Click on the attachment above.
Please use these as a guide and make your submission in your own words.Do not just copy as the Committee will disregard any submission that appears to be pro-forma.
06 April, 2014
Suggestions for submissions to the Growth Zones Advisory Committee
Many Residents have sought assistance in preparing their submission to the Advisory Committee so we have complied a list of suggestions.
01 February, 2014
More on Plan Melbourne and the New Residential Zones
"Plan Melbourne" has been criticized by the planning expert, Professor Roz Hansen, hand picked by the government to draw up and provide advice on the strategy. We criticized her appointment because she was one of this city's planners who were advocating unlocking the potential in the existing residential areas for massive development as a response to the record rate of our population growth which, on a population basis, is well above all other OECD countries.
In an article by Jason Dowling in the Sunday Age (26/1) Roz Hanson says that "The elephant in the room is how do we fund the public transport and community services for 8 million people in 2050"?
Roz still doesn't get it, the question that needs to be answered should be "If you double the population of Melbourne you need to double the infrastructure but can our governments (both Federal & state) do it"? Of course they cannot because they just can't get that much tax out of us. Right now they can't even fund the necessary infrastructure upgrades to meet current needs let alone the future needs of record immigration.
As a response to the continuing government policies pushing to increase our population, developers have been increasingly moving into our existing residential areas to build apartments and squeeze more and more into the suburbs. The residents reacted and through organizations like BRAG and Planning Backlash they lobbied the government for protection from such rapacious development.
The government responded by announcing the "Reformed Residential Zones" which require new developments to meet neighbourhood characteristics and mandatory height limits.The developers and the building lobbyists screamed that these new zones would lock them out of the residential suburbs and Radley de Silva from the Master Builders Assoc said that some councils were trying to lock up their suburbs. Their main concern is that they will not be able to push their infill developments into the more desirable and therefor the more profitable residential areas
Actually de Silva is right. We suspect this is a shot at the Glen Eira and Boroondara Councils but other councils are putting up plans to follow their lead by putting around 70% to 80% of their residential areas in the most protected zone - the neighbourhood residential zone.
The Planning Institute of Australia, the Master Builders, HIA, the developers and investors etc. are now applying pressure on the government to modify the new zones. The Labor Party have said if they are re-elected they will bring back Melbourne 2030. That would not be very clever would it ?
We at BRAG have many times made it clear that the elephant in the room is the increasing population numbers due mainly to the record and ever increasing rate of immigration, and those who come to this country on visas as a back door way of gaining residency. If it continues, the population of Melbourne will more than double within the next 35 years - yes, more than double to well over 8 million.
In our view it's the rate of population growth through immigration that needs to be modified.
This does not mean that we should shut up shop altogether for, if we cut back on the immigration quotas to something like the numbers we used to accept ( around 70,000/80,000 p.a instead of the 225,000 p.a.in 2013 - and still rising) we would still be in accord with what other countries do and meet our international obligations. We could even increase the numbers of refugees we accept.
Currently we are growing at about 1.82% p.a. compared with the world average of 1.1% so if we did cut back we would still match the other OECD countries or maybe even be a bit above.
Makes sense to us.
Jason Dowling's AGE article is attached - see above.
In an article by Jason Dowling in the Sunday Age (26/1) Roz Hanson says that "The elephant in the room is how do we fund the public transport and community services for 8 million people in 2050"?
Roz still doesn't get it, the question that needs to be answered should be "If you double the population of Melbourne you need to double the infrastructure but can our governments (both Federal & state) do it"? Of course they cannot because they just can't get that much tax out of us. Right now they can't even fund the necessary infrastructure upgrades to meet current needs let alone the future needs of record immigration.
As a response to the continuing government policies pushing to increase our population, developers have been increasingly moving into our existing residential areas to build apartments and squeeze more and more into the suburbs. The residents reacted and through organizations like BRAG and Planning Backlash they lobbied the government for protection from such rapacious development.
