Maroondah City Council is delighted that the Greens and Liberal parties have listened to the community’s concerns with both of them pledging to upgrade Ringwood Station within the term of the next government.
Maroondah Mayor Councillor Alex Makin said Council will continue its advocacy campaign leading into the state election in the hope the Labor party would follow its parliamentary colleagues, and also commit to an upgrade.
“The campaign calls for all major political parties to commit to an upgrade of Ringwood Station within the term of the next government. With the Greens and Liberals now on board, we await a commitment from the Labor party,” Cr Makin said.
“Council’s campaign has received a lot of community support with the petition signatures fast approaching 3000,” Cr Makin said.
“The strong community support for the campaign has secured a commitment from two out of three major state political parties. Now we need to continue the campaign and secure a commitment from the Labor Party to fund the missing piece of the State Government’s own Central Activities District,” Cr Makin said.
“The feedback I have received from people during the course of the campaign is that people want a station which is safe, accessible and integrated,” Cr Makin said.
“I urge those who haven’t already signed the petition to visit Maroondah City Council’s information booth at the Maroondah Festival on November 7,” Cr Makin said.
“At the booth we will have the Missing Piece jigsaw puzzle which highlights how important an upgrade to Ringwood Station is to the overall success of Ringwood as a Central Activities District,” Cr Makin said.
Some of the comments posted on Council’s online petition:
“This station urgently needs an upgrade due to the increasing older population, to assist in making the train more accessible. It is very difficult for the elderly to manage stairs etc and updating the station would hopefully make it more secure for travellers. Older people don’t want to travel for this reason, it limits their freedom.”
“No one feels safe at this station. Our worries should not be ignored.”
“The upgrade is urgently needed if it wants to attract future residents. It’s needed to keep the existing travel users safe and secure. What happened to the Government’s duty of care. What happened to the Government’s responsibilty to Maroondah residents?”
“The current state of Ringwood Station is unacceptable. It is clearly not safe for the community- particularly those who are vulnerable ie pregnant women, elderly, disabled, mothers with prams- and its complete redevelopment should be the government’s highest priority.”
“This is an issue of great importance and ought to be a priority on the agenda for state political parties. Ringwood has been very much left behind and the upgrade would not only assist with the mobility of disabled commuters but will also make the area safer for all commuters.”
The petition is also available at Council’s service centres or sign online by visiting www.maroondah.vic.gov.au
Maroondah residents were among more than 3500 people to support a Municipal Association of Victoria petition calling on an upgrade to energy efficient street lighting.
Maroondah Mayor Councillor Alex Makin thanked those Maroondah residents who pledged their support to the Give Our Streets the Green Light campaign.
“The petition was calling on the State and Federal governments to partner with local councils to fund the $114 million upgrade costs which come with the switch to energy efficient street lighting,” Cr Makin said.
“The Municipal Association of Victoria delivered the community petitions to the Premier and Opposition Leader ahead of last Friday’s Local Government Climate Change Summit,” Cr Makin said.
“The Municipal Association of Victoria are confident the strong support by 46 councils and their communities will result in a commitment ahead of the state election to contribute some funding to fast-track the changeover to energy efficient street lighting,” Cr Makin said.
“Securing a combined contribution of $45million over four years from the Federal and State Governments would mean that councils could change about 330,000 street lights from 80W mercury vapour lamps to energy efficient globes at a low cost and in a quicker turn around,” Cr Makin said.
In Maroondah the upfront costs of replacing more than 5500 mercury vapour globes currently lighting Maroondah’s streets is about $2million.
Cr Makin said the reason for changing to more energy efficient globes was to reduce Council’s greenhouse gas emissions and create a greener more energy-efficient future.
“Council estimates that 31 per cent of its green house gas emissions and 22 per cent of its electricity costs are generated by lighting Maroondah’s local streets,” Cr Makin said.
