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Make Matthew back down on green wedges too

Representatives of concerned groups from Melbourne’s 12 green wedges will gather on the steps of Parliament to support Shadow Planning Minister Brian Tee when he presents our signed petitions to save the green wedges to parliament on October 12. We will:

GATHER AT 1PM ON WEDNESDAY 12 OCTOBER ON THE FRONT STEPS OF STATE PARLIAMENT

(Corner Bourke and Spring St, Melbourne.)

Speakers will discuss how best to save the green wedges from the triple threat from the State Government’s

  • Logical inclusions review, which proposes to move the Urban Growth boundary to remove up to 800 properties from the green wedge in the growth areas;
  • Anomalies review, which invites local Councils in non-growth areas to nominate green wedge “anomalies” for rezoning, and
  • Green wedge zones review to allow more urban uses, like schools, and tourist facilities on smaller green wedge sites than now allowed.

We hope also to discuss wider planning issues where the government has disappointed those people who were hoping for better.

Councils and communities have been over-ruled by the Planning Minister to approve developments unacceptable to local communities including high-rise in Maribyrnong, a bitumen plant at Langwarren, and of course coastal developments in Western Victoria, and in Torquay and at Ventnor, on Phillip Island, where local protests led Planning Minister Guy to back down, he said after listening to local communities.

Or was it just the tweeting from Miley Cyrus that did the trick?

We have concerns, not only that some councils will be only too happy to accept Minister Guy’s invitation to rezone their green wedges but that those, like Mornington Peninsula and Manningham, that have voted to say no to Matthew, may also be over-ruled if the Minister wants more rezoning that the councils are prepared to support.

This will be an opportunity to see whether Minister Guy and the State Government are prepared to listen to community concerns and back down on these issues too.

Rosemary West, GWC Joint Coordinator