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​Wonthaggi takes one for the team

23/2/2024

15 Comments

 
PictureWonthaggi's growth spares the rest of the shire, but not everyone is
happy about it.
CR BRETT Tessari didn’t mince his words when he spoke against restricting residential land supply in Cape Paterson at this week’s council meeting.
 
“I don’t agree with the doubling of the size of Cape Paterson … but I think to close the doors completely on Cape Paterson is a short-sighted view.
 
“I can’t help think of families that have grown up there and their kids have built there, and now their kids are going to have to move out of their town where they’ve lived all their lives.

“I hear a lot of noise, and a lot of it comes from people who have moved to the area and now are keen to keep their little village as it is, and lock out anyone else. I really struggle with that.”
 
Cr Tessari, a three-time Bass Coast mayor and a life-long Wonthaggi boy, let a note of bitterness slip when he added: “I’m sure if you were to ask Wonthaggi people who’ve lived here all their lives they would have liked to keep Wonthaggi at the size of 5000 rather than see it grow to 10, 20, 30 thousand.”
 
On Wednesday councillors voted six to two in favour of recommending that the Planning Minister returns the Cape Paterson boundary to Seaward Drive and does not extend the Ventnor boundary, to the delight of a large section of both communities.
 
The final council submission on the Bass Coast Distinctive Areas and Landscapes argues that the Wonthaggi North East Precinct Structure Plan, approved last month by the Planning Minister, ensures adequate supply of residential land in Bass Coast for the next 15 years, as required by the State.
 
Over 5000 homes are expected to be established in the precinct over the next 30-50 years.
​
The project reinforces Wonthaggi’s role not just as Bass Coast’s major town but as a regional centre for South West Gippsland. And it lifts the burden of development from the rest of Bass Coast’s towns, villages and hamlets, as was made clear from Wednesday’s debate.
 
When it comes to development, our biggest town has taken one for the shire.
 
Introducing the motion to support the submission, Cr Leticia Laing said the Wonthaggi North East precinct had significantly resolved the housing supply issue, enabling the council to argue against extending the boundaries of Cape Paterso and Ventnor.
 
Cr David Rooks said the Ventnor community would be very pleased with the council’s recommendation. “I hope this puts to bed that issue [expansion of the Ventnor settlement boundary] for a number of years now.”
 
Cr Rochelle Halstead reminded her colleagues that the DAL would provide the vision for the shire for the next 50 years. “If we are serious about providing a range of housing options then land will be required.
 
“There is the suggestion that the extension of Wonthaggi is enough. I would argue that Wonthaggi NE Precinct will provide housing that is probably limited to a 600sqm block compared to what we’re talking about in Cape Paterson. The possibilities there would be much greater sized blocks, which I feel Bass Coast is scarce in.
 
“Bass Coast is a rural location. It is not the city. People come to Bass Coast to get away from the hustle and bustle and have space to breathe.”
 
And she warned that not providing sufficient greenfield development – such as in Cape Paterson – meant infill development in the townships and much higher density.
 
Cr Michael Whelan took a different view. “Bass Coast has been profligate in the past in its allocation of land, always opening up new land for development. It’s done in a very ineffective way. This notion that we’re going to have all these large developments, as distinct from the infill developments, is in my view quite irresponsible.
 
“I think we need to be looking at the infill. If you lock the boundaries down that’s what you have to decide. That’s why the neighbourhood character stuff is so important because where should that infill occur? You don’t want it everywhere.
 
“In respect to Ventnor and Cape Paterson, they are small coastal hamlets. I believe we should not be developing in those sensitive coastal developments beyond what’s already there, where the horse has bolted.
 
“Those sensitive places should be respected for what they are and protected. And the development should be directed into the likes of Wonthaggi North East.”
 
Cr Geoff Ellis said the Wonthaggi NE precinct took the pressure off the shire’s small coastal towns. “I think it will preserve the habitat of our critters and our sand dunes and our trees.”
15 Comments
Brian O'Farrell
24/2/2024 01:16:47 pm

Future land releases should be sensitive to the environment and existing communities together with commensurate increases in available services and infrastructure so as not to diminish our regional lifestyle. Last thing we need is more overbuilt dormitory suburbs and all the aggravations that comes with them. Learn from what is happening elsewhere and do better.