“Electricity is predominately generated by burning brown coal which results in significant green house gases. By making the change to energy efficient globes, we can reduce our carbon footprint and work towards mitigating the effects of climate change,” Cr Makin said.
“The sooner the change over the sooner we start making a difference,” Cr Makin said.
The State Election is just over a month away and the Marooodah Leader has canvassed community organisations on the issues facing Maroondah and Melbourne’s outer east:
Mayor Alex Makin said the council’s focus was on funding for the $48 million Maroondah Aquatic and Leisure Centre, but the major parties should also provide an ongoing commitment to Ringwood Central Activities District, preserving local government’s authority over planning decisions and more frequent public transport services.
It is imperative that all parties commit to a shared vision for Maroondah, including Ringwood’s status as a Central Activities District. This requires an ongoing commitment and planning certainty, as well as facilities that serve not only Maroondah but the wider eastern region.
Mayor of Maroondah, Councillor Alex Makin has confirmed Council’s major project for funding at the forthcoming State election.
“The proposed Maroondah Aquatic and Leisure is the number one funding priority for Council as an essential piece of community and Council infrastructure,” said Cr Makin.
“As a State Government designated Central Activities District, Ringwood is enjoying significant investment and development from private enterprise with major commercial and residential growth underway,” said Cr Makin.
“The State Government has committed $39million in funding towards the bus interchange with funding still to come for the Ringwood Railway Station. Both are essential government infrastructure elements for the Central Activities District,” said Cr Makin.
“The significance of the Ringwood Central Activities District has been identified and acknowledged by both the Greens and Liberal parties in the lead up to the State election with their commitment to funding an upgrade to Ringwood Station within the term of the next government,” said Cr Makin.
“Council’s proposed Maroondah Aquatic and Leisure will complement the development taking place in the Ringwood Central Activities District, enabling it to meet the needs of the growing and diverse regional population of more than 400,000 people,” said Cr Makin.
“The proposed Maroondah Aquatic and Leisure is a critical element to the Central Activities District, both in recreational and leisure terms, as well as the economic and employment benefits during construction and operation,” said Cr Makin.
“Council is seeking considerable funding to assist with the development of this project, particularly for the diving facilities which will provide unique dry diving training for the State, as well as a FINA standard 10 metre diving tower and pool,” said Cr Makin.
“Council has met with all state candidates to ensure that they are aware of the needs of the Maroondah community, and will continue to advocate strongly in the lead up to the State election on behalf of our local community,” said Cr Makin.
Monkami, a not-for-profit service provider for people with intellectually disabilities, has continued to strengthen its community connections and I had the pleasure of launching Alarming Art on the 14th of October. Alarming Art is Monkami’s new public gallery located at the Croydon Fire Station in Croydon Road, the space will provide an opportunity to showcase the talents of Monkami’s clients and further strengthen connections with the community.
Lastly, Maroondah City Council launched its Missing Piece Campaign on the 13th of October, calling on all political parties to commit to the redevelopment of Ringwood Station into an accessible, safe and integrated transport interchange. The campaign, which I co-launched with accessibility advocate Margaret Stevens, reinforces the dire state of Ringwood Station and the need for a commitment. The campaign will continue until the State Election with updates being available at www.facebook.com/ringwoodstation.
Ringwood Station fails to meet disability compliance standards and is perceived to be unsafe due to the poor station design, including narrow and steep ramps. The community has continually called for the full redevelopment of Ringwood Station into a safe, accessible and integrated interchange that will meet the needs of Ringwood as a vibrant urban centre.
While public transport is a State Government responsibility, Council must advocate on behalf of its community and it is clear that Maroondah is seeking a commitment for the redevelopment of Ringwood Station.
Council has been circulating a petition for the past month which has now attracted over 2000 signatures with approximately 1000 visitations through social media tools, including Facebook and Youtube. This evening Council officially launched the Missing Piece campaign with a direct call to action for all political parities to commit to the station upgrade.
