By ANTHONY RADFORD
HARGREAVES Mall traders will make legal history if they are successful in winning compensation from the City of Greater Bendigo council.
About a month ago the Bendigo Weekly revealed a group of CBD traders was investigating a joint action against council for the delays surrounding the redevelopment of Hargreaves Mall.
Work on the mall began
in October, 2007 with a projected end date of November, 2008, on the eve of the council elections.
However, the project is not expected to be finished before October this year.
Last week the Weekly told the story of at least one mall trader who had suffered severe financial loss since the redevelopment began.
Well-known mall trader Martin Ruffell said there were more traders suffering.
“I know there are more. There are others in similar positions,” he said.
“We are down by as much as 50 per cent in recent months. Something has to give.”
About 20 traders attended an information session this week, with about six giving their apologies, to find out more about the possibility of legal action.
“The meeting was about talking to a solicitor and
finding out what course of action we can take,” he said.
“If this happens it will be a precedent in Australia.
“We all know where we sit and what we have in front of us.”
Mr Ruffell said the traders were concerned the council had not prepared for the impact the delays would have on
small businesses.
“At the end of the day our main dispute is the delay in construction,” he said.
“Council has admitted to us they had no compensatory element for the traders with the contractor.
“They haven’t considered the traders at all, only themselves.”
Mr Ruffell said that was at the heart of the proposed legal action.
“We believe they have failed in their duty of care to the traders by not including them in that compensation process,” he said.
“Council will be waiting until the project is done to look at compensation from the contractors, so we, too, may have to wait until it is finished to take the next step.”
Mr Ruffell said the group would meet again soon.
“We went away with a few things in the kitty and we will get together again soon and come up some sort of consensus what direction to take next,” he said.
