planning – Michmutters

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Australia

Neighbours’ Ramsay Street would have been Ramsay Court if it was in NSW. So, when is a street a street?

Ramsay Street, as it appears on the TV show, Neighbours

The recent end of the long-running soap Neighbors has raised the question: why was Ramsay Street not Ramsay Court?

Pin Oak Court in Melbourne’s east doubled as the famous fictional street, correctly acknowledging its cul-de-sac status.

But why is a street not a road, an avenue not a boulevard and a crescent not a circuit?

ABC Radio Sydney Drive presenter Richard Glover put these questions to the New South Wales Geographical Names Board.

If Ramsay Street were under the purview of the NSW board, it would have been a court, a close or a place, deputy surveyor general and director of survey operations Thomas Grinter said.

“With all the high drama that happened on Ramsay Street, I’m pretty sure it would have come to our attention,” Mr Grinter said.

Pin Oak Court sign
Pin Oak Court has doubled as Ramsay Street for decades.(ABC News: Danielle Bonica)

The authority is in charge of naming places in NSW like mountains, railway stations and suburbs. However, roads are typically named by local councils.

Mr Grinter said the state authority receives applications from councils, which are then reviewed to avoid duplicates.

When is a street a street?

While “road” is a generic term used for vehicle passages from one place to another, “street” refers to a passage found in a town or an urban environment.

Mr Grinter explained the board’s definitions for other common road types:

  • Avenue: a broad open-ended road usually lined with trees
  • Boulevard: a wide open-ended road usually ornamented with trees and plants
  • Drive: a wide thoroughfare without many cross-streets
  • Parade: a public roadway with good pedestrian facilities on either side
  • Parkway: a roadway through parklands or open grassland area
  • Terrace: a roadway where the homes are raised above the road level

Some areas use a particular road type frequently, which is taken into account by council when putting forward the names of road types.

“In one particular suburb or town, you might have a lot of very similar road types throughout,” Mr Grinter said.

Another interesting rule is that the road cannot be named after a living person, according to Mr Grinter.

Themes of your town

Some areas of the city appear to have been exempt from that rule though.

In Newington, which hosted the athletes’ village for the 2000 Olympics, some streets are named after living Australian athletes.

Examples include Perkins Avenue, Thorpe Place and O’Neill Avenue, named after Kieran Perkins, Ian Thorpe and Susie O’Neill.

A male Australian swimmer smiles as he holds up a gold medal with his right hand after winning at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Swimmer Ian Thorpe has Thorpe Close named after him in Newington in Sydney’s west.(AAP: Julian Smith)

Other suburbs have adopted themes when naming their local arteries.

Cremorne in Sydney’s lower north shore has many names of cricketers, including Spofforth Street, Bannerman Street, Boyle Street and Murdoch Street.

Croydon Park holds castle names, such as Windsor Avenue, Balmoral Avenue and Dunmore Street.

Marsfield on the Upper North Shore kept to its namesake, naming its roads after famous battles including Waterloo Road, Balaclava Road and Agincourt Road.

Small Arms Factory dormant building
Many of Lithgow’s streets are named after weapons in a possible node to the city’s old small arms factory.(ABC Central West: Gavin Coote)

The tradition is not limited to Sydney suburbs. Lithgow in the state’s Central Tablelands has many streets named after weapons such as Carbine Street and Rifle Parade, possibly in recognition of the city’s small arms factory.

Some Sydney streets pay homage to ancient history, for example The Appian Way in Bankstown.

For some streets, the authority may have simply tried to have it both ways — see Avenue Road in Mosman, Glebe and Hunters Hill.

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Categories
Business

Kyneton residents consider court action to fight development of McDonald’s, Bunnings complex

Three residents stand in front of a vacant paddock holding signs saying 'No Maccas here in Kyneton', 'More Cons than pros'.

Macedon Ranges residents are considering Supreme Court action following a state planning tribunal decision to overturn a council vote to halt a two-part commercial development.

