The Victorian Planning Authority (VPA) Projects Standing Advisory Committee report on the proposed redevelopment of the Preston Market precinct has been released.
It comes a little under two weeks since groups advocating for the market’s preservation alongside Darebin mayor Julie Williams led a protest on the steps of state parliament.
The protest saw attendees touting two petitions to be tabled in parliament, one from Darebin council and the other from community advocates which combined boast more than 27,000 signatures.
The report’s release occurred following a delay of several months since its submission for approval by Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny in December 2022.
A number of the report’s 18 recommendations highlight the site’s heritage value in respect to its design and its significance to the local community.
It recommends amendments be made to supporting documents to include additional context on the market’s social significance “to fully recognise the community’s depth of attachment to the Preston Market as a place beyond trading.”
Additionally, it states that existing plans are based on the removal of “80 per cent of the market’s fabric” noting “this level of removal will significantly diminish the integrity of the Preston Market.”
Highlighting that the plans have “not struck the right balance in relation to the heritage significance of the Preston Market and will not provide for a net community benefit,” and that revisions must be made to recognise the Market’s “identified heritage values.”
Overall, the report advocates for “incremental change” stating “the wider precinct can be redeveloped and transformed while retaining the most important parts of the market.”
“I want to thank every member of the community who has taken the time to have their say on this important landmark in Melbourne’s north,” Vic Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny
In August 2017 then Minister for Planning Richard Wynne requested the VPA review the planning controls across the area surrounding Preston Market, owing to “State Planning policy objectives”
The review identified a number of changes it described as necessary to “encourage improved development outcomes” for the site.
Come 2018, Wynne requested the VPA prepare a structure plan and planning scheme amendment “to guide future development in the precinct,” and in 2021 the planning authority delivered its draft structure plan.
It provided for a new 12,700-square metre market to the east of the current site, which would retain about 20 percent of the existing market structure as well as approximately 1,200 new dwellings across buildings varying between three and 14 storeys high.
As part of public consultation on the draft structure plan and draft planning scheme amendment, the VPA received 386 community submissions.
Now, as per the state Government’s announcement on 3 April, “new planning controls, including a Heritage Overlay, will be introduced to protect Preston Market’s heritage and put beyond any doubt the importance of the market to the community.”
“The Heritage Overlay,” the statement reads “will provide certainty on the features of the market that must be preserved if any development is to occur.”
“Importantly, it will ensure that a significant proportion of the existing market is retained.”
Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny assured the community “we’re protecting the Preston Market and ensuring it remains a social and cultural landmark for the community – and preserving its history for future generations to enjoy.”
“I want to thank every member of the community who has taken the time to have their say on this important landmark in Melbourne’s north,” she noted.
“We have heard that preserving the market is a priority, and that’s what we’ll deliver.”
The market, which has been a local landmark since its construction in 1970, is the focal point of an ongoing debate about its final fate between local residents, council and its current owners Salta Properties and the Medich Corporation.
Its joint owners’ proposed redevelopment of the site would have seen the market proper relocated, with much of the current site demolished to make way for mixed-use developments originally up to 19 storeys high.
Public discourse peaked around November’s state election when the scope of this prospective redevelopment came to the fore as a key issue among constituents.
Prominent Preston politician and former Darebin Mayor Gaetano Greco contested the seat with preservation of the market in its current form a key policy position, accounting for preferences he came close to making the historically safe Labor seat independent.
Public hearings were held by the VPA between 3 October and 10 November, 2022 where various stakeholders from the market’s operators, to community groups and heritage consultants gave submissions relaying their positions.
In a statement released in October last year former Minister for Planning Lizzie Blandthorn said she supported “a vibrant and sustainable fresh food market in the precinct celebrating the importance Preston Market has for the communities in Melbourne’s North.”
She assured that the Government would consider the advice of the VPA’s Standing Advisory Committee alongside community sentiments and come to an independent decision.
However, community groups were and remain dubious about the prospect of their concerns being properly considered, with representatives stating their position has been diminished in favour of corporate interests who seek to renovate the market into a multi-million-dollar mixed use commercial district.
One market trader attributed the push for large-scale development despite community concerns to “greed.”
On 21 March, Preston MP Nathan Lambert delivered a speech in parliament publicly voicing his support for the Preston Market.
“For those of you who don’t know Preston Market is the second largest market in Melbourne, it’s privately owned and the current majority owners would like to move it into the south-east corner of the site and put 19 storey apartment buildings on top of it.”
“One way to think about that,” he continued “is to imagine perhaps this building [Parliament] which actually sits on a very similar five-hectare site next to a train station.”
“You could if you so desired demolish this building, move all of us into a small, more modern, more efficient building (…) and you could put up 19 storeys where we stand today,” he said.
“For those of us who live near Preston Market and love it, we do feel that the proposals that have been put forward very clearly say that the people who wrote them value apartments over the market,” he concluded while referring to alternative proposals such as those submitted by the Save the Preston Market action group.
A little under two weeks prior, Liberal MP for the Northern Metropolitan area Evan Mulholland asked the Minister for Planning whether the now released report would be made public before a decision was made on the market’s development.
In a statement released in response to Lambert’s speech, Managing Director of Salta Properties Sam Tarascio Jr said the firm had “examined all options regarding the future of the Preston Market as part of the broader development of the precinct.”
“The alternative proposals presented by the Council, small community groups and supported by Mr Lambert are not viable and do not respect the business of the traders or the potential of the market.”
“The proposal would see the market close during the development construction period. A construction site is not a safe place to operate a market. Salta’s plan to create a new market for the traders to operate safely from is the only viable option,” it concluded.
