Mernda Town Centre waiting on Woolworths to finalise design plans

DEVELOPMENT around the planned Mernda Town Centre has been lively but everybody is waiting for the final plan as Woolworths is yet to put a shovel in the ground.

Development around the proposed Mernda Town Centre is lively but the community is still waiting to see a finalised plan.

SUPERMARKET giant Woolworths holds the final piece of the Mernda Town Centre puzzle as the community continues to wait for a finalised plan.

Development around the planned centre has been lively, with construction on the Mernda rail extension running ahead of schedule, Mernda Police Station open and a Coles Supermarket well on the way to getting built.

However, Woolworths, which owns land integral to the centre, has yet to dig a hole.

MERNDA TOWN CENTRE ON THE MOVE

NEW WINERY FOR MERNDA

HISTORIC MERNDA FARMHOUSE LEFT TO ROT

Yan Yean state Labor MP Danielle Green said she was shocked Woolworths hadn’t moved an inch.

“I’m perplexed Woolworths haven’t put shovels in the ground,” she said.

“Don’t they realise how much trade they’re missing out on?”

The June 2017 version of the Mernda Town Centre plan.

Despite Woolworths’ inaction, Ms Green said she was optimistic the town centre would be delivered sooner rather than later.

The lively MP teed off at Whittlesea Council in June last year for a “failure to progress the development of the Mernda Town Centre”.

She told State Parliament the town centre was the “mythical mirage of Melbourne’s north” and it “seems so far in the future it will need to be redesigned to accommodate hoverboards and driverless cars”.

However, Ms Green’s stance has altered since Mayor Kris Pavlidis took charge in November 2017.

“I have had a lot better engagement with the council and things seem to be happening more since the changeover,” she said.

“I’m a lot more optimistic the town centre will be delivered as the new council is focused on getting it done.”

The council’s planning and major projects director Steve O’Brien said Woolworths was in the process of finalising the detailed design for the first stage of the centre.

“Woolworths and council are also working together with the State Government around the detail and timing of works at the Mernda station and duplication of Plenty Rd and Bridge Inn Rd in that precinct,” he said.

@paulshapiro1117