Tuesday’s Council Meeting involved a number of presentations
about the QVM Renewal Master Plan (see previous articles) and of course Councillors
responded. The audio of the meeting is available online but we have noted just some
of the comments from Councillors below.
Cr. Mayne – “The
detail will be important....this is a big picture Master Plan”. “Relocation and
disruption I agree will be a vital issue. We will need to consider mechanisms,
look at what’s been used around the world, mechanisms to provide some
confidence that the city is dealing with traders in good faith and that we have
your interests at heart and that we have incentives to maximise your outcomes
so that we can build in protections if possible....and obviously have great
transparency from traders showing if there is any loss they have suffered
because of some form of relocation issue.”
“I am personally a
little bit nervous about the 10 year time frame and would like to see more now.”
Cr. Wood – “We have
put a lot of money into this already and we are putting a lot of brain power
behind it. When we get to implementation, that is when the detail comes in.”
“Yes I think there
will be issues. The team is heavily committed to working through those issues
but I think what you are going to end up with is a market which builds on all
the good things that the market currently serves this city for, through its
tourism, through its regular shoppers.......and what you are going to get is an
even better market at the end of it.”
“My ask from you
traders is keep on making your viewpoints but work with us on this. Don’t see
us as adversaries, we are people that live in the community as well.”
“We are going to
invest some serious ratepayer dollars in making this the best market in the
world.”
Cr Oke – “I am a
long term resident and a long term attendee at the market.....I have a lot of
good friends who are active on the Save QVM site.....and their viewpoints are
very important to me and I guess that I would like to think, in the way I read the
Master Plan, that their views have actually been interpreted and represented in
the Master Plan.”