Developer Sam Tarascio has threatened to close Melbourne’s 53-year-old Preston Market, saying a planning process supposed to take nine months but which remains unresolved after five years has left heritage buildings on the site of his $1 billion-plus mixed-used project unsafe for use.

Opposition from what Salta Properties managing director Mr Tarascio says is a “very small but vocal group” prompted the state government in April to say it would impose new planning controls on the four-hectare site slated for a 2000-plus apartment development by Salta and partner Medich Corporation.