THE final nail in the coffin for Point Cook’s green wedge has sparked a lively debate in State Parliament over whether lagging infrastructure is a “fact of life” for growth areas.
Last week, as the Legislative Council passed planning changes that bring the suburb’s 443-hectare green wedge within the urban growth boundary – paving the way for about 3000 new houses – the Greens condemned the government’s “neglect” of outer suburbs.
Western Metropolitan Greens MP Colleen Hartland said more housing in Point Cook would pile unbearable pressure on already strained transport infrastructure. “There is a 40-minute bus service to the train station, so everybody living there is car-dependent,” she said.
“How are people going to manage when they are not managing now?”
But Liberal MP Philip Davis hit back, saying growth areas could not realistically expect the same level of services. “If they want to live in Toorak, they will pay for it. If they want to live in an outer suburb because that is what they can afford, that is a reasonable choice, particularly for a first-home owner. The inevitable fact is that people choose to build in an area knowing that all the services they require are not going to be there the day they move in, but in time those services will develop.”
Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Andrew Elsbury distanced himself from the comments and defended his commitment to boosting infrastructure in Wyndham.
He said the introduction of a works-in-kind arrangement, allowing developers to provide public roads and buildings instead of cash contributions to the government, meant capital projects could be provided sooner.
“In the past we have come from behind in terms of infrastructure, but it doesn’t have to keep going like that. That’s why [Planning] Minister [Matthew] Guy has said there’ll be no further development in Point Cook until we’ve got things sorted out.”
Wyndham mayor Kim McAliney said it was insulting to suggest calling for better infrastructure was asking
too much.
Tarneit residents Nicholas Borg and Joe Spiteri (pictured), whose properties were brought within the urban growth boundary in 2011, said the level of infrastructure made inner Melbourne seem a world away.
The weekend’s heavy rain still hasn’t drained from Leakes Road. Many more in the area are still cordoned off from traffic.
Mr Borg said roads in the region were crying out for major repairs.
“We’ve been here 25 years and the roads have always been like this, but they’re getting worse now because there’s a bigger population and more cars coming through.
“We can’t all afford to live in Toorak. We don’t have anything out here, no street lights, no gas, no water … we’re still using a water pump and tank.
“We still don’t have gas or sewerage, no bus services, yet we all pay the same rates and taxes. They class us as urban growth, but we don’t even get a road to drive on.”
