Stockland retirement village proposal knocked back

A MANNINGHAM councillor has slammed plans for a retirement block next door to the Stockland the Pines shopping centre, saying the carpark was probably “designed by a man who’s never pushed a trolley full of shopping with kids in tow”.

Plans for a retirement village next door to Stockland the Pines shopping centre have been blocked by Manningham Council.

• A Doncaster East shopping centre is looking at redeveloping a section of its carpark to build a retirement home.
• A proposed retirement village for Doncaster East would see 283 apartments built next door to The Pines shopping centre.
• Police are concerned overdevelopment could cause minor collision hot spots like Doncaster Rd to descend into traffic chaos.
• A huge 13-storey apartment block is set to become the tallest building in Manningham, angering residents in a nearby tower who are fuming it will block their views.

A MANNINGHAM councillor has slammed plans for a retirement block next door to the Stockland the Pines shopping centre, saying the carpark was probably “designed by a man who’s never pushed a trolley full of shopping with kids in tow”.

Speaking at last week’s council meeting, Cr Paul McLeish said the council’s officers were right to recommend refusing planning permits for the project because of a poorly designed carpark and a lack of building setbacks.

The council voted unanimously in line with the officers’ recommendation to refuse the permits.

Manningham Council has blocked Stockland’s plans for a retirement village next door to the Pines shopping centre in Doncaster East.

Stockland is an Australia-wide property developer which owns shopping centres, housing estates, industrial estates and retirement villages.

The company went public with plans for a five-storey village next door to the Doncaster East shopping centre last September, with plans advertised for public comment in January.

The project would have included four five-storey buildings, totalling 283-apart­ments, a resident clubhouse, communal dining, health and wellbeing facilities, and carparking for homeowners.

But Cr McLeish said while he felt the area needed retirement developments, the project had “terrible planning execution”.

“There are no walkways in this carpark along the length of it,” the father of four said.

Cr McLeish said the project also had insufficient building setbacks.

“In this proposal we have a building that is hard up against the footpath in places,” he said.

“We haven’t got a reasonable amount of landscaping opportunities.”