The Fight on Main Street - Melbourne 2030

The fight on Main Street - National - www.theage.com.au

I know Mordialloc well. It is a wonderful seaside village as this article suggests. There is a real community atmosphere in Mordialloc and a strong body of people who want to 'protect' it.

However, 'protection' in this sense means having absolutely no change. I'm not talking about restoring Mordialloc to it's former glory - that of a vibrant town centre that attracted visitors from far and wide for leisurely beachside holidays. Instead, I'm talking about what is essentially a run down low level shopping centre.

The potential for Mordiallioc is unbelievable. It is a natural place for people to gather (particularly in the warmer months), as evidenced by the development at Doyle's Bridge Hotel with it's fantastic outdoor cafe.

It also has the potential to regenerate a series of run down residential buildings that lie between the beachside and the retail hub. And this is partly what 'protection' of Mordialloc usually means.

The problem, as is often the case, is not development and redevelopment per se. It is not even a problem of three, four or five story developments. The problem is two fold:

1. Ridiculously Ugly Design
2. Bit-By-Bit Redevelopment

Mordialloc is a historic village - not some new fangled high tech hub. Any development should be in keeping with the traditional nature of the village atmosphere. It shouldn't include daring architectural designs - but more traditional designs that maintain the theme of a quaint, older style village.

Secondly, a little property here and a little property there being bulldozed and redeveloped causes much more angst in the community. Sympathetic redevelopments of a larger number of sites, in conjunction with master planning for the precinct is a much better approach. This is where Melbourne 2030 really lets itself down.

Council's have to respond to community demands, and are not willing to make bold decisions about their traditional centres. And when I say bold, I don't mean around 'funky' designs in traditional, older style neighbourhoods. I'm talking about land parcelling, pro-active redevelopment authorities, and wide scale implementation of reform taken out of the hands of local government bodies and into independent authorities.

In Mordialloc, everything south of Safeway and west of Main Street should be either bulldozed or redeveloped in an integrated fashion. Dodgy old residential housing should be demolished, Safeway should be demolished, but the traditional, older style shopfronts (the few that remain) should be retained and expanded.

Putting an eyesore in a quaint village is never going to work... but it seems the stock standard answer from developers, and the answer that gets the greenlight from government and VCAT.