Urban sprawl fears

By Bridget Brady
A FIVE Ways couple says the State Government will eat into precious green wedge areas if its plans to extend the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) go ahead.
The State Government has earmarked a 5,560 hectare area in the south-east, which includes Clyde and Five Ways, as an investigation area that may be used to accommodate Melbourne’s growing population which is anticipated to reach five million earlier than expected.
Allen and Jenny Rowe, who live on a 64-acre property just outside the investigation area, said valuable green wedge land needed to be protected.
“Wake up before all of the green wedge goes,” Mr Rowe said.
“They (the State Government) keep gradually changing the boundaries…they have the power to do it. But when will it stop?
“Urban and rural do not intermix, I don’t care what anybody thinks.”
Mr Rowe said he was further outraged by plans to extend the growth corridor when an official from the Growth Areas Authority told him his submission would not be considered because he lived outside the investigation area.
“But we are affected by it, we deserve to have a say.”
Despite the State Government announcing the plan late last year, Mr Rowe said many people were not aware of it.
He encouraged people to enter their submissions by the cut-off date of 20 February.
“Not many people know about this. We have been telling people and they are not too happy.
“People need to put their submissions in before it’s too late. I know it’s just an investigation area at this stage, but everything starts off as just a plan.”
Mrs Rowe said the State Government needed to be sensible with green wedge areas. “Leave it as it is,” she said.
Cardinia resident Catherine Manning said it would be a shame to see small townships “swallowed up”.
“It (the investigation area) is right on top of environmentally sensitive, good farming land,” Ms Manning said.
Co-ordinator of the Green Wedges Coalition Rosemary West told the News she was devastated about the proposed extension of the UGB.
“Part of our concern is that this has been done after no study at all,” Ms West said. “This is highly valuable and fertile agricultural land. It should be kept that way.”
Ms West said plans to extend the UGB were “extremely short-sighted and foolish.”
Ms West said members of her group would meet Planning Minister Justin Madden early next month to express their concern.
“If we’re concerned about our future generations then we need to make this land last.”