By BRIDGET SCOTT
A PASSIONATE Cranbourne West resident will spearhead an action group to ensure that an area near his home is zoned for residential buildings rather than industrial.
The Cranbourne West Precinct Structure Plan has been an ongoing issue for both residents and the local council, with a push on for an area to be rezoned from industrial to residential after some home owners purchased land unaware that they may live near a number of manufacturers.
Councillor Garry Rowe has moved that the land zoned industrial in Cranbourne West be changed.
“We have this beautiful suburb developing around this industrial zone,” he said.
Resident Ray Walker, who moved to the Alarah Estate in Cranbourne West last October, said the issue was very important to him.
Mr Walker said he and wife Verlie moved to the area because they liked its location, however they were unaware they could potentially be living close by a number of factories.
Mr Walker said he was made aware of the issue at a community information day in February this year.
The Cranbourne West man said he wanted to live somewhere that was “purely residential.”
“We are dead against the location of it all,” he said.
Mr Walker said he also despised the idea of huge trucks coming in and out of his estate.
The action man said he was thrilled with the result of a council meeting last week.
At this meeting, Cr Rowe’s motion was passed which called for officers to “review the PSP to address submission raised, and in particular interface concerns through detailed consideration of a mixed use land use planning outcome for part of the employment area”.
He also called for a meeting between council officers and the State Government to discuss the revisions to the PSP.
Mr Walker said he wanted a meeting with ministers so they can see and hear for themselves the concerns of local residents.
He said he would consider moving houses again and he hoped to submit a petition to council in the near future.
Mr Walker said the plan was outdated and better suited the olden days when people couldn’t drive.
“Back then factories were set up in towns because labourers lived nearby, and people didn’t have cars,” he said.
“In this day and age we all have cars to get to work – it only takes 10 or 15 minutes for some.”
Councillor Rowe said the community did not want it and as a council, they must make sure “we don’t have issues like the north and the west”.
