By Ruza Zivkusic
KEILOR MP George Seitz has landed in hot water over criticism of the current expansion of Watergardens Town Centre, saying the development was a “planning mistake” where “concrete walls and loading bays” face the Watergardens Railway Station.
Mr Seitz told Star last week that the second-stage developments due to open in early April this year were not “user-friendly” and did not “interact” with the train station.
“I would expect that with the modern thinking the station would have been incorporated into the shopping centre,” Mr Seitz said.
“Instead, the shopping centre has turned its back to the station, having concrete walls waiting for graffiti artists to discover them,” he said.
A minibus was needed to take residents, especially elderly, the 100 metres from the railway station to the shops, Mr Seitz added.
His comments were met with fury by Delahey Action Group member David Anderson, who said Mr Seitz was “ill-informed” and had a “total distortion of facts”.
A Watergardens Town Management spokesperson said the expansion of Watergardens Town Centre was designed to bring the centre closer to the Watergardens Station, increasing the convenience of the centre for shoppers.
“The new Station Street will extend from the centre to the station, providing direct access to the recently opened Sydenham Library and will be a walk of approximately 100 metres for pedestrians coming to and from the station,” the spokesperson said.
Station Street will have extensive street lighting, footpaths and landscaping, ensuring safety of visitors, the spokesperson added.
“The adjacent train station and many bus services to the centre enable Watergardens to serve a very wide area and there are additional community services, such as the Seniors Shopping Bus Service, run in conjunction with Brimbank Council,” the spokesperson said.
Mr Anderson said it was irresponsible for a Member of Parliament to be commenting on the matter that was being partially constructed.
“For me it sounds that the comments have been made from someone who’s ill-informed and for someone who does not use any of those services,” Mr Anderson said.
Brimbank City Mayor Margaret Giudice said she had received positive feedback from residents regarding the construction.
“The whole idea of Watergardens (train) station was put with the idea that the shopping centre would link up to the station and that’s exactly what’s happened at the moment. The strategic position for us placing the library there was so that people would have access as much as possible to the library through the public transport and also through the Watergardens Shopping Centre,” Cr Giudice said.
