Woolworths isn’t just a supermarket chain, it’s one of Australia’s biggest property developers.
There is no limit to Woolworths’ greed and excess.
When councils refuse to permit Woolworths’ overdevelopments, they send in expensive lawyers to fight communities in court.
Everywhere Woolworths go, communities suffer.
Huge apartment towers, oversized supermarkets, massive car parks and traffic chaos are the hallmarks of a Woolworths development. They call it “mixed-use” development. Everyone else calls it over- development.
The Fresh Food People are leaving a rotten legacy of greed and overdevelopment, and communities are fed up.
Every new Woolworths development comes with increased traffic, semi-trailer loading bays and residential towers that dwarf neighbouring houses. Woolworths’ Elsternwick proposal is a planning disaster – two towers of 9 and 10 storeys looming over houses, a car park that will cause traffic gridlock in a local street and a truck loading bay across the road from a primary school and adjacent to a pedestrian crossing used by young children.
Not only will kids have to run the gauntlet of semi-trailers and hundreds more cars, but they’ll also be exposed to dangerous diesel fumes in the classroom and the schoolyard.
Woolworths promises shareholders good governance and sustainability while creating overdevelopment, congestion and more dangerous emissions.
The community has united to fight the development, forming Stop the Elsternwick Towers and taking the project to the state’s planning tribunal. The application was twice refused by the local council before a secret backroom deal to secure its approval. Woolworths has ignored the locals’ concerns about traffic, safety, and the massive overdevelopment of a site in a suburban street and will instead try to get its monstrosity approved through the courts.
Glen Iris When Woolworths applied for a new supermarket in Melbourne’s Glen Iris, it came with all the usual strings attached – four storeys of residential apartments, 300 underground car parks and a nightmare of traffic and congestion issues. When the council refused the proposal after a huge public backlash, Woolworths marched off to the courts to get an approval. Even the developer-friendly planning tribunal refused Woolworths’ overdevelopment plans, calling it “unacceptable” and “inappropriate”.
If Glen Iris residents can beat Woolworths, so can any other community.
Join the fight, support our cause today.
#worseoffwithwoolies
Join the fight, and support our cause today.
Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stoptheelsternwicktowers
or donate to our campaign.
https://chuffed.org/project/stop-woolworths-elsternwick
#worseoffwithwoolies
Summary of Events
- In August 2021, Glen Eira Council unanimously voted to refuse issuing a planning permit to Woolworths based on their 'revised' supermarket and apartment development proposal.
- Woolworths have once again contested the Glen Eira Council decision by referring the matter to VCAT.
- This is the second time Woolworths are taking the matter to VCAT. On the first occasion in September 2020, VCAT rejected their submission and no permit was granted.
- A VCAT Compulsary Planning Conference was held on 16 December 2021 wich proved futile.
- A SECRET meeting took place on Tuesday 15th March 2022 where the council approved a revised set of plans from Woolworths without any notification to residents. We are of the view that this shocking turn of events has denied us any natural justice.
- A new VCAT hearing is due to commence 22 May 2022 where STET will fight both Council and Woolworths for significant consessions to the development.
- Please join us at our community rally on Saturday 26th March at the Elsternwick Plaza in Glen Huntly Rd (near station) to protest inappropriate development.
SAY NO TO THE REVISED WOOLWORTHS DEVELOPMENT
HUNDREDS MARCH IN PROTEST AT WOOLWORTHS DEVELOPMENT IN ELSTERNWICK
Hundreds of concerned Elsternwick residents protested on Saturday at a proposed development by Woolworths.
Bipartisan support came from speakers at the rally including State MP David Southwick, Federal Member for Macnamara Josh Burns, Member of the State Legistative Council Clifford Hayes and Steph Hodgins-May, Greens Candidiate for Macnamara.
Since 2019, residents have been fighting the development on the old ABC site in Selwyn Street Elsternwick. It has been discovered that Glen Eira Councillors voted last week in secret to approve the controversial Woolworths development in Elsternwick.
It has left residents furious at the lack of transparency and accountability by the council. “The back flip by council in secret is cowardly and wrong.” said STET spokesperson Kathy Deacon.
The development will still head back to VCAT in May, with Stop the Elsternwick Towers now representing residents in a fight against both the Council and Woolworths.
“Woolworths simply do not care about the issues that impact our local community” said spokesperson Kathy Deacon.
“The excessive traffic congestion and pollution this development brings will endanger lives. This development will add over 22 delivery trucks and 6000 car movements per day in residential streets and sits opposite a school – it is just a totally inappropriate site for this type of supermarket development” said Kathy.
“Combine this with the lack of respect for the heritage in the area, in particular the adjoining National Trust home, Glenmoore House and overshadowing onto parkland in Glen Huntly Rd, the lifelong consequences for this development are profound.”
This fight against Woolworths is part of a broader issue in the city of Glen Eira, that has seen residents angry at the inappropriatness of developments in Carnegie, Bentleigh, and Caulfield South including around Caulfield racecourse.
