Rail loop rejig displaces more residents and businesses to save park
The Suburban Rail Loop Authority is proposing to shift its construction boundary in Box Hill to conserve more of a popular public park, instead displacing residents and businesses.
Original Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) planning for the new Box Hill station in eastern Melbourne was set to reduce the size of the Box Hill Gardens by 25 per cent.
Revised plans reduce the impact to about 10 per cent and instead, 10 more properties and a laneway will be compulsorily acquired.
On Monday night, Whitehorse City councillors voted unanimously to support conservation of the park and oppose further construction encroachment elsewhere in Box Hill.
Kirsten Langford says the Suburban Rail Loop Authority needs to improve consultation with Box Hill residents and business owners. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)
Whitehorse City Council Mayor Kirsten Langford said there had been little community consultation over the proposed changes.
"We've lost 50 businesses as a result of the compulsory acquisition date. Now, we're going to lose more,"
Cr Langford said.
"We welcome that change in Box Hill Gardens. However, the SRL is saying they wish to reduce the open space that they're going to offset in Box Hill Gardens.
"We're seeing 10 businesses being compulsorily acquired. [These are] businesses that are now being compulsorily acquired with very little warning."
Box Hill small business owner Yinwei Yu was frustrated at already having to move his business due to the construction of the Suburban Rail Loop.
Yinwei Yu has already had to move his business once due to Suburban Rail Loop construction. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)
Now he will have to move again due to the SRL rejig.
"It's been very difficult because I've lost a lot of customers," he said.
"I'm very disappointed, but this is the reality of [running a business] and I have to live with it."
Whitehorse Ratepayers Association member Kevin Earl has lived in the Box Hill area for seven decades and said construction work had smothered the vibrancy of the retail precinct.
Kevin Earl says Box Hill's retail precinct is a shadow of its former self. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)
"Having to live in the area and work out your future, it's very difficult," he said.
"There's so much acquisition — even the local medical centre — it got acquired the day it went to auction.
"[The SRL construction] is killing Box Hill. There's just no trade and a lot of traders have shifted.
"To get an answer out of [the SRLA] is very difficult. They're now responsible for planning out of the area, and the other issue is trying to get a decent price out of the state government for something that's been acquired."
A concept design of the Box Hill station platform part of the Suburban Rail Loop. (Supplied: Victorian government)
A Suburban Rail Loop Authority (SRLA) spokesperson said the revised approach to building the new Box Hill station would "significantly reduce the impact of works on Box Hill Gardens".
"Taking lessons from other major projects such as Metro Tunnel, this approach means more efficient construction — saving money — and less impact on surrounding businesses and the community," the SRLA spokesperson said.
"We understand property acquisition can be difficult for affected landowners, tenants, and businesses and we will continue to support them to find suitable new locations where required.
"The new Suburban Rail Loop station will be in the heart of Box Hill, connecting more people to jobs, health services and study opportunities in the thriving cultural hub."
The SRLA spokesperson said the authority expected the formal acquisition process for the additional properties to start in late 2026.
They said the SRLA expected the properties would be vacated from 2027 to 2030, depending on when individual sites were required for construction.
The additional properties have not yet been acquired, the spokesperson said.
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