By Danielle Kutchel
The City of Casey has lost one of its last pockets of farmland with the sale of a 131 hectare land parcel in Clyde to Stockland.
The $180 million sale was announced on Tuesday 3 November.
The land, off Ballarto and Pattersons Roads, will “restock [the] residential pipeline” according to the property developing giant.
The site is close to Stockland’s Edgebrook housing project and is within the approved Cardinia Creek South Precinct Structure Plan.
Owner John Follett said it was an emotional day for his family, which has farmed the parcel of land for nearly 60 years, running cattle and calves.
His reasons for selling were varied, he said.
“It’s in the urban growth corridor, it’s the last parcel of land, and there have been a number of years where we were in a position where we with council rates and so forth, which are astronomical, where we couldn’t make the rates let alone anything else on the farm,” Mr Follett said.
Mr Follett’s father first began farming at a market garden in Noble Park, before moving as development crept in.
Now, with progress pushing his family out again, Mr Follett plans to continue farming – but somewhere further out in the country.
“We’ll find somewhere else for cattle and so forth – well and truly further out than the City of Casey!” he said.
The property was sold through Alex Scott and Co at Berwick after having been opened up to expressions of interest.
While there was interest from many parties, Stockland was the “winning submission”, Mr Follett said, in a process that had been going for a while.
He had been approached on many occasions previously by parties, with plans drawn up for schools and infrastructure in the area already.
Despite the sale, he has concerns about the capacity of infrastructure in the area.
“The lack of infrastructure in the area is the main problem, to cater for the number of people moving into the area,” he said.
According to Stockland, the current masterplan for the area proposes more than 1,400 lots and townhome sites, two schools and a local town centre, a 10 hectare recreational park and an indoor community recreation facility. It also sits opposite the future Clyde Regional Park, a planned 200 hectare parkland with sporting facilities and a water reserve.
The closure of the farm will happen in stages. Cattle will continue to graze there until Stockland’s purchase is completed, in five years time.
Subject to finalisation of the acquisition and planning approvals, Stockland expects pre-sales to commence in March 2021 with civil works planned to commence in mid-2021.
