North East Link: Bulleen businesses doubt viability of Websters Rd relocation
Bulleen businesses that will be forced to move to make way for North East Link have expressed doubts about the viability of relocating to a new site. Check out their concerns here.
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Bulleen business operators facing forced relocation for the North East Link project believe most of their companies will fail if they are pushed from their Greenaway St/Kim Close precinct.
Representatives of 65 small businesses will present a joint submission at the project’s independent planning hearings on Friday afternoon.
The businesses formed the Bulleen Industrial Zone Group to make a joint submission pleading for the best possible outcomes should their blocks be compulsorily acquired.
It’s expected about 100 businesses will have to leave the area, with Manningham Council estimating about 1200 jobs could be lost.
They will argue for further refinement of the Manningham Rd Interchange in a bid to spare as many businesses as possible.
Manningham Council has identified a precinct in Websters Rd, Templestowe, as a possible area for relocation but Bulleen Industrial Zone Group president David Monk said the site had a number of drawbacks.
He said the site didn’t meet the requirements of a number of businesses and wasn’t big enough to accommodate them all anyway.
“The North East Link project is resting its case on relocating the businesses to a site that has complex rezoning issues and isn’t big enough for all of us anyway. So the rest of us are still wondering where we are going to go to because there is land available,” Mr Monk said.
North East Link Project Acting CEO Jim Waller said they would “strongly encourage the three short-listed bidders to create local jobs for local people and help retrain them”.
“We know this is a difficult time for affected businesses and that’s why we continue to talk to them every day to offer the best support we can,” he said.
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“We are also in ongoing discussions with councils and other landowners about possible relocation opportunities.”
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