Alex with Margaret launching Maroondah's Missing Piece campaign calling for the upgrade of Ringwood Station into an accessible, safe and integrated transport interchange
Ringwood Station is the Missing Piece in a vision for Ringwood, since a lack of commitment diminishes the residential, commercial and community investment that is taking place. Margaret Stevens, a renowned accessibility advocate who spent a week at Eastland collecting signatures for the petition, joined me in launching the campaign and calling on all political parties to commit to Ringwood’s future.
Council’s video highlighting the condition of Ringwood Station was displayed throughout the launch reinforcing the accessibility difficulties that exist.
The speech provided during the launch is available within this post:
In the spirit of Reconciliation, we acknowledge that we are meeting on land for which the Wurundjeri people have been custodians for many centuries, and on land which the Indigenous Australians have performed age old ceremonies.
We, Maroondah City Council, accept, respect and have shared with the Wurundjeri people in their customs of welcome.
The Wurundjeri people support the coming together of all people, respecting their individuality to focus on a unified and cohesive nation.
As you have gathered here this evening, you will have seen the video playing overhead showing the difficulty people in our community, and particularly those with a disability, have accessing Ringwood Station and the 50 year old ramps leading to the station platforms.
This video has been an important element of an advocacy campaign Council has been running over the past six weeks.
The campaign is seeking a funding commitment from all state political parties in the lead up to the State election for the upgrade of Ringwood Station within the next term of government.
The campaign has been running for six weeks with significant support and media coverage from Maroondah’s two local papers, editorial has appeared each week for the past 6 weeks.
Community support has been extremely strong, and to date we have over 2000 signatures to the petition, from individuals and community groups.
One of these individuals is here with us tonight, and I would like to acknowledge Margaret Stevens for her dedication to the cause in securing over 600 signatures from the Maroondah community and beyond during a week at Eastland. In addition, several members of the community, including Dawn Oliffe spent time at Ringwood Station securing signatures for the petition.
Margaret is one of many voices demanding action for Ringwood Station. I have spoken with many people during the course of this campaign and the message from the community is clear, Maroondah residents are tired of waiting, they want a safe, integrated, accessible and vibrant Ringwood Station, and they want it in the term of the next government.
Tonight, Council is launching “The Missing Piece – Ringwood Station” in the lead up to this evening’s Eastern Transport Coalition Forum.
Alex with Margaret launching Maroondah's Missing Piece campaign calling for the upgrade of Ringwood Station into an accessible, safe and integrated transport interchange.
Significant investment and development continues in Ringwood, with support from the State Government and private enterprise, however the commitment to fund the redevelopment of Ringwood Station remains the missing piece of the vision for the Ringwood Central Activities District.
As you can see within the Ringwood Central Activities District jigsaw, we have EastLink providing an important road transport corridor from Mitcham to Frankston, an area responsible for 40 percent of Victoria’s manufacturing output and over 1.3 million people living in the area and providing more than 350,000 jobs.
The sporting, recreational and leisure facilities that either currently exist (Maroondah Federation Estate/Maroondah Art Gallery, tennis, croquet, football and cricket), are under construction (Soccer), or awaiting funding (proposed Maroondah Aquatic and Leisure) in the Jubilee Park precinct are within walking distance from Ringwood Station and the Central Activities District.
New businesses and services are moving to Ringwood, bringing increased employment and spending, as evidenced by the Connect East building perched over EastLink.
Ringwood Lake Park is an icon of Ringwood, providing enormous leisure and recreational pleasure all year round for people of all ages and abilities.
The $39million bus interchange is poised to change the face of Maroondah Highway, however, it does not provide an interface with the existing Ringwood Station.
Residential housing development is showing consistent growth within the Central Activities District with private building developers showing their support for the vision of Ringwood. The new 10 story co-operative housing development will soon be home to over 100 people early next year.
Eastland and the Ringwood Market site are expected to see construction and expansion of retail, community and business floorspace, changing the face of Ringwood significantly.
