This is a blog series where we share the community submissions sent to the Minister for Planning regarding the draft Preston Market Precinct Development Plan. We’re sharing these to give our communities voices a platform, and inspire others with stories about the market.
Submission 001:
I do not support the development plan that has been released for Preston Market.
Preston is about to experience an enormous increase in population as a result of the Preston Activity Centre plans. The Activity Centre is intended to facilitate substantial new residential development along High Street, with provision for up to 10 to 15,000 new apartments over coming decades. This could bring an additional 30,000 to 50,000 people into the area.
This growth fundamentally changes the way Preston Market should be viewed.
The Market is not simply a shopping site. It is one of the few places in central Preston where people can come together, meet, spend time and participate in community life. It already attracts tens of thousands of visitors and has developed over many decades into a place with a distinctive character and culture.
With thousands of new apartments being built around High Street and the Preston station precinct, the need for this kind of open, accessible community space will increase enormously.
The response should therefore be to protect and strengthen Preston Market as the community's town square; not to intensify the site until it becomes another high-density development surrounded by residential towers.
The proposed plans move in the opposite direction. They involve substantial demolition and redevelopment of the existing market, additional retail development and significant built form around the Market. The result risks turning an important community destination into a high-rise commercial precinct.
Most importantly, the plans fail to provide the accessible green and open space that Preston will need as its population grows.
The Activity Centre will create thousands of additional residents living in apartments, many of whom will have limited access to private outdoor space. It is therefore essential that public open space is provided where people can easily reach it, rather than expecting residents to travel elsewhere to find somewhere to sit, meet, relax or participate in community activities.
The Market provides an extraordinary opportunity to do this. It could be retained and improved as an open, vibrant community precinct, with meaningful public space and greenery surrounding it. Instead, the current proposal appears to consume much of this opportunity through additional buildings and intensive development.
I also do not accept that demolishing significant parts of the existing market and subsequently rebuilding them constitutes protecting Preston Market. The Market's value is not simply in the floor area or the number of shops. Its value lies in its existing character, its openness, its cultural identity and the relationships that have developed around it.
I support the refurbishment and improvement of the Market, including upgrading infrastructure and facilities and ensuring that traders can operate safely and securely. But redevelopment should not come at the cost of the very qualities that make Preston Market important.
The State Government is planning for major population growth in Preston. It must also plan for the community that will live here. I am not opposing growth in Preston. I am saying that growth requires high-quality public places and community infrastructure.
I therefore ask the Minister to reject the current development plan and require a fundamentally different approach, one that:
protects the existing Market and its character
keeps the Market operating on its current site
provides substantial, genuinely accessible public open and green space
recognises the Market as the civic and community heart of the Northern Suburbs
ensures the additional population generated by the Preston Activity Centre has adequate community amenity and
places the long-term needs of the Preston community ahead of maximising development on the Market site.
The more people we plan to bring into Preston, the more important it becomes to protect places where people can meet, gather and belong.
Preston Market should be one of those places. The current proposal does not achieve this.
