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#1 ·
Old there can be found here: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=621413

Editorial p 20 today's West

Government must ensure Link goes ahead
Planning Minister John Day's confidence that work on sinking the railway line through Northbridge will finally start during the Government's current term is welcome.

But the public has a right to some scepticism, given the long history of proposals to solve the problem of the railway creating an unattractive barrier between Perth and Northbridge surfacing and sinking without trace.

Plans for sinking the railway line were first proposed almost a century ago but have repeatedly failed to materialise.

Former planning minister Alannah MacTiernan once called the Northbridge Link the "holy grail" of city planning.

But the Labor government baulked at the cost of ridding the city of the prime barrier to its development into a centre with the sort of vitality and appeal it has lacked for so long.

Even in the boom times, the money could not be found, with the Carpenter government mothballing the Link project in favour of redeveloping the city foreshore.

Labor's MP for Perth and shadow minister for culture and the arts, John Hyde, has admitted that "we got our CBD priorities wrong". He says the Northbridge Link has to be "the number one priority for the CBD, our economy's real engine, and the State".
Capital cities generate wealth and need recapitalising in return.

The Government has already dumped projects totalling nearly $2 billion, including the proposed outdoor stadium at Subiaco, the redevelopment of the Perth foreshore and the East Perth museum.


It needs to press ahead with the Link, which has proved popular with the public, particularly young people, who are vital to contributing to a vibrant city as well as the future of the State.

Mr Day says he is confident that "certainly within this term of government the railway will be sunk or will be well under way".

Premier Colin Barnett needs to ensure that this happens. He has something of a reputation as a "can-do" man. But he needs to show that he really can get things done and fast-track this much-needed development.
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Not sure where the reputation as a "can-do" man comes from?
Well realy i agree Samy, lets be honest labour promoted all these ideas but beside the Mandurah line wot else realy came to fruition during the boom years.


Did actual work begin on any of these projects- the waterfront, the link, the mesuem, the stadium,

No

Ideas are good yes, but it is all just rehash untill something concrete actualy gets done!


So lets see!

Like we have for the last one hundred years
those ideas became plans. Don't forget 4 of 8 years was spend on planning the Link and because of that we're ready to go as soon as funding is made available.

You can't just come up with big ideas and progress them without going through the planning system. This is true for all the projects you mentioned above.
I agree there's planing involved but if something like the link is going to take 4-8 years to just plan then it can potentially become a pointless exercise with the current 4 year govt terms and each party having their own agenda.
Also I don't believe labor spent 4-8 years planing the link. In real terms, may be a year or so the rest is just sitting on hands time.

Also let's not forget even by labor's projections a lot of this stuff wasn't going to start for several years anyway, we were just more excited about the projects because we thought finally something was about to happen (naive I know)

In any case I'll judge Barney at the end of his term based on what he has delivered and discount any promises.
Don't discount what goes on behind the scenes. Each planning stage can take up to 9 months regardless of what the governments input is. The waterfront was going to take 2.5 years to plan and that was considered to be fast-tracked.
I agree that we will never know if Labor were actually planning to start the projects (Foreshore, NL, museum, etc) or put them on the backburner - or worse do what Barnett did with the Foreshore and start all over again. I also agree that I don't think 4-8 years of planning was done on NL. The majority of the work would have been sounding out the various interest groups, seeing if they were onside (and seeing how many of the noisy anti-everything were against it) and whether there was votes in the plan.

One thing you will factor in your judgement samboy is deciding how many projects were cancelled through the Royalty for Regions bribe to get into power (which both parties tried to do) and whether that removal of Perth infrastructure projects actually got anything worthwhile for regional areas (or whether there was just a bit of a slushfund for wheatbelt seats).
^ i do hope whoever wins the next state election comes in with a majority. This will be quite hard for the liberal party to achieve as they need to hold on to rural seats that could go national and win seats off labor in the country and city. The city is a particularly difficult one for the liberal party as they must hold seats that are notionally Labor like Morley and Wanneroo.

