Saleyard sites, old and new, do not tend to change in a hurry.
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Take the move from away from the Latrobe Street saleyards: it was publicly mooted in 2002, and took 16 years of planning, public protest, an independent planning panel, and huge amounts of ink spilled before the Central Victoria Livestock Exchange facility was finally set up in Miners Rest.
Can we expect the same timeframe before change at the old site? It is hard to imagine as prime a location, with such a large expanse of land, being freed up again in the city any time soon. Designed to meet the needs of a town in the midst of a Gold Rush population boom, the saleyards were set up "two miles distant from Lydiard Street" by early councillors.
And there they stayed for more than 150 years, from 1864 until October 2018. Millions of livestock passed through the gates of what became one of the most important livestock auction sites in regional Victoria.
It is now more than two years since hooves last sounded on the bluestone within the site. The context of the area, which stretches across around 13 hectares, is very different from the time of the first sales. South of Victoria Park, it lies along a busy thoroughfare linking central Ballarat to the growth zones to the south-west of the city, with light industry and residential areas nearby.
Even with the contamination of a site so many animals have passed through over the years, this has the potential to change the face of this part of the city. But are we any the wiser how this might take shape?
THE WORK SO FAR
Since the saleyards moved, visible progress has been slow - significantly lagging behind a schedule previously published on the City of Ballarat website.
Last year, council said technical studies of the contamination were more complicated than previously realised. Asbestos was cleared this year. A City of Ballarat spokesperson said most of the infrastructure clearance work should be done by Christmas, with COVID-19 clearly impacting work.
There have been other changes in the meantime. The planning scheme now incorporates a small part of the site under a heritage overlay, including the 1909 administration building, adjoining sheep yards and a selling pavilion built in 1963.
A heritage assessment categorised the saleyards as significant at a local level, rather than statewide (Ballarat's original saleyards are older than their counterparts in Geelong, but not as well preserved - the old Geelong site is described as of state-wide significance).
It's a wonderful opportunity for a prime piece of land in the centre of town. Let's not delay any longer than we have to
- Michael Poulton, CEO Committee for Ballarat
That decision was not universal - when it was taken last year, councillors Mark Harris and Des Hudson argued there were other ways to acknowledge the site's history, and they did not want to stymie any future plans. They were overruled, however and a small part of the heritage is now protected by planning law .
SLOW PROGRESS
Disused saleyards are not known for their quick development turnaround, a point Dr Elizabeth Taylor, a senior lecturer in Urban Planning and Design at Monash University, made to The Courier, "As a broad guide some comparable renewal sites might take 10 years to get started," she said.
The intervention of COVID-19 may not have helped the site move forward either - but the fact its clearance is still happening two years after its closure has frustrated some observers.
That includes the former mayor Ben Taylor, who cited the saleyards redevelopment as a priority early on in his mayoral year. His view is shared by the Committee for Ballarat chief executive Michael Poulton, who said: "The community are anxious to see an outcome and a resolution and we should be moving quicker than we have,"
"I understand community consultation, I understand planning processes, but this is a case where we needed to move more quickly than we have. Sitting as a derelict site for two years hasn't been a great outcome."
"It's a wonderful opportunity for a prime piece of land in the centre of town. Let's not delay any longer than we have to." Mr Poulton said if there had been no further progress within 12 months' time, "it would be terribly disappointing."
WHAT'S NEXT?
For Professor Michael Buxton, a planning academic and professor emeritus at RMIT, as well as a former councillor and mayor himself (in the now defunct shire of Sherbrooke), the process will need two steps: a decision on how to use the land, followed by a call on the firm detail.
There has to be a clear idea of what the public authority wants to do, and then having decided that, it really has got to get down to detail
- Professor Michael Buxton, planning academic
"There's a lot of successful and unsuccessful examples of the development of large sites like this," he said. "If you look at the old Newmarket saleyards (in Kensington, Melbourne), that is a relatively successful example of redevelopment. It's stood the test of time. There was a very strong role for government, and they stuck to the plan."
He said establishing clear rules for development was crucial.
"There has to be a clear idea of what the public authority wants to do, and then having decided that, it really has got to get down to detail - don't just leave it a broad discretionary set of uses at a precinct level."
