant McDonald’s its permit to build.
It was after the decision that Mr Jewell’s true determination shone – he, along with hundreds of other hills residents, took to a vacant property next to the proposed McDonald’s site on Burwood Highway to build a “community garden” in a bid to push McDonald’s out of the town.
It was out-of-the-box thinking, but the action drew wide-spread media attention and support from people around the state.
When the group was asked to vacate the land, Mr Jewell took to the next best option in defending the town from McDonalds – appealing to planning minister Matthew Guy to change VCAT processes to give residents’ opinions more weight in hearings.
“He can’t overturn the VCAT decision, but what he does have the power to do is to ensure local planning laws can be changed to prevent these things happening in the future, that people’s wishes should be taken on board and given equal weight to other opinion,” he previously said.
“He has an opportunity to ensure changes to the VCAT act are done to ensure that it really is fair and just for all Victorians, because it’s certainly not at the moment – VCAT does not give equal weight to the expert opinion from residents.”
Mr Jewell said he would continue fighting against big developments in the town to prevent them from setting precedence for other towns in the hills.