The Lake to Creek project will see pedestrian and cycling links between the Mullum Mullum Creek and Ringwood Lake, adding another vital layer to the accessibility of our city.
It is time to add the missing piece to the Ringwood Central Activities District jigsaw, a new Ringwood Station.
It is time for each state political party to not only acknowledge the need for an upgrade to Ringwood Station, but to actually stand up and commit to fund this important piece of public transport infrastructure that remains the missing piece of the vision for the State Government’s own Ringwood Central Activities District.
Maroondah City Councillors have thrown their support behind the Ringwood Station Petition and are urging other members of the community to get behind the campaign.
All nine Maroondah Councillors have signed the petition which is calling on all state political parties to commit to an upgrade of Ringwood Station within the term of the next government.
Maroondah Mayor Alex Makin, who was the first signatory on the petition, thanked the community for their ongoing support of the campaign.
“There have been many community groups and individuals, who feel strongly about the station upgrade, circulating the petition around the region,” Cr Makin said.
“We appreciate the community support, but to make the signatures count, the petitions need to be returned to Council by Friday October 1,” Cr Makin said. “The petition will then be collated and presented to State Parliament in the final sitting week before the state election.”
“The more signatures and community support we can generate through the petition the stronger our voice is to ensure the funding commitment is made. So it’s not too late to sign the petition at one of Council’s service centres or on council’s website,’ Cr Makin said.
To sign the petition or find out more about the campaign:
Visit one of Council’s service centres:
City Offices Service Centre
Braeside Avenue, Ringwood
Eastland Service Centre
Level 2, Eastland Shopping Centre, Ringwood
The Eastern Transport Coalition is a regional based council advocacy group, which includes Melbourne’s seven outer eastern Councils. I attended tonight’s meeting to provide members with an update on Council’s campaign to secure the redevelopment of Ringwood Station into an accessible, safe and integrated interchange.
The Eastern Transport Coalition is planning a series of candidate forums across each Council to provide the community with an opportunity to discuss public transport issues in the lead up to the State Election. Maroondah’s Candidate Forum will be held on Wednesday the 13th of October at 6.30 pm at the Karralyka Centre in Ringwood East.
This date will coincide with Maroondah City Council’s launch of its Ringwood Station – the missing piece campaign, where we will be calling on all political parties to commit to delivering an accessible, safe and integrated transit interchange for Ringwood. The current station, which fails disability compliance standards, is an essential part of Ringwood and must be upgraded to ensure the creation of a vibrant urban centre.
The Ringwood Station – the missing piece campaign will be held at 6pm at the Karralyka Centre on Wednesday the 13th of October.
The Mayors and CEOS of the Eastern Region Councils met the candidates of the major parties last week to discuss the key priorities for the coming State Election.
Maroondah Mayor Alex Makin, who chaired the meeting, said representatives from Yarra Ranges, Banyule, Boroondara, Greater Dandenong, Knox, Manningham, Nillumbik and Whitehorse councils all attended the event.
“The Eastern Region Councils represent more than 1.34 million people which is 25 per cent of Melbourne’s metropolitan population, so by joining forces we have more scope to ensure our concerns are addressed by the State Government,” Cr Makin said.
“Last week’s meeting was an opportunity to ensure the major party candidates in the upcoming election were fully briefed on the ERC priority issues and concerns,” Cr Makin said.
The Eastern Region Councils priorities are: public transport; early years; street lighting; school crossing supervision; libraries and land use planning
“We believe the residents living in the eastern region deserve an improved level of public transport services. The Eastern Region Councils are calling on the State Government to take the lead when it comes to developing a long term regional public transport strategy which addresses the needs of the eastern region,” Cr Makin said.
“Some of the major projects that were discussed were the triplication of the train line between Box Hill and Ringwood and the duplication of single tracks running to Lilydale and Belgrave,” Cr Makin said.
