Holland Park Horror

The next meeting of the Kensington Association is at 7:30pm on Monday, 5th May at Holy Rosary School, Gower Street Kensington.

The main agenda item is the East-West Tunnel.

My VERY dodgy graphic of Holland park with freeway

From their email update...

The Association Working Party has met and has agreed to press for a special briefing about the East-West Tunnel and its impact on Kensington and other inner suburbs.  So far, no answer.  We are also planning a public meeting where residents will be able to ask questions of our local Members of Parliament and Department of Infrastructure officials.

If the proposed East-West Tunnel goes ahead as planned, Holland Park as we know it is finished.

There is plenty to dislike about the tunnel proposal (pollution, diverts from public transport, encourages more car use, imagines petrol falls back below $1 per litre, is horrendously expensive, opens way for private investment tax rorts, and so on).  

For the time being, we are focussing on the impacts on Kensington.

It may be difficult for you to picture what it will look, (or sound) like.  It's horrible!!  We have asked for an artist's rendering.  If we don't get it, we will make up our own.  For the time being:

From these words, picture this:  In Holland Park, just down the slope from the Ormond-Altona Street corner, the tunnel will break out into the open.  It will have been drilled under the Kensington hill, but at this point it appears as a huge hole or archway, facing south (towards the rail line), 4- or more probably, 6-lanes wide.  This is the infamous JJ Holland Park portal.  From this point, reports say that tunneling is no longer possible because the ground changes from primarily rocky to primarily sandy.  Therefore from here, a 'sunken' 4- or 6-lane expressway will proceed towards the south (rail line) in an open cut or 'slot'.  Picture a trench with perpendicular sides, say 10m or more deep, along which 4 or 6 lanes of traffic travel, night and day, leaving or approaching the tunnel portal.  The 'slot proceeds south-west passing under Childers Street and the rail line, each of which be carried across the 'slot' over new bridges at the same level as now.  From there the open 'slot' continues towards Dynon Road, approx. parallel to Kensington Road.  Eventually it joins up with the Westgate freeway.  As the engineering report p. 75 says:

In the concept design, it has been assumed that generally this section [from the Holland Park portal south] would be in an open cutting with vertical retained sides as this provides an opportunity for the tunnel to daylight and would enhance the driver experience. New overbridges would be required for the railway line, Childers Street and Dynon Road to cross this open ‘slot’.

Obviously there will be severe impact from noise and pollution on Holland Park, the child care centre, the recreation centre, houses along Ormond and adjoining streets, and Kensington Road and adjoining streets.  Large pats of Holland Park will be unusable.  Large sections will have disappeared.

Meanwhile, there will need to be ventilation towers, the location of which are not stated.  (Skinny Park would be a handy location, being as it's another park!!)

Later we will have an illustration showing the impact of this, but if the above word picture is not clear, for the time being, please take our word for it, THE IMPACT OF THIS ON SOUTH KENSINGTON WOULD BE HORRENDOUS!

Obviously, it must never happen.  Obvioiusly the Association executive by itself cannot stop this.  All residents need to work together.  Please tell your neighbours about this, and ask them to join the Kensington Association.  (After all, who else is going to fight the fight for Kensington?)  Also, please ask them for their email addresses, and we will add them to our mailing list for email news.