The Ringwood Chamber of Commerce aims to represent the business community within Ringwood and organises regular meetings for its members.
Tonight’s occasion was the final chamber meeting for 2009 and included discussion around the former Ringwood Market site, as well as an update on works for Ringwood Station, which are expected to begin from the middle of the year.
These developments, along with progress within the Eastland site should mark an exciting year as Ringwood begins its transformation into a vibrant urban centre.
In addition, VicRoads is undertaking consultation over Maroondah Highway, with consideration being given for the removal of clearways between Ringwood Street and Warrandyte Road. This would enable additional car parking to benefit shops along the Highway, as well as provide bicycle lanes and better access for buses.
Traders within the inner city are actively campaigning against clearways, given the detriment it has on shopping strips. The removal of clearways along Maroondah Highway and the encouragement of sustainable forms of transport will assist in revitalising the shops along Maroondah Highway.
In addition, this will also provide accessibility improvements for people with disabilities through making it easier to access Ringwood Station and its commercial district.
The VicRoads consultation concludes on the 1st of February, Maroondah Council will be supporting efforts that assist in the revitalisation of this part of Ringwood.
Alex,
I applaud council’s support of the proposal to remove the clearway between and Warrandyte Road and Ringwood Street and agree that this the type of change is supported not only by street traders in inner Melbourne but by small merchants and urban planners all over the world.
You have conveniently failed to mention, however, that the Ringwood Chamber of Commerce is controlled by a small minority who are totally opposed to this change. I can not understand why the Maroondah Council continues to provide support to a chamber which continually opposes it’s development plans and at the same time stands in the way of the formation of a group which would properly represent the traders of Ringwood.
Peter,
Thank you for your comments. I do agree that urban planners across the world support the revitalisation of strip shopping districts, primarily through calming traffic and giving priority towards sustainable forms of transport.
This is due to the fact that pedestrians and people are ultimately customers of such shops, not cars. Ultimately, while my views do differ from the Ringwood Chamber of Commerce I do appreciate their prerogative to express a different viewpoint.
I guess the difficulty with Ringwood currently is the difficulty in imagining a solution after so many years of a lack of progress. That being said imagine Lygon Street if it had six lanes of traffic and a lack of parking? It certainly wouldn’t be the precinct it is today.
Thanks,
Alex