Asked what his main advice to council would be, he said: "Get on with it. Outline a timetable for decisions about the types of land uses. Council has to make an early decision about the land uses. Get that decided, and from that the detail will follow."
He recommends a swift delving into the intricacies once land use decisions are made. He cites the Pentridge development in Coburg, Melbourne, as an example of a development that stalled and morphed into something it was never intended to be. "They ended up having medium rise development where there was none proposed," he said. "Certainty is critical."
The City of Ballarat has said the next significant step will be a "Future Directions" paper outlining the options, which a spokesperson said would be out for public feedback in February 2021.
This is what it would be, they say: "a draft vision for the renewal of the precinct, together with core principles to guide its future development; provide further information about the issues and opportunities of the Saleyards site to act as a catalyst for the renewal of the broader precinct; and present recommended future land uses for the Saleyards site for community feedback."
After that layer of public consultation - which comes after an initial public engagement in 2018 - councillors would get to the nub of deciding what to do with the site. That would most likely be in 2021 - although even that date is not confirmed.
The Latrobe Street site is on crown land, which means any decisions on its future use would involve the state government. But it is the City of Ballarat which is tasked with setting the strategy for what it wants the site used. Juliana Addison is the state MP for the Wendouree electorate, under which the Latrobe Street site sits.
"When a plan is presented, the State Government will be ready to work with the City on the future development and use of this significant site," she said in an emailed statement to The Courier. "The old saleyards is in an excellent central location [and] is of such a size that means there many options that could be explored that could be of great benefit for our community."
What are the options?
Ask three people about what you would like to see on the site, and you may well get three different answers back. Mr Poulton, who stressed that he was speaking in a personal capacity rather than on behalf of the Committee for Ballarat, said he thought it was a prime opportunity for "significant parkland" - such as wetlands - to be installed.
READ THE 2019 BACKGROUND ANALYSIS
"A growing city can't just be considered from its industry and business capacity, it's got to have an open space plan as well," he said.
He acknowledged some commercial mixed use would also make sense, but he said he would like it to be a "community space first and foremost", with careful use of the land allowing it to act as a buffer in between more built-up areas.
Others have raised the prospect of it becoming a specialist hub, including for technology or health. However, with major investments pending at both existing Drummond Road hospitals, the likelihood of a new hospital on site - which is another possibility that has been put forward - may not be very high in the short-term.
Rod Pope, who owns the Ballarat Bakery opposite, said he expected to see a commercial venture - and one that would help boost trade to his premises. Surprisingly, perhaps, Mr Pope reports trade went up a little after the saleyards closed, which he believes is due to more people coming through on the old market days, when his usual customers might avoid the area.
The council itself has hinted it is looking into at least some residential development is likely - if not within the old saleyards site, then within the "wider precinct".
Whichever way the land is eventually used, it is safe to say there will not be much sign of it anytime in 2021. However, many will hope it is a year when a vision will become a little clearer.
OTHER SALEYARDS
The Latrobe street saleyards site is of course not the first major livestock trading site to fall out of use - and nor is it the only one where there has been a significant lag between the saleyard decommissioning and any decision on its future use. Here is what has become of other saleyards around Victoria.
Newmarket saleyards, Melbourne
One of the largest and most historic saleyards sites was this one Flemington in inner Melbourne. The decision to stop livestock trading at the Newmarket Saleyards was hotly contested, and delayed by years before it finally came to an end in 1987. Work to establish the area as a medium density housing estate - which would become Lynch's Bridge-Kensington Banks - began around 1996.
Charleston Road saleyards, Bendigo
In Bendigo, there was a move to close down the original saleyards in 1994. By 1997, the Charleston Road site had been decommissioned, and work to establish a new TAFE campus in its place was underway. That TAFE campus remains in place today.
Weddell Road saleyards, Geelong
The process for the Weddell Road site in Geelong initially followed a similar timeline to that of the Latrobe Street saleyards. With the site operating at a significant loss to the City of Greater Geelong each year - hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in its final years - sheep and cattle trading ceased in 2017. The final poultry sales were sold in August the following year. Since then, things have, on the face of it, moved more swiftly. The City of Greater Geelong released its own draft precinct plan earlier in 2020. The majority of the old Weddell Road site is owned by the council, which may have helped expedite the process.
Previous coverage of the former saleyards
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