Royal Park Protection Group Inc
MEDIA ALERT
1 November 2002
A GAMES VILLAGE IN ROYAL PARK
THE BIGGEST RED-HOT GREEN ELECTION ISSUE IN MELBOURNE
Premier Bracks is expected to announce an election for 30 November given Parliament shut up shop this week. The issue of the location of the 2006 Games Village in Royal Park is shaping up to be a central one in the electorates of Melbourne and Brunswick. The community’s fears that this huge development will be an environmental and social disaster for Melbourne and that it will be unworkable as a Games Village were realised yesterday when Royal Park Protection Group members finally saw detailed plans for the Village.
Julianne Bell of Royal Park Protection Group commented: "This development has been touted as a green world’s best Games Village but it is in fact just a smokescreen - it is a huge inappropriate real estate development with profits going into the pockets of the private developer. We will see wall–to–wall housing – 1000 units effectively occupying the whole site. It will be like any other suburban development in Melbourne."
"It won’t work as a Games Village and Melbourne will stand condemned for its inadequate accommodation for athletes. People will be crammed into accommodation – 30 into a unit or house. Government representatives said that this was the "benchmark figure for the Sydney Olympics." Untrue – it is almost double the number for the Olympics. A former senior Olympics official said yesterday that 16 – 17 athletes were accommodated per unit. "The Age" even reported that athletes in Melbourne would be accommodated in the kitchens and garages of new units. Additionally there is simply no space for a transport interchange on site – buses will have to line up along Oak Street outside. And there is no handy public transport to let the athletes travel into the City".
Colin Smith also from RPPG commented:
"The loss to Melbourne of the Royal Park Hospital is inestimable – valuable, badly needed mental health facilities, which could be restored for community use, open space and public parkland plus heritage buildings will be handed over to a private developer to make a commercial killing. It is our land and our inheritance. This is a case of a Government "greenwash". The Government has the nerve to label this a "Village Park". It is no such thing. There are only few tiny parcels of green left around buildings – the so-called "new 4 hectare park". The Government has stolen a big slab of Royal Park so they can claim they are "greening" the Village. The wetlands, which are anyway to be established in Royal Park under its Master Plan, have been incorporated into the "Village Park."Today community groups will rally behind The Greens at the launch of a billboard advertising that they will " Save Royal Park" This is planned for 12:45 pm at the corner of Dryburgh Street and Flemington Road North Melbourne. Melways Page 2A G4
MEDIA CONTACT: Julianne Bell 98184114 or 0408022408