James Lundy, who is he?
He will be recorded in the history of Karridale. Future
generations will learn of his influence alongside MCDavies and other worthy gentlemen.
Bold plans for new centres
fail to get off the ground, or so it was reported in the New Zealand Herald. Rick Martin, an
investor in property, failed to achieve his dream of an almost carless village.
But all was not lost for the consultant involved because he
was then brought over to Margaret River to peddle his design here, again. Was
paid, again, for the carless village which was rebadged this time as a hamlet.
Martin was philosophical about the failure and comments on
the Margaret River move;
"They then hired James Lundy, our
urban designer, to help them with their district plan. The Waimauku Estate
concept can be done in Margaret River as of right, so at least someone
benefited out of it," Martin said.
Well someone certainly did benefit - James Lundy.
Of course this relaxed
attitude is much easier for Mr Martin to maintain, he only has a property deal
gone sour. Business losses can always be offset. Martin won’t need to cry for
long over lost profits. However, this Karridale resident feels less charitable
towards the scamps who sold Karridale out. Good people have been robbed of
their birthright here and they will all have to live with the consequences.
James Lundy left us with
a huge design handbook, and here is how the Lundy factor was applied to
Karridale;
Extracts from the Karridale Hamlet Settlement Strategy Version 1
This was the last
document published to the community.
....
DC2 That development proponents in Karridale... prior to subdivision of any
new residential lots, which will providing support and programmes to develop
and further enhance the local economy and local community identity.
....*Detailed
guidance on preparing these elements can be found in the AMRSC Rural Hamlet
Design Handbook
FINANCIAL
IMPLICATIONS
The Shire Planning
Directorate commissioned this Handbook under its existing budget. ( Sounds
painless, but remember - “its existing budget” is still the ratepayers money.
It would be good to see some figures here for how much the NZ consultants and
shire staff expenditure actually totalled)
Economic
Local food production,
a hamlet central space and related value added production are built into
the hamlet area, which facilitates development of the immediate local economy.
It wasn’t what we wanted
in Karridale, but it offered something positive, and it had a central space, which sounded good. Version 1 was certainly better
than how it evolved.
Then Karridale Hamlet Settlement Strategy Version 2 was produced.
In secret, with no
community consultation at all. The councillors approved a plan that removed any pretence that the social or economic needs of the community
were being considered, they didn’t bother with any of it. No advertising for this version the councillors were happy that they
knew best.
Did James Lundy, author
of the AMRSC Rural Hamlet Design Handbook, anticipate such a broad
interpretation of his guidelines? Should the residents sue him? He will be the
one we remember as the designer of this hamlet. The professionals at Walcliffe
Road made sure of that, cunningly parading the Common Ground consultant, James
Lundy, as the design guru who gave us our hamlet.
Am I being unfair?
Not really. Because James
Lundy is making a living out of the puff and spin that so often surrounds the
men and women who claim to be able to plan the lives of others by consultancy.
The rural residents of
Karridale have planned their environment for many decades without the need for
external Command Economy involvement. James Lundy is continuing to profit from
the business he conducted here by presenting his design ideas to others. A
glance over his shoulder every now and then might enable him to learn whether
his successful designs actually translate into anything more than consultancy
fees banked.
The New Karridale Hamlet
What did we actually get
for our consultancy fees?
The Karridale hamlet
central space is a heavy haulage truck depot, which should create a frisson of
excitement when the new residents begin to stroll around their “liveable”
neighbourhood.
In James Lunday’s urban
environments the “liveable” neighbourhood concept suggests a 400m zone is the
distance it is reasonable to expect people to walk. For Karridale the planners
suggest 2 kilometres. No rationale, no answer to the question - why do you
think our legs are so different?
Gaze on this hamlet design in wonder.
It’s enough to make me
want a cigar.
Two major highways meet
at the crossroads and in that central space decisions will be made by motorists,
maybe some of them will be tired and jet-lagged. The vehicles will pause as the
drivers spend a few seconds checking prices at the three sets of fuel bowsers, dithering
about whether they should turn off for Nannup, or MR or Augusta, trying to locate
a toilet block, or maybe thinking about whether to stop off for some food at
the post office. (I have mentioned before that human behaviour is an important aspect of just about everything) The mix will include tiny “no birds” hire cars, huge Winnebagos
, caravans and boat trailers.
As they are functioning in
a relaxed holiday mode within this new hamlet central space, adorned with a
myriad of confusing signage, they will encounter the usual Karridale business traffic
of logging trucks, cattle trucks, and vehicles entering and leaving the heavy
haulage business.
But wait, there is more,
the additional spice in the experience will be the pedestrians strolling around
their “liveable” neighbourhood, all adding excitement in the heart of the
hamlet. Add in a tractor, maybe some slightly flaky hay rolls and the rural
dream will really come to life.
Sadly none of our
planning staff nor our councillors have ever had any experience of the problems
that major highways passing through townsites can bring. What a shame but, as
ever profits must come before people. We did pay for this. Value for money?
PS - On second thoughts maybe James should sue our shire for misrepresenting the hamlet concept?
PS - On second thoughts maybe James should sue our shire for misrepresenting the hamlet concept?
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