By Violet Li
Residents in a Green Wedge zone in Casey’s south are objecting to a planning application for a temporary cultural event on their doorsteps, which would attract 40,000 attendees over 12 days.
Non-profit Hindu organisation BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha proposed a cultural event between 12 February and 4 March this year at the old Five Star Equestrian Center along the Westernport Highway in Cranbourne South.
The applicant proposes most of the event set-up will utilise the existing shed structure on-site. A decorative gantry will be erected to welcome the participants.
On most of the days, the event is set to run two sessions, one between 6am and 12pm, and the other between 4pm and 8.30pm. The morning session is expected to attract 1500 attendances, and evening session 2500, which will lead to a total of 40,000 attendees throughout the proposed days.
About 1000 carparks will be provided on-site and cars will access the site via Homewood Road.
The proposed site is within the Casey Western Port Green Wedge and the applicant claims the application is consistent with the strategic policy.
It claims the event will not result in the permanent loss of productive agricultural land, impact on biodiversity or environmentally sensitive areas, or affect the visual amenity of the rural landscape and character of the area with screens by existing vegetation.
City of Casey manager Planning and Building Tania Asper said the council had received over 130 submissions to the proposal after advertising it to the community throughout December 2024.
“Council is now considering the planning permit application, as well as the submissions made before deciding on the application,” she said.
“At this point, we do not have a timeline for a decision.”
Council is now also advertising the original planning documents on its website due to “high community interest”.
“This will ensure that the community can continue to see the proposal until a final decision is made,” Ms Asper said.
“The conclusion date is a system-generated date and not a fixed date. The documentation will be available to view up until the date a decision is made.”
Craig Bradley, a local, said the proposed event was not in line with what the green wedge had been intended for.
“They’re claiming that they’re not going to be affecting any vegetation, but they’re building a car park with about 1000 cars. So you tell me how that’s not gonna have 40,000 people trampling the land?” he said.
“They claim to be spending about $230,000 to run the event, and it doesn’t even support any local jobs.
“It has provided no benefit to the local community. It’s just going to be a nuisance.”
Mr Bradley cited the lingering concerns about a similar cultural event that happened in late January last year at the corner of Browns Road and Kelly Road in Cranbourne South.
“The traffic chaos was just phenomenal. The line to get in was kilometres long, and people just started parking their cars on the side of the highway and walking with prams,” he said.
“It was just such a dangerous thing. It’s really the wrong area.
“I personally believe that they should go to somewhere like Cranbourne Racecourse, somewhere that’s actually set up to hold an event with this magnitude.
“It’s just not an appropriate use here.”
Mr Bradley noted that a lot of community members had contacted the local councillor Michelle Crowther. He hoped the matter could be heard at the next Casey Council Meeting in February.
The local community in the Green Wedge area in Casey’s South has seen several large-scale temple or cultural event applications in their backyard in recent years, including a temple application on the corner of Dandenong-Hastings Road and South Boundary Road West in Pearcedale, which was heard in front of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) late last year, and a Cranbourne South one, which will go to VCAT soon this year.
BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha was contacted for comments.
