Battle of Belgrave

By Ed Merrison
THE question of Belgrave’s future placed the major parties on a collision course last week.
A fierce political battle erupted after Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu announced a pledge of $22.5 million for a Belgrave bypass as part of a $909 million Liberal road package.
Wednesday’s announcement came two days after the Belgrave Traders Association (BTA) held a public meeting to set out its Gateway to the Hills vision.
The proposal included a push for a feasibility study to address links to Puffing Billy, economic growth, pedestrian safety, public transport, town planning, parking and traffic flow.
Mr Baillieu and local Liberal candidates said the road project would be delivered within the first term of a Liberal Government but would take place only after a feasibility study and consultation in line with the BTA proposal.
But Labor’s Transport Minister Peter Batchelor immediately went on the attack, saying the plan could ruin Belgrave.
“The bypass the Liberals have promised today is not a minor road deviation but rather a Los Angeles-style freeway overpass,” he said.
Mr Batchelor depicted it as a one-kilometre bridge, rising to seven metres at its lowest point and 14 metres at its highest, a vision which harks back to a 2001 VicRoads Belgrave bypass report.
However, Monbulk Liberal candidate Clive Larkman accused Labor of sitting back and throwing out unfounded statements.
He said modern engineers and designers could build major projects that fit with the local character.
“There is no way we would be proposing that type of project in a town as attractive as Belgrave,” he said.
Mr Larkman and Gembrook candidate Simon Wildes said a portion of the $22.5 million would go towards a township development plan, estimated at $500,000, which would be the project’s starting point.
They said the plan would take into account all concerns outlined at the BTA meeting.
Monbulk MP James Merlino accused the Liberals of “trying to have a bob each way” by promising to build a bypass while insisting all the community’s wishes would be addressed.
“(La Trobe MP) Jason Wood and the Liberal candidates have been pushing this agenda which will destroy the environment and the amenity of Belgrave and severely impact on the traders and the tourism industry,” he said.
Samantha Dunn, Shire of Yarra Ranges councillor for Lyster Ward, said the bypass pledge was out of touch with reality.
“The issue I have with it is they’ve applied an outcome before they’ve asked a question and it’s an outcome that could be completely wrong for the town,” she said.
Cr Dunn and fellow shire councillors voted unanimously on Tuesday, 14 November to set aside $125,000 from the 2007-08 budget for a feasibility study and apply to the State Government for dollar-for-dollar funding.
Cr Dunn was pleased to hear Mr Merlino and Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato announce last Thursday that a re-elected Bracks Government would match the shire’s commitment.
BTA president Donna Burgess welcomed the Labor and shire announcements.
She said the traders did not support a bypass as such and welcomed the Liberal announcement only insofar as it involved a feasibility study.
However, the BTA proposal advocates a circular flow of traffic around an integrated shopping, tourism and transport hub, and suggests making Belgrave Station car park double storey and perhaps linking it with Hayes Car Park.
This would provide an alternative traffic route and entail a raised stretch of road above the railway.
Mr Merlino denied such a development would effectively be a bypass.
“I really reject that it’s just a question of semantics,” he said.
“A bypass in Belgrave will be an overpass and if you don’t want an overpass the choice is pretty clear.”