Venu Nair is the first to tell you that housing affordability was what attracted him to Hoppers Crossing.
Six years on, it’s a strong community spirit that has kept him, his wife and two kids there.
Today, Mr Nair is president of the Wyndham Malayalee Community Group, a group of Wyndham residents who come from a state in southern India.
The group even has its own radio program, Malayalajalakam, on local station 88.9 Wyn FM, and it was from here that they collected 18 submissions for the Wyndham 2040 project.
Wyndham council has reached its target of collecting 2040 stories from residents for the project, which will be used to create a community plan that details what the area should be like in the year 2040.
Mayor Peter Maynard said residents shared a range of stories about what they loved about Wyndham and what they hoped it would look like in the future.
Mr Nair said it was important for local residents to have a say in shaping Wyndham’s future.
“If we can have a say in our future – how we want Wyndham to develop, what we want Wyndham to look like – that will give the council a lot of options,” he said.
“The local community had a lot of great ideas, like open space, sustainable development and how we can make Wyndham into its own CBD, rather than relying on the Melbourne CBD for everything.
“A lot of people also wanted to see new infrastructure in place, like schools, public transport and a lot of public space with art and greenery.”
