Kim Waters
Residents have given up hope of saving a historic Geelong West church from the “wealth and power” of budget supermarket chain ALDI, according to a National Trust spokesperson.
Geelong West National Trust’s Jennifer Banton said ALDI had taken its plans to “destroy” and replace St Johns Anglican Church and vicarage straight to state Planning Minister Justin Madden for approval.
“This developer has just ignored the local council process and we have to ask why they deserve special treatment,” Ms Banton said.
Council shot down plans for the ALDI store on the corner of Shannon Avenue and Albert Street last month, citing fears of “traffic problems in the area”.
But council lost control of the project and an advisory committee to Mr Madden heard submissions on the ALDI plan last week.
Ms Banton said ALDI was using Mr Madden to “push through” the project despite widespread community opposition.
“Why is a ministerial planning panel needed for a development that both council and the community don’t want?”
Ms Banton said ALDI’s application process reflected a “disturbing political trend” in influential companies bypassing local government.
“ALDI is a big company that can afford to pay consultants and barristers,” she said.
“The residents and councillors opposing this have been locked out of the process because they don’t have the resources to fight it.
“There are an increasing number of these matters called in by Mr Madden and the panels are making political decisions rather than implementing good planning processes.”
Ms Banton briefed last week’s panel on behalf of Geelong West National Trust but was “not hopeful” of a positive outcome.
She wanted Mr Madden to delay his decision until council had implemented a proposed heritage planning overlay for Geelong West, which would protect historic buildings.
Mr Banton said ALDI should demonstrate whether it could redevelop the site while retaining its heritage values.
“ALDI need to respect advice from experts who say the church building is of historical significance.”
Councillor Jan Farrell said at a council meeting last month she had “no faith” Mr Madden’s advisory committee would make the right decision on the ALDI application.
“We cannot destroy heritage buildings for the sake of development, especially with the amount of work gone into protecting the area.”
Cr Farrell said the proposal was “contrary” to council’s Ashby precinct heritage review and that ALDI had taken its application to Mr Madden in a “seemingly devious manner”.
ALDI had not returned the Independent’s calls for comment before the paper went to press.