I am making this submission as Secretary of Protectors of Public Lands Victoria. Our organisation is dedicated to keeping significant "public land" and iconic heritage places, such as Camberwell Railway Station, in public ownership and in ensuring they are not destroyed by appropriate development.

Little attention seems to have been paid when Council put up different options for the "redevelopment" of the Camberwell Station site to its heritage status. Camberwell Station is one of the iconic heritage places in Camberwell and amongst the hierarchy of historic railway stations in Victorias. The suburb of Camberwell has so few heritage buildings with reminders of the past. Whelan The Wrecker has certainly been through Camberwell very efficiently. (The 5 remaining buildings are: Second Church of Christ Scientists at 41 Cookson Street opposite the Station; Camberwell Court House and Police Station in Camberwell Road; Broughton Hall (once Tara) 2 Berwick Street; and the ANZ Bank building on the corner of Burke and Riversdale Road.)

Councillors will be aware that the Heritage Victoria has made a provisional determination to include the Camberwell Station on the State Heritage Register. 22 April is the closing date by which any objections have to be received. None have been received to date. If that is the case then the Heritage Council will make a final determination early in May to include the Station on the State Heritage Register.

The Heritage Council gave as a reason for their decision: "The (Registrations) Committee found that the Camberwell Station is of historical significance due to its associations with one of the two main rail electrification projects undertaken in Melbourne during the decades 1910 to 1930. Arguments concerning the scale and importance of these projects were accepted by the Committee. The Committee found that the boundary of the place for inclusion on the Victorian Heritage Register should be as proposed by the National Trust – that is the entire station area. The slightly smaller area currently under consideration by the City of Boroondara for inclusion in the local planning scheme is not supported by the Committee as an appropriate boundary for this place as it possibly excludes the extent of the cutting made to position the railway station and line below street level in order to achieve the grade separation."

The Council officers’s report tells us, however, in Attachment 11 Discussion of Key Issues and Preliminary Officer Recommendation 2.3 Heritage, Retention of Station Buildings and Disability Access of the document, Page 8 it reads:

So it seems that the Council staff will proceed regardless in finalising the UDF and that Council will apparently meet to consider the UDF for the Camberwell Station on 26 April 2005, possibly before the final determination by the Heritage Council has been published. At the very least it seems a lot of wasted effort as it seems 90% sure that the Camberwell Station will be included on the State Heritage Register. In which case this will overrule local decisions. In our view the work on the UDF and the Council meeting should be deferred until the final determination of Heritage Victoria is known.  Kevin Chamberlin, President of the Protectors of Public Lands Victoria who was a former Councillor and Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne plus, amongst other positions, Chair of the Heritage Committee, said that the City of Melbourne made a point of waiting for the determination of the Heritage Council before proceeding with plans for the heritage sites in question.