The growth economy- is there another way? Philip Sutton speaks at SPAVicTas AGM September 10th

This was sent by Mary Drost of Planning Backlash and contains material from BRAG and Dave Davis in Parliament.
STOP  PRESS  -    HOW COULD WHITEHORSE COUNCIL DO THIS.    -    you are already short of open space and here they are allowing another huge development in the centre of Box Hill, and taking away  your open car park -    that council deserves to be replaced.  Well there is a council election coming soon  -   get ready and only vote for those who agree to abide by the Residents Bill of Rights.  Watch out this does not give your council ideas about how to get all that cash.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/news/whitehorse-council-has-sold-a-box-hill-car-park-and-child-care-service-for-518-million-to-golden-age-developers/news-story/f949bc1b69f8f5d9e4d6aeb732925f2a

1. .  We are all in for  overdevelopment -  whether it is Brunswick  or Boroondara  or Brighton or  Boronia.   this recent decree by the PLanning Minister spells it out.  The established suburbs   have to cope with it.  sounds like Melbourne 2030 all over again.  The opposition Shadow Planning spokesperson David Davis           has had a lot to say in Parliament and I certainly will when I meet the Minister next month.

You see, like the hated and failed  Melbourne 2030,  packing more into established suburbs they think they dont have to put in more infrastructure -   you know full well they dont have the money to put in more, so all just   crowd in  and put up with it.   Did you see the article in the Sunday Herald Sun  -  sorry I cant get the link -  It is headed    NEVER ENDING PEAK         and there is another that says    CLOGGED FROM ALL DIRECTIONS.   Wait until another 100,000 next year.   Things will get worse and worse.

How about writing to the Minister and tell him this is not good enough

Mary

this below was sent out by BRAG.

David Davis has raised the issue of changing mandatory heights to discretionary heights in Boroondara’s   commercial corridors and along some main roads in Parliament and we send his statement criticizing Planning Minister Richard Wynne for your information.

We are very concerned at Wynne’s determination to push intensive development into Melbourne’s established suburbs. This sort of planning is a very lazy way of responding to population growth.

He is obviously more concerned about developer’s interests than residents best interests. We have to ask just who is this government serving for it is not us residents is it?

Cheers

Jack Roach

BRAG

Mr DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) — My matter for the adjournment tonight concerns C255, a planning scheme amendment proposed by the Minister for Planning, and it is for his attention that I raise this matter. This planning scheme amendment is a very concerning one. I ask the minister to reconsider this particular planning scheme amendment, which seeks to increase density and, particularly in a commercial corridor, introduce discretionary height limits, removing the previous arrangements under the planning scheme system that saw mandatory heights along these corridors.

This is part of a push by the current government to increase development in many of the established suburbs. In Mentone the four-storey height limit that was put on by Matthew Guy was removed by this planning minister, and he opened up the planning limit to a discretionary limit, which means effectively that buildings of any height could occur there. My concern is that this approach is also being adopted in Boroondara.

We have seen with Plan Melbourne, its so-called 'refresh' and the government's direction here that new planning applications in the central city have largely stalled. We have also seen the Fishermans Bend development stalled again by this government. The government has also taken the decision to slow development on the edge of the city, and it is intending to put all the intensive development that comes from almost 100 000 people in aggregate — more each year — coming into metropolitan Melbourne and the rest of Victoria into the established suburbs of Melbourne.

The minister has obviously defined this out. He has been very clear that he is going to put more people into the established suburbs. He has no democratic right to do this. He has no consent from those communities. He is seeking to overwhelm those communities with additional capacity and additional high-density, high-intensity and in this case high-rise development. This is not appreciated by the community. This is matched by the steps he is taking on the residential zone review, where it is pretty clear he is going to roll over many of the neighbourhood residential zones that have provided a significant level of protection.

This particular development in the City of Boroondara, counterpoised with the other activities that the minister has introduced around the state, will see enormous pressure for development — and high-rise, high-intensity development — in these areas. I ask him to step back, to review this direction and to consider what the community wants.