GLEN EIRA COUNCIL VOTES NO TO THE REVISED WOOLWORTHS DEVELOPMENT
As you may be aware Woolworths recent changes to their proposal for
10-16 Selwyn Street has been rejected by Council for a second time.
The reasons for refusal were as follows:
- The scale and setbacks of the southern tower will appear overly dominant from Glen Huntly Road and will not adequately respect the low scale character and heritage character of the commercial premises along Glen Huntly Road. The proposal is contrary to Schedule 10 to the Design and Development Overlay at Clause 43.02, Clause 15.01- 1S (Urban design), Clause 15.01-1R (Urban design – Metropolitan Melbourne), Clause 15.01-1S (Building design), Clause 15.01-5S (Neighbourhood character), Clause 22.05 (Urban Villages Policy) and Clause 58.02-1 (Urban Context) of the Glen Eira Planning Scheme.
- The southern tower does not appropriately respond to the design objectives, design criteria or decision guidelines of Schedule 10 to the Design and Development Overlay at Clause 43.02 of the Glen Eira Planning Scheme.
- The scale and design of the southern tower fails to conserve or enhance the significance of the Elsternwick Estate and environs heritage precinct and will adversely affect the significance of the heritage place contrary to Clause 43.01 (Heritage Overlay), Clause 15.01-1S (Heritage conservation), Clause 21.10-2 (Heritage), and Clause 22.01 (Heritage Policy) of the Glen Eira Planning Scheme.
- The design of the vehicle egress from the basement car park will enable significant traffic movements along Selwyn Street and through the cultural precinct. This will compromise the role of Selwyn Street as a cultural precinct and its pedestrian amenity. It will also result in increased traffic distribution within local streets to the north of the subject land to the detriment of residential amenity.
The response to the Glen Eira City Council council vote last night to REJECT the proposed Woolworths ten storey towers in the local heritage area of Elsternwick Village has been overwhelming.
The local residents have campaigned long and hard against this development through the Stop The Elsternwick Towers group.
This should be a wake up call to planners, councillors and politicians all over Melbourne that residents are well and truly fed up with inappropriate development and that this is a major issue that needs to be addressed.
The planning laws are simply broken.
Thank you to all the Councillors who unanimously voted against this proposal.
We fully support Glen Eira City Council's plans for a pedestrian and cultural precinct in Selwyn St and this vision should not be compromised by inappropriate development.
SAY YES TO CREATING MAY STREET WEST INTO A PARK
In addition, the Stop the Elsternwick Towers Group has discovered that the proposed site contains an existing road. We have expert legal advice that May Street West is a road, and has never been discontinued by Glen Eira Council. Legally it belongs to Council on behalf of ratepayers and not Woolworths, who have gated the area and plan to build over it.
Given the proximity of the site to the recently approved Selwyn Street Cultural & Pedestrian Precinct, we are calling for the return of the road to the residents of Elsternwick by way of a public park.
The road has never been sold, never been discontinued, and is not Woolworths to develop.
The City of Glen Eira, and in particular Elsternwick, has the least amount of open space per person in Melbourne. This road represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to create new open space for the community who are crying out for more public parks. In addition, it complements the newly approved Selwyn Street Cultural & Pedestrian Precinct, which is planned to be the heart and soul of our neighbourhood.
The Glen Eira Open Space Strategy has identified a distinct lack of parkland in this area. Given that Council already own the land, a unique opportunity exists to create public open space at a minimal cost.
Would you like some signage?
We have corflute fence signage available if you would like to show your support.
Simply email your details (name, address & mobile) to communitybeforetowers@gmail.com and we can deliver and install if you wish.
All we ask is that you donate $20 to cover the cost of the signs.
You can deposit here :
Bendigo Bank
Elsternwick Branch (Glenhuntly Rd, cnr St. Georges Rd)
Acc. Name: Stop the Elsternwick Towers
BSB: 633-000
Acc No.: 166 384 842
PROPOSED NEW PLANS
· No changes to the northern tower.
· No changes to the supermarket.
· No changes to the traffic gridlock and parking issues this will create for residents.
· Still dominating the heritage view of the Glen Huntly Rd shopping strip with no narrowing and no further setback provided as recommended by VCAT.
· Reduced height of the southern tower to the Maximum allowed by the DDO, but still 14 meters above the council preferred height of 23 meters.
· Additional setback of 2 meters for the neighbours to the east, still 4 metres short of the requirements of the DDO at 9 meters height and 7 meters’ closer than requirements at the 4th floor. The 5th to 8th floor should be set back a further 12 meters.
About Us
Who are we?
We are a community-based organization focused on stopping the Elsternwick Towers and Woolworths Supermarket. We are very concerned about inappropriate development in Glen Eira.
Get Involved
Are you passionate about what we're doing? Let us know! Help us save Glen Huntly Road from becoming covered in wall-to-wall high rise towers. We'd be devestated if this area became the next Docklands.
Tell them what you think
Don't like what you see here? Tell Woolworths and the Glen Eira Council what you think!
Woolworths: https://www.facebook.com/woolworths/
Mayor of Glen Eira Council: Cr Margaret Esakoff
e:MEsakoff@gleneira.vic.gov.au