The government responded by announcing the "Reformed Residential Zones" which require new developments to meet neighbourhood characteristics and mandatory height limits.The developers and the building lobbyists screamed that these new zones would lock them out of the residential suburbs and Radley de Silva from the Master Builders Assoc said that some councils were trying to lock up their suburbs. Their main concern is that they will not be able to push their infill developments into the more desirable and therefor the more profitable residential areas
Actually de Silva is right. We suspect this is a shot at the Glen Eira and Boroondara Councils but other councils are putting up plans to follow their lead by putting around 70% to 80% of their residential areas in the most protected zone - the neighbourhood residential zone.
The Planning Institute of Australia, the Master Builders, HIA, the developers and investors etc. are now applying pressure on the government to modify the new zones. The Labor Party have said if they are re-elected they will bring back Melbourne 2030. That would not be very clever would it ?
We at BRAG have many times made it clear that the elephant in the room is the increasing population numbers due mainly to the record and ever increasing rate of immigration, and those who come to this country on visas as a back door way of gaining residency. If it continues, the population of Melbourne will more than double within the next 35 years - yes, more than double to well over 8 million.
In our view it's the rate of population growth through immigration that needs to be modified.
This does not mean that we should shut up shop altogether for, if we cut back on the immigration quotas to something like the numbers we used to accept ( around 70,000/80,000 p.a instead of the 225,000 p.a.in 2013 - and still rising) we would still be in accord with what other countries do and meet our international obligations. We could even increase the numbers of refugees we accept.
Currently we are growing at about 1.82% p.a. compared with the world average of 1.1% so if we did cut back we would still match the other OECD countries or maybe even be a bit above.
Makes sense to us.
Jason Dowling's AGE article is attached - see above.
17 December, 2013
PLANMELBOURNE, BRAG's SUBMISSION
The main message in BRAG's submission is that"if you double the population you have to double the infrastructure".
With Melbourne's population set to double by 2050 you would think that any plan for the future of Melbourne would contain a set of objectives and strategies to update and build the necessary infrastructure but, apart from the extension to the eastern freeway and some motherhood statements,
there is very little in the way of any real planning.
For instance there is nothing on schools or hospitals. the rail links to Doncaster and the airport get a passing mention, but there is very little in the way of detail for upgrades etc or finance.
BRAG's submission is attached - see above.
With Melbourne's population set to double by 2050 you would think that any plan for the future of Melbourne would contain a set of objectives and strategies to update and build the necessary infrastructure but, apart from the extension to the eastern freeway and some motherhood statements,
there is very little in the way of any real planning.
For instance there is nothing on schools or hospitals. the rail links to Doncaster and the airport get a passing mention, but there is very little in the way of detail for upgrades etc or finance.
BRAG's submission is attached - see above.
More on the New Residential Zones
Boroondara Council has lodged its zoning proposals
with the Minister for approval but, in the meantime the development industry has been very active in lobbying against the new zones screaming that they will be locked out of the residential suburbs.
In the case of Boroondara's proposal they are right, for our council has identified about 70-80% of Boroondara as Neighbourhood Residential Zone and the rest as General Residential Zone with a small section as Residential Growth Zone(partly as a result of our lobbying and the fact that most of Boroondara is residential).
However, other councils' planners with their tunnel vision, which is to push for more and more development, have reacted quite differently. Many councils are proposing to have more of their residential areas identified as either General or Growth Zones with not too much in the more protected Neighbourhood Zone.
For instance, in the Greater Geelong area the council is proposing to have hardly any residential areas in the Neighbourhood Zone. This is very much against the Minister's idea of trying to protect our residential areas from rapacious and unacceptable development. One area, which contains mostly lovely old Edwardian homes, is identified for growth. This is pure vandalism. And Greater Geelong is not the only one for many more councils are trending in the same direction.
It seems that the development lobby is gaining ground because money talks. Check out what Charter Keck Cramer have to say on the subject (see attached above).
We wonder just how this will all pan out.
We will keep you posted.
with the Minister for approval but, in the meantime the development industry has been very active in lobbying against the new zones screaming that they will be locked out of the residential suburbs.
In the case of Boroondara's proposal they are right, for our council has identified about 70-80% of Boroondara as Neighbourhood Residential Zone and the rest as General Residential Zone with a small section as Residential Growth Zone(partly as a result of our lobbying and the fact that most of Boroondara is residential).
However, other councils' planners with their tunnel vision, which is to push for more and more development, have reacted quite differently. Many councils are proposing to have more of their residential areas identified as either General or Growth Zones with not too much in the more protected Neighbourhood Zone.
