NEWS
The State Government and Brisbane City Council should join forces to resume the Walton's building in the heart of Fortitude Valley as a permanent solution to the closure of a crucial pedestrian walkway that is putting businesses at risk, long-term local councillor David Hinchliffe believes.
Although the soon-to-retire Central Ward councillor is hopeful that agreement might soon be reached to reopen the walkway, he says that while Walton's remains in private hands, governments "cannot force the owner to open it".
In an email sent on Tuesday 24 January to the owners of Cheung's Cakes and Cafe in the Happy Valley building right beside the barricaded walkway (pictured above) Cr Hinchliffe writes: "For the long term, I propose that the State Government and the Brisbane City Council should jointly take over the easement of the walkway through Happy Valley building and the Walton's building.
"That is the best way of securing safe and reliable public access through these buildings for all those people who are coming from and going to the Valley train station.
"To this end, I have called for the State Government to resume this entire walkway and further to join with council to resume the whole Walton's building. It is a disgrace that the Walton's building has been largely unused for almost 30 years. As long as it is in private hands, the council and state governments cannot force the owner to open it."
Cr Hinchliffe sees the resumption as the long-term solution to the abrupt closure in early December of the crucial public walkway through the heritage-listed Walton's building. Traders in the adjoining Happy Valley and McWhirters Centre have seen their trade slashed in the six weeks since the walkway was closed. Some traders are likely to fold as a result of the closure, flagged as needed for maintenance that has never taken place.
In the email to Cheung's, Cr HInchliffe says: "Your cake shop is probably the business most affected by the closure of the walkway. I confirm what I said earlier today that I have met again with the Moc family and they have advised that they have signed off on paying the insurance costs for the section of the walkway that goes through the Walton's building. So, they and Lend Lease (and I believe McWhirters) have agreed to the maintenance and insurance costs for the walkway. When Mr Lee from Mount Cathay [owners of the Walton's building] signs that agreement the doors will be opened. That was the advice I received today. However, after the last occasion when I was told the doors would be opened before Christmas, I remain sceptical."
Cr Hinchliffe uses the email to also call on the owners of the Happy Valley building to fix the escalators running up from Wickham Street.
"I can confirm that council has no control over ownership or operation of the escalators.
"Matters in relation to the escalators are the responsibility of the owner of your building - the Happy Valley body corporate owned principally by the Moc family. It has been my experience that the 'up' escalators work on some occasions and are either switched off or broken on other occasions. The 'down' escalators hardly ever work.
"I believe that the Happy Valley body corporate should maintain the escalators as this is part of their responsibility as owners. It is in the public interest for those escalators to be fixed."