A Kyneton development for a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant, another restaurant, Bunnings and a 24-hour service station was approved by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) last week after the applicant decided to challenge the council’s decision and the conditions imposed.

Susan McNab is one of the leaders of the fight against the development and said residents were disappointed by the court’s actions.

She said the group would look at viable options to counter the decision, but accepted that a loss in the Supreme Court would be costly.

an architectural drawing of a commercial development
The development will carry a McDonalds restaurant, another convenience restaurant, a Bunnings trade center, and a petrol station. (Supplied / VCAT)

“Naturally, we don’t feel the decision is to the benefit of Kyneton. That part of the town is the main access to nearby reserves and people often go out that way climbing and for classic car rallies and cycling,” she said.

“It’s difficult for many residents to not be considered at VCAT.

“It’s been about the economics of the matter. The council said that area would be developed at some point, but this particular style of development works against Kyneton’s character.”

Big brands coming down the highway

The decision almost confirms the introduction of commercial development in Kyneton, which one community group has labeled the ‘tide of overdevelopment’. Residents fear the big brands will take away the small country charm that the town is known for, with small businesses and well-known eateries losing out.

“The proposal will not detract from the rural character of the Shire. The proposal will reinforce the rural character of the Shire by its location [in a commercial zone] within the protected settlement boundary; [and the] containment of its impacts within the subject land,” VCAT’s decision said.

A woman holds a cardboard sign in each hand. One says 'protect cultural land' and the other says 'support local business'
Lenka Thompson started the Keep Kyneton Country group to fight the proposed development.(Supplied: Lenka Thompson)

The decision by VCAT has caused a stir on social media after attracting hundreds of submissions airing concerns about traffic and safety, and the effect the development could have on the nearby environment and local economy.

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Categories
Business

Kyneton residents consider court action to fight development of McDonald’s, Bunnings complex

Three residents stand in front of a vacant paddock holding signs saying 'No Maccas here in Kyneton', 'More Cons than pros'.

Macedon Ranges residents are considering Supreme Court action following a state planning tribunal decision to overturn a council vote to halt a two-part commercial development.

A Kyneton development for a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant, another restaurant, Bunnings and a 24-hour service station was approved by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) last week after the applicant decided to challenge the council’s decision and the conditions imposed.

Susan McNab is one of the leaders of the fight against the development and said residents were disappointed by the court’s actions.

She said the group would look at viable options to counter the decision, but accepted that a loss in the Supreme Court would be costly.

an architectural drawing of a commercial development
The development will carry a McDonalds restaurant, another convenience restaurant, a Bunnings trade center, and a petrol station. (Supplied / VCAT)

“Naturally, we don’t feel the decision is to the benefit of Kyneton. That part of the town is the main access to nearby reserves and people often go out that way climbing and for classic car rallies and cycling,” she said.

“It’s difficult for many residents to not be considered at VCAT.

“It’s been about the economics of the matter. The council said that area would be developed at some point, but this particular style of development works against Kyneton’s character.”

Big brands coming down the highway

The decision almost confirms the introduction of commercial development in Kyneton, which one community group has labeled the ‘tide of overdevelopment’. Residents fear the big brands will take away the small country charm that the town is known for, with small businesses and well-known eateries losing out.

“The proposal will not detract from the rural character of the Shire. The proposal will reinforce the rural character of the Shire by its location [in a commercial zone] within the protected settlement boundary; [and the] containment of its impacts within the subject land,” VCAT’s decision said.

A woman holds a cardboard sign in each hand. One says 'protect cultural land' and the other says 'support local business'
Lenka Thompson started the Keep Kyneton Country group to fight the proposed development.(Supplied: Lenka Thompson)

The decision by VCAT has caused a stir on social media after attracting hundreds of submissions airing concerns about traffic and safety, and the effect the development could have on the nearby environment and local economy.