For instance, in the Greater Geelong area the council is proposing to have hardly any residential areas in the Neighbourhood Zone. This is very much against the Minister's idea of trying to protect our residential areas from rapacious and unacceptable development. One area, which contains mostly lovely old Edwardian homes, is identified for growth. This is pure vandalism. And Greater Geelong is not the only one for many more councils are trending in the same direction.
It seems that the development lobby is gaining ground because money talks. Check out what Charter Keck Cramer have to say on the subject (see attached above).
We wonder just how this will all pan out.
We will keep you posted.
18 October, 2013
PLANMELBOURNE
The new planning blueprint just released called "Planmelbourne" will replace "Melbourne 2030. The document identifies nine strategic principles each with a set of "directions" to cope with projected population growth of nearly 8.5 million in Victoria by 2051 with about 6.5 million in Melbourne.
The document has 176 pages with a considerable amount of information so we have briefly summarized
the main points in the attachment above.Quite a lot of planning principals contained in Melbourne 2030
reappear in the document although it is a much broader plan and contains some predictable solutions as well as some that will raise concerns for many residents.
The document has 176 pages with a considerable amount of information so we have briefly summarized
the main points in the attachment above.Quite a lot of planning principals contained in Melbourne 2030
reappear in the document although it is a much broader plan and contains some predictable solutions as well as some that will raise concerns for many residents.
17 September, 2013
New Residential Zones Approved for Boroondara
For years BRAG has been lobbying both the Minister for Planning and our council to "protect what we love about our neighbourhood". The Minister agreed to consider a new zoning system that would rely on neighbourhood character as a means of restricting what could be built and what could not.
Boroondara Council quickly conducted a survey of the municipality to identify precinct characteristics and this has now been used to map out new residential zones.
At a meeting of the council's Urban Planning Special Committee on 16th September, the committee approved implementation of the Neighbourhood Character Study and the new Residential Zones as set out in the attachment (see above - a map of the new zones is on page 17)
When approved by the Minister, the new zones will offer the protection we have wanted for so long against unacceptable, opportunistic, infill development and it will be much more difficult for
VCAT to over-rule proper council planning decisions.
BRAG thanks the Minister for Planning, Matthew Guy, for introducing these changes for they will return planning power back to our council which is what we have been advocating for the last 10 years.The Coalition election policies promised this and now it has been delivered.
Boroondara Council quickly conducted a survey of the municipality to identify precinct characteristics and this has now been used to map out new residential zones.
At a meeting of the council's Urban Planning Special Committee on 16th September, the committee approved implementation of the Neighbourhood Character Study and the new Residential Zones as set out in the attachment (see above - a map of the new zones is on page 17)
When approved by the Minister, the new zones will offer the protection we have wanted for so long against unacceptable, opportunistic, infill development and it will be much more difficult for
VCAT to over-rule proper council planning decisions.
BRAG thanks the Minister for Planning, Matthew Guy, for introducing these changes for they will return planning power back to our council which is what we have been advocating for the last 10 years.The Coalition election policies promised this and now it has been delivered.
19 August, 2013
Unsellable apartments in Melbourne
Further to the post below we attach an article from The Age -19 August 13- in which a 15 square meter apartment in Carlton listed for sale at $165.000 has been pulled off the market because the banks won't accept it as security. We don't blame them, who would want to buy one?
There are many of these apartments being built by overseas investors to let to students and 457 Visa holders. Most are of poor quality - see the post 5th July 13 below- and after a few years they will become the future slums of Melbourne.
To give you an idea of just how small they are, the one bedroom bedsits are about the size of a small car parking space or small caravan.
Why are we allowing this downgrading of our city by money grubbing overseas investors ?
For more on this subject click on the attachment above.
There are many of these apartments being built by overseas investors to let to students and 457 Visa holders. Most are of poor quality - see the post 5th July 13 below- and after a few years they will become the future slums of Melbourne.
To give you an idea of just how small they are, the one bedroom bedsits are about the size of a small car parking space or small caravan.
Why are we allowing this downgrading of our city by money grubbing overseas investors ?
For more on this subject click on the attachment above.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)