By Violet Li
A greenfield land project consultant says the state government’s recent 10-year housing plan for parts of the Casey South is “almost a step backwards”.
On 23 October, the state government released a plan for additional greenfield areas across Melbourne’s outer south east to be released over the next 10 years, promising to provide the space and complete the planning work to deliver 180,000 new homes over the decade.
Across Casey South, plans for Casey Fields South Precinct, Cardinia Creek South Precinct (Part 2), Croskell Precinct, and Devon Meadows Precinct are set to be under preparation in 2024-25 and will be completed by the end of 2028. The plan for Clyde South Precinct is set to commerce between 2025-26 and 2028-29, with completion by 2033.
James Thomas, the chief executive officer of Greenfield land project consultant Core Project, pointed out that some plans were not new.
He said the Devon Meadows Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) first went on the Victoria Planning Authority (VPA) list in the 2020-2021 Business Plan as part of the PSP 2.0 process, which was meant to deliver fast-tracked approval routes for collaboration between what was the Victorian Planning Authority, local government, and development.
“At the same time as well, Clyde South PSP was on that list,” he said.
“Both of them over the last few years have been listed as tier one projects or priority projects. And still, nothing’s happened.
“So this recent announcement is actually almost a step backwards because they should have been done already.”
Mr Thomas said that if it took VPA until 2028 to deliver the PSPs, it would end up being an eight-year process.
“So if it takes them until 2028 to complete the plan, once the developer actually launches the project and starts construction, it’ll generally take them 12 to 18 months to deliver the first stage and your housing construction will take six to 12 months resulting in homes being available around 2030, or two years post-civil construction commencement,” he said.
“So from whenever they get the plan approved before the first home goes in, it generally takes about two years assuming development starts immediately. So even if they approve the plan today, the first house won’t get on the ground until sometime in 2027.
“Unfortunately the pace of Devon Meadows PSP means you are unlikely to see a home there until at least 2027 at the earliest, more likely 2030.”
According to the Vision & Purpose document on VPA’s website, Devon Meadows Precinct has been envisioned to be an “immersive, walkable residential neighbourhood that is home to nearly 10,000 residents living in 3,000 homes in a seamless blend of modern urban living and natural landscape character”. It sits next to the proposed Casey Field South Precinct, which will deliver 42,000 jobs.
The original project timelines released in June 2022 showed the two PSPs would be gazetted towards late 2024. The VPA website shows that the draft plans are currently under council and state agency validation and community engagement and exhibition will be held in the second half of 2024.
As for Clyde South Precinct, the website shows that VPA is leading the preparation of a PSP and infrastructure contributions plan (ICP). No timeline has been provided.
When inquired, City of Casey manager Growth and Investment Kathryn Seirlis said: “The City of Casey continues to support VPA, who is the lead agency, in the preparation of the Casey Fields South (Employment) and Devon Meadows Precinct Structure Plan.
“The VPA’s most recent project update indicates that they are currently reviewing technical information with stakeholders, including but not limited to, cultural heritage, drainage and infrastructure matters, prior to finalising a draft plan for community consultation.”
Ms Seirlis also said that given the preparation of Casey Fields South and Devon Meadows PSPs were well advanced, the council believed that the plans could be finalised in the next 12 to 18 months, which was well before the 2028 target set by the VPA.
“The Clyde South PSP is a residential PSP scheduled for commencement between 2025-26 and 2028-29, with completion by 2033. Council’s view is that the preparation of the Clyde South PSP must commence in 2025-26 and be expedited with appropriate resourcing and project management to ensure delivery within three years by 2028 to provide additional housing supply and support affordability.”
VPA has been contacted for comment.