Reply
Edward Minty
25/2/2024 12:46:24 pm

Developing the NE precinct of Wonthaggi to absorb the future demand for new homes and an expanding population is all very logical if you also consider regional infrastructure and the future plans of State Government to develop Leongatha South as a major supply site for Sand, Gravel and Crushed-Rock for the entire State of Victoria. These plans are well documented and people like Brett Tessari have been well briefed on the plans and the ongoing consequences. These documented consequences include an estimated 5000 X 40 tonne truck movements per day by 2050 through Wonthaggi and along the Bass Coast. That converts to one 40 tonne truck moving through Wonthaggi every 15 seconds, 24 hours per day.
Its time to start looking at the Big-Picture councillors.

Reply
Neil Rankine
25/2/2024 09:06:10 pm

Well said Edward,
Problem is, the state, although putting out consultants reports left right and centre on construction material supply, many in conflict with each other, they just aren't yet looking, or showing us that they are, at the big picture. Infrastructure build for Melbourne and suburbs is much bigger than Bass Coast, South Gippsland, the Latrobe Valley and other resource areas. There's a lot been done in the background by GeoScience Vic, etc, not just the government's consultants, and it's time to get serious about where resources for Melbourne should come from. This must factor; efficiency of long term supply, avoiding our continually degrading environment when thinking about where to dig and considering amenity issues near the mines but more significantly along the haulage routes. This is big picture stuff that will work well for a long time if done well, or will be a disaster if left for the quarry cowboys to run the show the way they currently are, and want to continue doing.

Reply
Robyn Arianrhod
25/2/2024 06:15:55 pm

The Age recently had an article headed "Pakenham, the country town that grew and grew, and became a suburb;" many residents were unhappy at the soulless development in their town. As Brian said in his comment above, we should learn from others and do better. Wonthaggi should be allowed to keep its own character - it should not be turned into a satellite suburb for commuters in order to save the rest of Bass Coast from overdevelopment. I agree with Edward, too, about those with power missing the big picture - and this goes further afield than our shire. Melbourne's sprawl is a disgrace that Wonthaggi is expected to help mop up. What is wrong with creating new towns rather than stuffing up existing ones? We need some new, visionary thinking about planning in this country.

Reply
Frank w Schooneveldt
25/2/2024 06:59:38 pm

Robyn,
My vision is a singular vision that is very clear. Think the City of Bass Coast and how we are going to get there. We must think of fixing the infrastructure issues in the Bass Coast and that means population growth or a merger. We must change our views for the benefit of everyone.

Reply
Robyn Arianrhod
26/2/2024 11:52:57 am

Hi Frank - I agree that there should be a change of views, but in my view this should come especially from the top. I also agree that some development is a good thing - witness our hospital upgrade - but it has to be done sensitively. The Council's Neighbourhood Character project is a good start in this direction. But there is no reason that we have to become the City of Bass Coast. Infrastructure is critical, of course, but this could be achieved by having more towns and better transport between them, say, rather than making a few major cities. It is certainly complex, and we are at a critical time. So I just want us to have a shot at thinking outside the box - as happened in the 1970s with regional incentives for business and innovative planning for alternative housing - rather than to automatically assume bigger is better.

Reply
Frank W Schooneveldt
26/2/2024 12:49:36 pm

Robyn,
There are enormous infrastructure issues in the Bass Coast like unmade roads, open drains, lack of footpaths etc. To fix these issues requires a great deal of money. If we can increase the population of the Bass Coast it will give us the additional resources we require to make inroads into the outstanding infrastructure issues. If you have a better way of fixing the infrastructure issues in the Bass Coast I love to hear them.

Reply
Robyn Arianrhod
26/2/2024 05:25:33 pm

Hi Frank: As Catherine pointed out in comments to another piece in this issue, individual residents pay extra if they want sealed roads, drains etc in their street, so this kind of infrastructure doesn't require more ratepayers, but a discussion of what kind of neighbourhood we want - see the comments in the article on South Wonthaggi.
It seems to me that you're saying bigger is better, whereas I'm just saying that there are other ideas out there in the world - including the 70s idea of hamlets, but that would require a whole article to discuss; it relates to the idea of making new settlements rather than making existing towns bigger. Simply bringing in more tax payers into a town or state is not necessarily the right way to fix budgets, partly because such a solution necessarily requires more spending on infrastructure.
It is complex, and I don't have all the answers - I just want us to move away from the neoliberal mindset of the past couple of decades, and think about innovative local solutions to planning, analogous to Saul Griffith's idea of electrifying local communities rather than relying on a huge grid, and to economist E. F. Schumacher's earlier idea of appropriate, human-scale technology, "Small is Beautiful." For instance, the idea of smaller, walkable towns, which Wonthaggi once used to be, has been discussed recently in the media, and is the norm in many areas.

