Masters of the Planiverse: The Rail Lands Years

Howdy, to the USof A, the Seychelles, Vietnam, and Bangladesh, and y'all elsewheres...lotta' chatta' locally re the state of decay of Mt Gambier City Council and their relentless 'Plans To Have Plans' announcements and associated pantomime 'Public Consultation'...and this weeks Master Plan is for the vibe of the town, man...(of how Mt Gambier might be like, groovy and happening, man-Ed)...right on, man, and again I refer and indeed defer, dear availees, to the most excellent Mt Gambier & Districts Residents & Ratepayers Association and the Blue Lake Briefing Room at their Facebook pages...BLBR has done a very thorough review of the lack of detail/specifics...(and what I'll call Blue-Sky Thinking-Ed)...yes well, I think that phrase has become sarcastic-jargon lore these days, to encapsulate this exact scenario, all flowery phrase and fluffy notions entirely sans actual detail/costings/etc...

As explained in the images below, Mt Gambier was gifted the Rail Lands back in 2004, and their first plan was for extensive Retail/Commercial Development (first image)...(as were their various subsequent plans in 2005/06 and 2011-Ed)...indeed...moving the Rail Easement Corridor was entirely about clearing the footprint for that massive development...(so massively costly and entirely unnecessary-Ed)...and I'd argue that the Retail/Commercial Agenda is alive and well, it's why the Old Rail Station has never been properly renovated and tenanted...(fair call-Ed)...but let us begin at the beginning...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These (below) are from the 30 page architect designs MGCC presented in February 2006...that design has 2-3 versions of the same extensive Retail/Commercial development on the site, including what is clearly a massive expansion of Centro Plaza...note that the Old Rail Station is right in the middle of that expansion...

 

 

 

Here's 2 related articles from The Border Watch, firstly, 'Where's the Bus Terminus everyone asked for?', and secondly, 'Developers sought'...note that Mr Cooke identifies 'MGCC didn't ask for a terminus' and potential "extension of the Lakes Village" (Centro Plaza)...

(***Apologies, I can't get "Rail lands developers sought" article from The Border Watch 20th April 2006 to load)

 

Then this in 2009, apologies I don't have a specific date.. 

 

 
 

And then came this (below) the November 2011 $10m Parklands Concept Plan (it's actual title)...(publicly launched with great fanfare in the Helpmann Theatre foyer, as per photo below-Ed)...indeed...great poster-sized printouts and glossy pamphlets and lotsa' Councillors, etc etc...

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This (below) is the front page of the 5 page pamphlet thingy that accompanied the launch...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then in September 2014, thusly cometh this...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And here's a link to a previous post re the Rail Lands, one of several in this 'ere blog...

 https://themountgambierindependent.blogspot.com/2014/09/hello-cyprus-belgium-indonesia-and.html

So a brief summary;
1) MGCC was gifted the Rail Lands site in 2004, and;
2) immediately set-about extensive Retail/Commercial development of the site, including;
3) a 30-page architects report/design (2005/06), then;
4) a $10m announcement/launch in November 2011, including a large covered plaza and Sound Shell, then;
5) revised that to a $4.2m project, still with Sound Shell that will be "funded" later, etc;
6) did massive earthworks on the site but virtually no infrastructure, eg, the iconic Old Rail Station remains derelict and unused;

7) in October 2015 MGCC was pushing "pop-up operations...to guide future use of former station building" (The Border Watch, 15th October 2025). 

 

And I went to every Public Consultation, did a coupla' written submissions, eg, use the Rail Station as a centralised Bus Terminus, etc etc etc, and MGCC did what they wanted, didn't do anything else, and 22 years after they were gifted that site for exactly zilch diddly-dollaroos, it remains a barren, wind-swept, and largely unusable wasteland...and just for good measure, here's a photo taken December 2023 of the banner MGCC hung on the Old Rail Station fence...  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there ya' go, a brief synopsis of the various 'Plans' MGCC has presented Ratepayers re the Rail Lands, as a template/prediction for each and every 'Master Plan' and related 'Public Consultation' MGCC has ever done and ever will allegedly do...

Tomorrow: Gourd Knows

Still operating at a functional level of existence, exhausted and generally just pissed-off...and apparently I ain't Robinson Crusoe, ie, many Ratepayers seem to feel much the same, especially when it comes to dealing with MGCC...

I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...