Anyway i'm reading too much into it now. Back to tha link...
It will be interesting to see what Channel 7 come up with for the NEtertainment Centre land. I will be surprised if we see anything in the near future - but fingers crossed at least some sort of ideas before the end of the year.
We're getting off track here but I agree with that. I really don't care labor or liberal as long as there's a clear majority and we're not being held to ransom by minority self interest groups or political agendas.
It's hard enough to get anything off the ground in this state without the added that added complication.
Agree too. In the lower house it is best to have a majority and the upper house (L.C. or Senate) it is often good to not have a majority for the government. We saw what happened in the last term of the last federal government when they had the majority in the Senate - all the idealogical, but rubbish, legislation that had been blocked before got through.
Did you guys see this??

Minister signs off $2billion The Link project.16 April 2009
The Link, one of Western Australia’s key infrastructure projects, has taken a big step forward with Planning Minister John Day signing off the Scheme Amendment for the 13.5ha site.

Mr Day said the Scheme Amendment approval marked the final stage of planning before the start of further development works and the release of land for sale.

“Today’s announcement will provide the project certainty required by industry to bring about investment in The Link,” he said.

“The State Government is committed to The Link project and sinking the rail line. Not only will it connect the city centre with Northbridge, but it will also open Perth up to an estimated $2billion in private sector investment and continue the revitalisation of our CBD.”

The Scheme Amendment provided the planning framework to deliver The Link project. In addition to sinking the rail line, The Link would also create:

five new pedestrian friendly north-south connections
five urban plazas
a major new civic space at Celebration Place (at the Horseshoe Bridge)
three new mixed-use precincts including commercial, entertainment and residential opportunities.
The first precinct to be developed would be the Perth Arena-Milligan Street precinct on the western side of the site, which would be a premier sporting and entertainment hub
.

The precinct included the multi-million dollar Perth Arena and a significant State Government land holding next to the arena which was being considered as the potential site for a premier hotel development.

The Scheme Amendment would also allow major landholder - and the only non-Government landholder in The Link project area - Channel 7 to finalise its plans for the two hectare Perth Entertainment Centre site.

Seven Network Limited executive chairman Kerry Stokes said he was looking forward to working with the Government in planning for the development of its site.

This is a terrific precinct in Perth and we are well-advanced in ensuring that the redevelopment of the Perth Entertainment Centre site is a positive for the development of the city and the people of Perth,” Mr Stokes said.

The Link is a partnership between the State Government and the City of Perth.

Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi welcomed the announcement and said that the City of Perth was looking forward to moving the project forward.

“The City of Perth has always been a strong advocate for sinking the rail line, which has been a barrier for the city’s growth for more than 100 years,” Lord Mayor Scaffidi said.

“The City of Perth is giving up the lease to a large block of land and committing more than $33million cash to the project once completed.

“In addition, the City of Perth will significantly upgrade Roe and Wellington streets as urban boulevards with greater energy and character.”

The Minister said it was expected that when completed The Link could create more than 1,650 dwellings, housing more than 3,000 residents and 244,000m² of commercial and retail floor space for approximately 13,350 workers.

“The Link will be the single biggest evolution in the city’s development and represents a fantastic opportunity for the public and private sectors to work together to deliver a project that will benefit all Western Australians,” Mr Day said.

“The Link will deliver much-needed social, economic and environmental benefits to the community in the form of more housing, jobs and office space. It will also be a place where Western Australians can enjoy our beautiful city, with almost a third of the entire area dedicated to public space, wide boulevards, public squares, alfresco areas, shade and public art.”

EPRA is the lead agency in the development of The Link. EPRA will shortly finalise the Design Guidelines for The Link and, during the next 12 months, would look at the design of Celebration Place as a significant town square-style public space.


http://www.epra.wa.gov.au/news/1591/Minister%20signs%20off%20$2billion%20The%20Link%20project.
 
