More on Cherry Court
The recent BE news photo of Cherry Court (have a look here) was interesting as the real estate agents diagram of Cherry Court is incorrect and fails to show the pedestrian access joining the court bowl with Scentbark Lane at the rear of the court.
This pedestrian access was achieved as a result of negotiation between Ballarat City Council (BCC), the Applicant and Friends of Sparrow Ground (FoSG). The VCAT application was withdrawn when this lane was agreed to. Below is a photo which is slightly different to the one with the real estate agents board. It is obvious that a good amount of plumbing is required.
FoSG believe that the previous objections and VCAT involvement led to the larger than “average” blocks being planned. These block sizes for Cherry Court were in the original application which is an improvement on 425 Richards St’s original 18 block application, reduced to 12 at VCAT.
The subdivision at 425 Richards St:proposal for 18 lots first objected to in August 2009, was subsequently subject to VCAT order P3436/2009 dated 9 August 2010 and reduced the lots to 12 so as to maintain local character and placed 21 trees under the protection of the Koala plan plus an easement to Scentbark Lane. VCAT Member Martin’s findings positively influenced the following two developments.
If you want to read more about the work of the Friends of Sparrow Ground, and its extensive work, head to their group page here.
So many of us at work here in the East, working hard to support and protect this beautiful area. Great work!
About the cheeky plan used in advertising not showing the pedestrian link – hopefully there hasn’t been an Amendment go through without the Objectors at FoSG being notified.
This is something developers often do. Change things when they think no-one is looking. Amendments can go in up to 2 years after the initial Planning Permit is issued.
Initially the plans get approved and permit conditions are put in place (hopefully with what the Objectors/locals wanted).
Then sometime in the next two years the developer lodges an Application for Amendment to change something in the plans, (which will ultimately affect what the Objectors/locals gained and wanted but they don’t tell you that).
Then the Amendment is approved and the first the locals know about it is when the advertising boards go up.
One way of not missing sneaky little Applications for Amendments is to ride your bike around every day the other way is to subscribe to planningalerts.org.au for free.