Important Notice:

This is a Petition to put to VCAT the Victorian authority handling disputes between developers and communities.  Apparently the authorities really prefer to have petitioner's addresses as well as their name, but we can't ask that of you on Change.org as the site can't provide the fields. To Petition and Donate, please go to our new Warrandyte Character Protection website ​http://warrandytecitizens.org/update-petition.html to provide this full detail please.  If you've signed here, in the past, at Change.org, please also do this.

What the Petition is About

Most of Melbourne knows and loves Warrandyte as a place to visit on weekends, to walk along or kayak the Yarra River, enjoy the bushland parks and country town atmosphere – to get away from the city (yet only 40 mins away by car), get out of suburbia to native State Parks and an environment where you can feel peaceful and energised at the same time.   The community works hard at maintaining the town’s rural character but we now have a major threat with a big 24/7 petrol station proposed by someone with no interest in preserving the bush. 

A Toorak landowner/developer plans to build a petrol station on Yarra Street (the main road), right next door to Andersons Creek, a tributary feeder to the Yarra River.   The Creek forms a short native corridor to nearby Fourth Hill State Park and the Yarra River.  Several endangered native animals are severely at risk including the Brush-tailed Phascogale, the Powerful Owl and the Speckled Warbler if it proceeds.   As well, pollution from 24 hour light saturation, tree removal, emission contamination etc. threatens insects, nocturnal birds and other animals, including frogs.   Many native trees will be removed both on the nature strip and the property.  There are serious concerns about road safety (its on a roundabout at Harris Gully Road), will have toxic emission issues, will be another bush fire hazard and will be a blot on the landscape.   The land hasn’t been developed to date because it is on a flood plain (i.e. low land) and the Council has previously discouraged house building as a result.  The Council also opposes the petrol station.  (Locals would like to see consideration of other community uses but no discussion has taken place.)

How You Can Help

In order to challenge the service station development, the Warrandyte community has to fight the VCAT hearing on April 11 (was October 2015 but delayed by VCAT). The group of residents trying to stop the petrol station (Warrandyte Character Protection) needs to raise $30,000+ to pay for legal representation from now to the Hearing.  It has not been possible to be represented pro bono, despite requests, and VCAT is so legally complex that the average person cannot represent themselves and expect to win.  If you can donate, we'd love your help, especially to fund the special witness reports we need.  Details are below.  We’re planning local events to try to raise the money but we’re staggered that it’s come to this:  A well-healed developer with no interest in our town can force a petrol station on a community that largely - 7 out of 10 people - (Warrandyte Diary Newspaper Poll) don’t want it.  There are 11 petrol stations within 8 km of Warrandyte and we’re managing well without one.

VCAT will make its decision on points of law - it might be about issues of traffic management, environmental impact etc. but we are extremely vulnerable given that the proposer has the resources to tap into all sorts of expert witnesses and organisations to further his arguments of no or low risk to people and the environment.  Please Sign our Petition as extra evidence for our community and the authorities that Melbourne does want to keep Warrandyte a rural setting, as far as is humanly possible!  A petrol station like this would be a very serious rupture in the fabric of a bushland environment.  Sure, progress such as land break-up, housing growth and traffic are big issues that also eat into the fabric, but we can preserve Warrandyte’s character with the help of a range of measures that exist and the goodwill of people.  Please make a Donation to the following dual-signatory bank account and follow us at

www.warrandytecitizens.org;​

www.facebook.com/warrandytecharacterprotection (Closed Group: Ask to join) and email us with comments to warrandytecharacterprotection@gmail.com and for a Receipt.

Warrandyte Character Protection Group 

Warrandyte Bendigo Community Bank

BSB 633000 Account No 155176894

(Use Ref line for Sir-name, Initial)

Your email petition signature and your donation, no matter how small will help us demonstrate that the vast majority of our community and visitors cherish the character of Warrandyte and believe that a petrol station here is both damaging and unnecessary.