The Big Picture – Defining Neighbourhood Character
We’ve been working very hard to ensure this information sharing site is about the big picture for Ballarat East as much as it is about the small battles we fight everyday in our own backyards. We are keen to support a long term sustainable future for Ballarat East, and that means supporting our council to develop a strategic plan that supports our ideas and ideals. Our council can only be as good as the support and contribution they get from us – the residents… well that and at some point we want to be left free to enjoy our home, not having to be at VCAT every five minutes.
With that end in mind we have been working with council, council officers and a small action group of residents to develop a community meeting that might kick start the process. Here’s what you can do:
- sign up to this website (and get your friends and neighbors to sign up as well)
- come to the meeting and tell your friends and neighbors about it:
- Community Meeting – Defining Neighbourhood Character
- Sunday March 18th 2pm to 4pm
- Ballarat Secondary College East Campus
Please invite your family, neighbours and other residents of Ballarat East.
The purpose of the meeting is to develop an action plan to support the personality, character and diversity of Ballarat East into the future. Recently Ballarat East has felt inundated by developments, building, architectural changes. This is the community’s chance to have a say about how we would like our area to look years from now.
This meeting has been initiated by the community of Ballarat East with the support of council. You can register your interest and ask any questions at the website of the Ballarat East Network, an information sharing network online and on facebook ballarateast.net or you can email the BE Network on info@ballarateast.net
We sincerely hope you will take the opportunity to create positive change in Ballarat East. It’s good to be involved in the democratic process. Just ask Judy Robinson who organised the petition to reinstate the McKenzie Family to the Eureka Pool Management – she got 1700 signatures – go Judy…
Are people aware that any new subdivisions requires the old crushed stone “lay over / lay back” for a drive way, where one exists, to be replaced by a full concrete one. This is a subtle but important change to our Neighbourhood Charater and is ecologically unsound as more rain run-off results which in turn contributes to potential flooding. As you walk around Ballarat East just notice the difference between the two types.
Here is a link to the article mentioned by Alice:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/sick-suburbs-20120314-1v3a9.html
[…] issues in our city, building the slums of the future. A great comment by one of our subscribers click here describes recent media claiming we are creating a future that we cannot support from a health point […]
Recent research shows that we still have a long way to go in parts of Victoria when it comes to urban planning and that could include what is being proposed in parts of Ballarat East. We need to ensure residents health and well being by ensuring blocks have backyards big enough for children to play in and to prevent the social costs of a short sighted approach. Poor urban design according to parts of the reports research can lead to ill health; we need to think of the long term.
“When it comes to urban planning we are building suburbs that in 20 years will be ghettos of ill health” according to one doctor.
We don’t want this to happen in Ballarat East and it will if we don’t prevent it from happening now!!
State Governments environment and planning committee as reported in The Age March 15, 2012. by Miki Perkins.
It’s really important to get as many people to this meeting as possible so that we can find out what is going on in terms of proposed development in the Ballarat East area. If you don’t want to speak up that’s fine you can put details of your concerns here as a comment below, or email info@ballarateast.net and let us know privately and that will give an overall perspective of the intentions of the developers in the area. Put a comment here and it can be raised at this meeting. Others may feel the same as you!