Woodend residents have won their ongoing battle against plans for a petrol station on High Street, with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruling the proposal “doesn’t fit” with the character of the town.
TAG Azzure Management, on behalf of United Petroleum, launched a VCAT appeal against Macedon Ranges council’s refusal to grant a permit for a petrol station, convenience shop and cafe at 59a High Street.
The case was heard over five days in April and May, with VCAT members Michael Nelthorpe and Tracey Bilston-McGillen ruling last Monday to uphold the council’s decision.
Mr Nelthorpe and Ms Bilston-McGillen said that building a service station on a site at the entrance of Woodend would be “akin to trying to put a square peg in a round hole”.
“It just doesn’t fit,” they said.
“[The proposal] fails to respect the entry to the Woodend town centre as it is visually intrusive, provides inadequate landscaping and is dominated by large hard stand areas and crossovers.
“We find that its appearance combined with its emission of artificial light detracts from the heavily treed and park-like setting of this entrance to the town centre.”
The application is the second for a service station on the site in recent years, with an application from Coles Express refused by the council and VCAT in 2015.
Settle Woodend member Maxwell Winchester said he was “ecstatic” the council’s decision had been upheld.
He said a petrol station would have created road safety issues given its location on the edge of a bridge.
Settle Woodend, which has spent 10 years campaigning against inappropriate developments in Woodend, engaged the services of a local planning barrister to oppose the application.
“Woodend is a beautiful, historic village …we want it to stay that way,” Mr Winchester said.
“The last thing we need on the entrance to a beautiful village is a commercial service station. We hope the owners of the site will come to their senses and realise a petrol station is not appropriate.”