#82 ·
it will be a catalyst for redevelopment in the city's west end.

northbridge link will only yield 13 highrise buildings and around 2500 residents. The existing CBD could support another 100 highrises.
yeah thats hardly anything for the area of development. look at capital sqaure, it would have housed 1000 apartments on its smaller site.

perth CBD needs to have at least 250,000 people - it will then be abuzz and vibrant.
 
#83 ·
Personly I dont think its issue of having a whole lot of highrises its what is done on the site and how the site is developed to enhance activation- can it be done successfullywell lets see.

Im not sure but Perth Central remains above ground right? The Freo line will resurface up just after or along the Horseshoe Bridge curve but remain covered and hidden (built upon) so trains will dock at platforms as they are now, Therefore the east side has no change and exists from under the station carpark as they do now??????
 
#85 ·
Im not sure but Perth Central remains above ground right? The Freo line will resurface up just after or along the Horseshoe Bridge curve but remain covered and hidden (built upon) so trains will dock at platforms as they are now, Therefore the east side has no change and exists from under the station carpark as they do now??????
That's a shame.

In another 100 years time, I would love for Perth Central to be sunk, together with Wellington Street and Roe Street, to create a Stage 2 mixed use commercial & residential precint.

However, i would also like to see a pedestrian friendly spine from Forrest Place connecting to a revamped Perth Cultural & Museum precint without having to cross any roads / rail.

maybe my great grandchildren will take up that battle....
 
#90 ·
yeah thats why i am warming to barney. he knows perth is only capable of achieving one or two major projects at one time due to funding etc. so he has decided the northbridge link will be his legacy.

carps was also visionary by having several projects for his legacy but he tried to run before he could walk and in perth that was always doomed for failure.

maybe in another proactive city, carps would have achieved many great things.
you can't achieve a whole lot in only 2 years....
 
#91 ·
That's a shame.

In another 100 years time, I would love for Perth Central to be sunk, together with Wellington Street and Roe Street, to create a Stage 2 mixed use commercial & residential precint.

However, i would also like to see a pedestrian friendly spine from Forrest Place connecting to a revamped Perth Cultural & Museum precint without having to cross any roads / rail.

maybe my great grandchildren will take up that battle....

Did you say you want, Roe and Wellington street sunk?

Agree with the Central station though, should be sunk, but be "exposed" in a open pit with a glass dome.

I want it to be sunk from William street to as close to Lord street as possible, Pier Steet to run through to Northbridge. :banana:
 
#95 ·
He'll pass the Budget because isnt he going to get an extra $30/week for the Aged Pension??
that is why he is grumpy. i read that some senator said it was a budget of broken dreams. well how can the government release a 'nice' budget? We are not the USSR you know. Or are we?

Love this attitude. Repeat this a million times and there's your reason creative young people leave. :)
i think on reflection THAT is what the little arrogant sounding guy on the 7 debate implied. if WA votes against DLS, then it surely is against positive and creative thoughts and inititaves. Then again i think the country is that way inclined to a lesser extent that poor old WA and parts of SA and QLD.
 
#97 ·
I don't understand why they aren't sinking it right up to the freeway?

Shame at the same time they haven't got the $$$ the sink the other end up to the East Perth station.
Supposedly it is the $ and the plan is to build over the section where it comes back to surface level. The Perth Arena was originally going to serve this function until it was decided to put it underneath the stadium.
 
#98 ·
i think on reflection THAT is what the little arrogant sounding guy on the 7 debate implied. if WA votes against DLS, then it surely is against positive and creative thoughts and inititaves. Then again i think the country is that way inclined to a lesser extent that poor old WA and parts of SA and QLD.
I don't agree that someone who votes against DLS is consciously voting against anything to do with creativity, but the impact of a no vote is, essentially, maintenance of the status quo and a vote against change, both of which are components of the perception that Perth/WA is a small-time, fearful, changeless place wracked with timidity and self-doubt, and that's something that helps drive young and creative people out of town.
 
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