Much has already been written about the Ballarat railway station redevelopment, and it appears the 'Save Our Station' group are fortunately having a positive influence in its final decision. All Melbourne rail commuters will be aware that the basic problems we currently have is due to inadequate car parking (especially provisioning for the future growth), too few rail carriages, and too few services to and from Melbourne. Part of the solution to really fix the current shortcomings is to duplicate the train line from Ballarat to Melbourne. I have never heard of any public requests for a hotel on the site, yet this appears to be the Victorian government's cornerstone. I cannot fathom why. The plans we see in the press are simply a few lines representing an area for car or bus parking etc, but very little by way of detail, which is really the crux of the solution.
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For example, the proposed multi-level car park absolutely must have a digital electronic display showing the number of "real time available" car parks, both at the building entrance and at the street so that we do not have a stream of people driving into a building looking for a non-existent car park. This would clog up the building and waste valuable time for commuters. Many shopping centres currently have overhead digital displays showing which aisles and bays have available parking spaces indicated with green ticks or red crosses. This is a real time saver. I hope the current planning for Ballarat includes such important detail.
Murray (Steve) Stevens, Ballarat
I read with much bemusement the comments by Geoff Howard Member for Buninyong (letters November 21st)where he gave me the title, (quote) a Liberal has- been and asks that like stop the negativity. I personally would not call common sense suggestions and comments a negativity.
As to negativity regarding the proposed update of the Goods Shed I have never criticised an upgrade of this historic heritage building.
The very strong criticism I have made, and still make, is that the proposed convention centre, retail and hospitality plans for the Goods Shed with the block of flats behind are completely out of whack with this site. After all the planners 150 years ago reserved the site for transport use and not for private development.
As I have stated many times the whole site should be retained for public transport use and not the above.
With a planned figure now of 200,000 population being planned for Ballarat in the future , why would you not plan now to reserve the whole site for public Transport use for the next 150 years?
We must also preserve the heritage signal masts and gantry’s, the weigh bridge and other associated heritage listed which sadly continue to be neglected by the Andrews government, the Transport Minister and Vic Track.
Certainly, update the Goods Shed, update parking , update the bus and coach exchange (in the goods shed) and most importantly update facilities and access for our handicapped who have been forgotten in a big way by our local members and the Andrews government.
Paul Jenkins, Alfredton,
Has the lily been gilded yet again? We have been told the transformational project is about to begin. The fence erected over the weekend cuts off more available parking than indicated on plans we have seen. To add insult to this, we have been told that about 50 temporary spaces will be opened up at the Eastern Oval. There are no new spaces available, those currently available are already utilised by shoppers/staff at Bridge Mall and other nearby business premises. While I have long supported appropriate development at the station, it is unfortunate this current plan will be looked at in the future for what it is; a missed opportunity.
Gerald Jenzen, Soldiers Hill