BUILDING unions are throwing their weight behind a campaign to save Sunshine’s HV McKay Gardens.
The Regional Rail Link Authority plans to acquire a section of the gardens as part of the grade separation to remove level crossings on Anderson Road.
An RRL spokeswoman said the project would have minimal impact on the gardens, but Friends of the McKay Gardens president Catherine McDonald said the heritage value was being destroyed.
Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Brian Boyd said it supported transport improvements, but not by “steamrolling” historical concerns.
“I gave the seven building unions a full briefing on this matter [Thursday] morning and they are very concerned about what’s going on,” he said. “We are buying into this dispute.”
Mr Boyd said the gardens had a strong symbolic value for unions through their ties to 1906’s landmark Harvester “living wage” case.
Brimbank Council last week resolved any financial compensation received from land acquisition within the garden would go towards a HV McKay Gardens action plan.
Chairman Peter Lewinsky said the council was satisfied early designs showed most of the city’s design principles had been taken into account. “As with projects of this size, there are some concerns and impacts, and the council is playing a strong role to ensure the RRL alliance is aware of the need to resolve them,” he said.
“We acknowledge that there will be a need by RRL for some acquisition of land, which has been minimised and does not involve the acquisition of or relocation of any residences or businesses.”
Mr Lewinsky said shared pathways and a cycling and pedestrian bridge across Anderson Road were needed to extend Brimbank’s bicycle network. He said the council had invested more than $678,000 in restoration and upkeep and would seek fair compensation for acquisition.
But Ms McDonald said the council was complicit in the project proceeding with little care for heritage values. She said the council wasn’t doing enough to push for design changes and couldn’t hide behind the argument that it was unable to stop the acquisition.
“They put pressure on the state government to put this grade separation back into plans for the Regional Rail Link. We actually support the separation, but it doesn’t have to be done this way.”