Reply
Frank W Schooneveldt
26/2/2024 05:56:21 pm

Robyn,
I’m solutions driven. I try to come up with solutions to fix the infrastructure issues in the Bass Coast. I try to find a way of raising the many millions of dollars to fix the infrastructure issues in the Bass Coast. It’s a challenge.

Reply
Robyn Arianrhod
27/2/2024 08:44:42 am

Hi Frank - yes, it is a challenge, and it's good to discuss these things with you! I think that one issue is when infrastructure problems arise because populations grow too quickly - which is why I'm not a fan of growth per se as an economic solution - and also when people have expectations of urban benefits in rural, lower-priced settings (i.e they want benefits both ways!) I guess I'd like us to move away from today's Uber-version of free-market capitalism - from which big developers have benefitted, often shamelessly, and where all that matters are KPIs, numerical targets, and dollars - and towards a simpler, more community-oriented approach. So for me, it's a cultural rewiring that we need - such as we saw in the 70s - not just economic fixes. But I agree that this is a huge task, much more easily said than done. But if we don't at least talk about it, it will never be done!

Reply
Frank W Schooneveldt
27/2/2024 09:47:58 am

Robyn,
In 1950 Melbourne’s population was around 1,000,000 people and in 2023 it’s around 5,316,000 people. That’s a compounding growth rate of 2.315% per annum. I cannot see this growth rate diminishing and in fact with the pressure we are under to relocate refugees from around the world I think it would be reasonable to expect that this compounding growth rate will increase. Projecting the current growth rate out to 2050 Melbourne’s population will be around 9,861,225 people.
We are not able to turn back the clock and try and live in the past. We need to embrace the enormous opportunities that this growth creates for the Bass Coast and if we are smart this will enable us to fix the outstanding infrastructure issues in the Bass Coast. The Council’s forecasts for the Bass Coast are out of step with reality.
I

Reply
Frank W Schooneveldt
27/2/2024 01:42:53 pm

Hi Robyn,
I have had a look at the Council’s WEB page on population growth.
They tell us that the population in the Bass Coast in 2006 26,941 which has grown to 41,798 in 2022. This equates to a compounding annual growth rate of 2.17% which is very similar to Melbourne’s growth rate.
They also tell us that the population in the Bass Coast in 2015 was 32576 which has grown to 41,798 in 2022. This equates to a compounding annual growth rate of 3.623%.
They then tell us the forecast growth for the Bass Coast to 2041 is a compounding annual growth rate of 0.77%. This forecast will lift the population in Bass Coast to 47408. If we were to use the growth rate of 3.623% per annum the population in the Bass Coast would be 81178.
I repeat that the Council’s forecasts are out of step with reality and that has enormous effects on planning and budgeting.

Reply
Robyn Arianrhod
27/2/2024 05:47:39 pm

Hi Frank - thanks for these statistics. Yes, things are different now and we need to consider that, and get the forward projections right. But I still think we should consider distributing this huge population growth differently, rather than assuming we have to build megacities, or turn towns into cities. Social cohesion is already eroding in this country, according to recent reports, and perhaps building more but smaller towns and cities would help build better community spirit. Either way, though, it is all so very challenging!

Reply
Frank W Schooneveldt
27/2/2024 06:42:14 pm

Hi Robyn,
I agree with you that we should distribute the anticipated population growth differently. I like a decentralised model as well provided there is the infrastructure in place because it’s far more about liveability and caring for our beautiful environment. The Bass Coast has a unique opportunity to plan and budget for the future population growth. One of my mantras is that proper planning and processes prevents piss poor performance….the seven Ps. I will be taking a very hard look at this years BCSC budgets and forward estimates to ensure they are realistic in their projected population growth and address the outstanding infrastructure issues. I’d like to see the outstanding infrastructure issues in the BCSC planning and budgets be a strong focus.

Reply
Robyn Arianrhod
28/2/2024 11:16:22 am

Hi Frank - That's great that we agree on distributing the population differently, because yes, liveability and caring for our beautiful but fragile environment are paramount in our Shire, including Wonthaggi. Let's hope your 7 Ps mantra is heeded!

Reply



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