Wyndham council has labelled the area’s fast-growing population as “a major challenge”.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) last week released new figures that show Wyndham experienced the third-highest increase in population among Australian municipalities in the 2015-16 financial year.
The ABS data shows there were 222,656 people living in Wyndham at June 30 last year, an increase of 5.7 per cent on the previous 12 months.
The figures also revealed Point Cook’s population increased to 50,774 during the 2015-16 financial year, in which more than 3500 new householders moved into the suburb.
This gave Point Cook the fourth-highest population increase among Victorian suburbs and towns.
Tarneit and Truganina were sixth and seventh on the list respectively, with more than 2800 new residents each.
As a result, Tarneit’s population swelled to 36,961 and Truganina’s to 23,222.
Wyndham city economy, innovation and liveability director Kate Roffey described the rapid population growth as “a major challenge for Wyndham”.
“The biggest difficulty is aiming to ensure that the development of essential supporting infrastructure – road and rail, schools, hospitals and sports facilities for example – keep pace with population growth,” she said.
“Council works closely with the state and federal governments to advocate for Wyndham’s fair share of funding.”
State opposition population policy spokesman Tim Smith said Werribee MP Tim Pallas did not care about growth within the Wyndham area.
But Mr Pallas said that while the Liberals were in government for four years, the then- planning minister, Matthew Guy, “did nothing for Wyndham” as its population grew.
Mr Pallas said that in contrast, the Labor state government had invested in a critical care unit for Werribee Mercy Hospital, a revamped Werribee police station and new schools for Point Cook, Tarneit and Werribee.
