Minutes of the meeting of the Kensington Association, held 6 October 2008

Apologies: Geoff Cox, Therese Fitzgerald

1.        Election candidates – Melbourne City Council elections

Adam Bandt, Greens candidate for Lord Mayor, outlined his reasons for running for Council and gave an overview of the policies of The Greens.  He was very keen to impress that The Greens are very keen to hear from residents of Kensington their views about what they would like the Council to do.  Currently, The Greens have a discussion document on their website for the future of transport in Melbourne called “The People Plan”.  This may be found at www.makemelbournegreen.com

Members commented on the transport plan.  Several comments related to the proposed airport rail service involving the Broadmeadows Line, which the Association, along with other resident groups, had opposed in the past, which had led to the defeat of the plan.  Mr Bandt said that The Greens proposal would not involve additional trains, as it simply involved a shuttle train on a new line between Essendon Station and the airport.  Several members voiced doubt about an airport rail service, given the efficient bus service currently available.  

Mr Bandt advised that The Greens would welcome comments from the public on their plan.  The meeting thanked Mr Bandt for his presentation and answers to questions.

Richard Reilly advised that the Kensington Association has a policy of providing an opportunity for all candidates for council to address the Association to explain their policies and positions.  Will Fowles and Catherine Ng, as declared mayoral candidates, have also been invited to address the Association.

The Association proposes a “Meet the Candidates” forum for the next meeting on Monday 10 November.

The meeting also agreed that a questionnaire will be developed for all candidates to provide a written response to issues of concern to Kensington residents with the aim to post responses on the Association website.

The Association does not endorse any candidates or tickets in council elections.

2.        Community Liaison Officers – Victoria Police

Sergeants Deb Robertson and Peter Beckers from City West police station were welcomed to the meeting.

Deb is the Community Liaison Officer for Kensington.  They outlined the role of consultative committees and explained their other functions.

They advised the meeting that police boundaries have been realigned with changes to Kensington’s boundaries meaning that City West now covers the area up to Racecourse Road.

3.        Steering Committee changes

Due to a realigned of functions, the meeting agreed that Tony Dare would become Vice-Chairman and Paul Devereux would be Minute Secretary of the Association.

4.        Holland Park Alive

There is now a “Save Holland Park” banner on the wall of Newton’s Pharmacy.

A huge event is planned for November 22, as the next event of the campaign to save our park.

Starting mid-afternoon, there will be a variety of events, including running tracks circuits (for all sizes of kids and adults), community stalls and demonstrations, food and fun. The YMCA Community Centre will open its doors and it will all end with a movie.

To get involved, contact Cory Boardman through the Save Holland Park website: www.savehollandpark.org.au. 

5.        Elm trees

The Association wrote to Council in March this year about the situation with Kensington’s elm trees including treatment for elm leaf beetle.  53 elm trees in Stockmans Way and Stockmans Walk require treatment (probably through soil injection) but we are unclear about the timing of this action.

Action:  Association to follow up timeline for treatment of trees with Council.

6.        Kensington public housing redevelopment – Stage 6

The Association has objected to Becton’s car parking proposal as part of their redevelopment of the site on the corner of Ormond and Altona Streets.

Becton has proposed that all visitor parking for the new development be provided on the street.  The Association has objected to this with the Victorian government but has not, at this stage, been successful in overturning the decision.

7.        North Melbourne Recreation Reserve

Clive Gartner provided an update on the redevelopment of facilities at the Arden Street oval.  Key points are as follows:

·       There will be an indoor sports facility open to the public on the site, the management of which will be put to tender.  The YMCA has indicated that it will tender to manage the facility.

It was noted that there will be no pokies on the site as part of any redevelopment.  The North Melbourne Football Club will retain its social club in Docklands.

8.        Maintenance at Kensington Banks

It was noted that council doesn’t take over maintenance of public land in new developments until the developer has met all conditions in their permit. It is then appropriate for council to take over the relevant site.

Sometimes, there are consequent lags between developers planting trees on a site and council taking over the maintenance.  It is the responsibility of developers to maintain and water plants in that interim period.  Recently, some newly planted semi-mature trees planted in Kensington Banks have been showing signs of distress.

It was noted that we need to keep the pressure on both council and developers to appropriately maintain affected sites.

9.        General Business

A member advised that recently her 7-year old son noticed some offensive graffiti in the vicinity of Kensington Primary.  With her help, he made a complaint to Council who acted upon the graffiti within 24 hours. (We start activism young around here!)