Destruction of Melbourne's Green Wedge

Cr Marion Martin seconded this motion. Cr Martin currently holds the Council portfolio for sustainable environments. The motion was not carried. The green wedges are the lungs of Melbourne and its been incredibly difficult to protect what we have left. The expansion of the Urban Growth Boundary allows open slather development between Brimbank and Melton (which began as a satellite town), without any consideration of the impact on our rainfall, grasslands, schools, public transport, public housing, ecological sustainable design, cycling and walkability etc. For so many reasons this is just a short-sighted move that will further exacerbate the damage to Melbourne's diminishing natural assets.

Geraldine

To: Chief Executive Officer
Please note that it is my intention to propose the following motion at the Ordinary Meeting of the Council to be held on 24/2/09
Subject: Destruction of Melbourne’s Green Wedges

Motion
That Council writes to Premier John Brumby and Minister for Planning Justin Madden, condemning the State Government plans for a green wedge land grab of nearly 23,000 ha to be handed to property developers, following the December Melbourne @ 5 Million report.

Background
The State Government is expected to release the plans in June, which will show a draft expanded Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) around new growth areas. These plans pose the most serious threat to the green wedges since the Bracks Government introduced an UGB to protect them in 2002 and possibly since the green wedges were introduced by the Hamer Government in 1971.

The green wedges are, as successive premiers and planning ministers have said, the lungs of Melbourne. With a city already gasping for breath, Melbourne's lungs are about to be choked with urban sprawl. This government land grab will be a cancer, not just in the proposed new growth corridors but in surrounding areas, where developers are expected to buy up environmentally and agriculturally significant grasslands.

Brimbank Council calls on the government to call off this plan for gross unnecessary destruction of the environment and of fertile farmland which provides food for Melbourne. It contradicts:
· promises by the former Planning Minister Rob Hulls that the 11,500 ha of land taken from the green wedges after the Government’s Smart Growth Committee process in 2005 would last until 2030;
· promises by the present Planning Minister Madden not to undermine his predecessors’ achievements,
· recommendations by last year’s Melbourne 2030 Audit group (accepted by State Government) that no further change to the UGB should be considered for at least five years.
· Letters from Planning Minister Madden in November 2008 saying the UGB was not under review.

This destruction is unnecessary as analysis by Jenni Bundy of the Green Wedge Protection Group demonstrates that the Government has miscalculated its land supply figures and that there is enough land within the current UGB to last until 2030. Increasing the development density in urban growth areas would also make housing more affordable. Instead, the Government is prepared to hand green wedge land that makes Melbourne a liveable city to developers for McMansions and suburban sprawl and the destruction of our precious remnant grasslands.