GREEN wedge land in Wyndham will be rezoned for housing development under the latest extension of Melbourne’s urban growth boundaries.
Planning Minister Matthew Guy has announced the government will slate 1550 hectares of green wedge land in Point Cook and Werribee West to pave the way for thousands of new homes.
In Point Cook, the 443-hectare green wedge site bordering Hacketts, Aviation and Point Cook roads was last year recommended for rezoning by Wyndham Council, saying it had degraded through weed and pest infestation.
Mr Guy pledged that the rezoned land in Wyndham would not be released for sale until the region’s infrastructure shortfalls had been fixed.
‘‘We are actually doing the work now through the growth corridors plans to avoid another situation like Point Cook,’’ he said.
‘‘The government has made it very, very clear that while there’s a recommendation to expand the boundary around Point Cook, we haven’t approved and won’t be approving any future developments for Point Cook until we solve some of those transport issues.’’
Mr Guy said a study examining the feasibility of a ferry service from Werribee to the Docklands, the upcoming Regional Rail Link and a bid for federal government funding to build an interchange joining Sneydes Road and the freeway in Point Cook would help provide much-needed infrastructure.
But after the figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics named Wyndham the fastest-growing area in Australia, adding 12,000 new residents last year, opposition planning spokesman Brian Tee said it would be the ‘‘hardest-hit’’ by the latest planning changes.
Mr Tee feared rezoning Wyndham’s green wedge for housing would pile extra pressure on already choked roads and services struggling to keep pace with growth.
‘‘This is just turning the home-ownership dream into a nightmare,’’ he said.
‘‘What this means is more development, more and more cars, but there’s not the roads or the public transport infrastructure for existing residents and this will be recipe for more chaos.
‘‘In the state budget, the government hasn’t committed enough funding to paint a bus stop, let alone provide for public transport, schools and health facilities needed in this area.’’
Wyndham mayor Kim McAliney said the move to extend the urban growth boundary in Wyndham for more housing warranted ‘‘major contributions’’ from state and federal governments to finance public infrastructure.
Point Cook resident Paul Harder labelled the move to rezone green wedge land ‘‘environmental vandalism’’.
‘‘We need parkland, we need open space as a community,’’ he said.
Point Cook Action Group chairman Bernard Reilly praised the promise to fix transport problems before selling land for housing, but said developing the green wedge would damage the character of the suburb.
‘‘A lot of people built around the area because they thought they’d be looking at a green wedge for the rest of their days.’’