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Categories
Australia

WA infrastructure advisory body floats per-kilometre charge to ease traffic pressure

WA infrastructure advisory body floats per-kilometre charge to ease traffic pressure

Infrastructure WA, the body charged with advising the Premier’s Department on the state’s medium and long-term infrastructure needs, has proposed overhauling road funding by eventually replacing the fuel excise with a road-user charge that also creates incentives to reduce congestion.

The wide-ranging 20-year plan, Foundations for a Stronger Tomorrow, was tabled in State Parliament on Wednesday.

One of the 93 recommendations involves planning for the eventual transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles and how road infrastructure will be funded with the decrease of the fuel excise.

Nicole Lockwood, chair of Infrastructure WA, told Nadia Mitsopoulos on ABC Radio Perth that while the switch to electric vehicles would be “fantastic for the environment and climate change,” it also posed challenges.

“It does mean that the revenue source that comes from our fuel at the moment, that goes towards paying for our roads, will diminish over time,” she said.

“SW [the recommendation] is trying to find a mechanism where the government still has the ability to fund that infrastructure in a way that doesn’t disincentivize people from moving towards electric vehicles.”

EV tax coming in 2027

While the state government has already announced it will introduce a 2.5 cent per kilometer charge for EV’s from mid-2027, Infrastructure WA’s recommendation 58 goes further, proposing that WA work with other states to develop a nationally consistent road user charge that could influence driver behaviour. .

“The scheme has the potential to include vehicle mass, distance, location and time-of-day pricing elements,” the recommendation says.

Such a scheme could potentially charge different rates for road usage in peak hours, or differential rates for different roads.

A mix of cars and trucks fill four lanes of peak hour traffic on the freeway.
Ms Lockwood says the report recommends looking at ways to influence congestion and road use.(ABC News: Andrew O’Connor)

“What we’ve said is, let’s design a mechanism that has flexibility, so that in time if we wanted to use those levers we could,” Ms Lockwood said.

“We saw it very starkly during COVID, when people were not using the roads during the day, at certain times suddenly we had huge amounts of capacity.

“In the future, when we can’t continue to build more lanes, we will need other mechanisms to be able to manage demand on the system.”

The proposal met with a mixed response from ABC Radio Perth listeners:

Mike: “Again lower socio-economic people who cannot afford to live close to work will pay the most, the system working to keep the gap between the haves and the have nots.”

Greg: “The state government is not incentivizing enough the use of electric vehicles. The proposed road tax is a major disincentive. The benefit to the environment is the major issue and there won’t be the gains there should be. We pay for our roads Mainly via our local government rates so EV drivers will be paying double if we get this bad policy.”

Cynthia: “Surely a toll on cars with only one occupant would make sense? Or a fast lane for cars with two occupants.”

An artist's impression of people walking on Hay Street Mall with light rail lines in the background and a train in the background.
While Max Light Rail was shelved in 2016, Infrastructure WA recommended future planning around light rail and rapid bus networks.(Supplied: PTA)

Planning for light rail mooted

The report also recommends the state government look again at the role of light rail and rapid bus transit in Perth’s public transport mix.

A previous plan to link Perth suburbs through the Max Light Rail network was shelved by the Barnett government in 2016, and the McGowan government has been focused on delivering its expansion of the heavy rail network, Metronet.

Ms Lockwood said a plan to link people across suburbs and between stations was still needed.

“We very much back the government’s commitments to Metronet and the heavy rail system, but what we see in the future is a need to look at the next tier of connection for the city,” she said.

“That mid-tier public transport system that links buses and other parts of the network into the Metronet network is really important.

“Part of that is about making sure that the [already identified transport] corridors are protected.

“We really have to think about the spaces we’ve got and how we use them… then the state government needs to then pull a plan together to map that out for the whole of the metro area,” she said.

The infrastructure report also recommended a new desalination plant at Alkimos, a whole-of-government emissions reduction target and a package to reform hospital emergency departments.

The WA Government has six months to respond to the report and is obliged by legislation to respond to each recommendation as well as provide an implementation plan for the ideas that it accepts.

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