“We also discussed the need for high capacity public transport connecting Rowville and Doncaster to the city, and introducing a review of the public transport pricing arrangements,” Cr Makin said.
“These types of changes would go a long way to addressing the current and future needs of the growing population in the eastern region,” Cr Makin said.
Another major concern of the Eastern Region Councils is the development and implementation of the Early Years Reform.
“While the Eastern Region Councils are supportive of the Early Years Reform we believe it is imperative that the collective impacts of all the components of the reform are considered during the development of the implementation plan,”; Cr Makin said.
“Eastern Region Councils would like to see a consultative and partnership approach during the implementation of the reform and to ensure there is adequate funding and resources allocated to the reform,” Cr Makin said.
Street lighting is the third priority or the Eastern Region Councils and one that has been generating a lot of support via the MAV’s Give Our Streets the Green Light campaign.
“The Eastern Region Councils are calling on the State Government to make a funding commitment towards the capital costs of changing over the street lights to more energy efficient globes,” Cr Makin said.
The third priority is the increasing cost of school crossing supervisors due to cost-shifting from the State Government.
“The cost of implementing the program each year is increasing due to the amount of cost-shifting coming from the State Government,” Cr Makin.
“The funding gap just continues to grow, with councils now subsidising about 75 per cent of the school crossing program,” Cr Makin said.
“To address this issue the Eastern Region Councils are calling on a 50:50 type system to better share the costs between local and state governments,” Cr Makin said.
“The group is calling for a similar agreement to help cover the costs associated with running library services. The current models of State Government funding doesn’t take
into account inflation or population growth, so the funds are only covering about 20 per cent of operating the facilities,” Cr Makin said.
“The councils are seeking a long term funding agreement from the State Government which better recognises the growing costs of operating library services,” Cr Makin said.
“Planning and land use issues are also a high priority, with the Eastern Region Councils seeking a commitment from the State Government to amend sections of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 which would give more weight to local government planning scheme amendments which have reached the exhibition stage,” Cr Makin said.
“At the moment Eastern Region Councils don’t have enough confidence in the process because of the variations in which the planning policy is interpreted at VCAT level. By introducing clearer definitions in the policy, the Eastern Region Councils believe there would be greater certainty and less dissatisfaction among residents and developers,” Cr Makin said.
Radio Eastern FM is a community radio station that broadcasts on 98.1 FM from studios at Wyreena Community Arts Centre. The radio station has a variety of programs, including interviews with Councillors on the first Friday of each month.
This month I was interviewed on Radio Eastern FM to discuss Council’s role in advocating on behalf of the community and to provide further details on Council’s campaign calling on all political parties to commit to the upgrade and redevelopment of Ringwood Station.
The State Election in November provides the ideal opportunity to secure a commitment towards Ringwood Station, so that it becomes an accessible, safe and integrated transit interchange. While the State Government has committed $39 million to redevelop the bus interchange and station forecourt, further funding is required to improve the station itself, including ramps that fail disability compliance standards.
The redevelopment of Ringwood Station is essential to transforming it into a vibrant, sustainable and accessible urban centre. Ringwood will only be successful as a Central Activities District if it is provided with public transport infrastructure and services that are accessible, safe and easy to utilise. The current station does not meet this criteria and needs a State Government commitment to secure its redevelopment and upgrade.
Council is working in partnership with the community to secure the upgrade of Ringwood Station. A petition is available at Council Service Centres, as well as online at www.maroondah.vic.gov.au so that community members can demonstrate their support for the redevelopment of Ringwood Station.
In addition, I will be writing to community groups to outline how they can get involved in the campaign and assist in securing a commitment from all political parties towards the vital redevelopment of Ringwood Station.
Council will be continuing this campaign in the lead-up to the State Election and will be holding an official launch in mid October. Regular updates will be provided on the progress of this Campaign and I look forward to working with the community to advocate for a safe, accessible and integrated Ringwood Transit Interchange.
