Expansion in Melbourne gets the Go Ahead

Under a new 20-year plan unveiled by the Government, Melbourne’s urban area will be allowed to continue its sprawling growth, and will house an extra 415,000 people – but campaigners are arguing that it will destroy the city’s cherished green spaces…

Melbourne already has one of the largest urban footprints in the world due to its low density housing, resulting in a vast suburban sprawl, with a high level of car dependence and minimal public transport outside of inner areas.

Now, the urban sprawl is set to increase even further, with news that it will expand by another 41,000 hectares under the template set out in the new Brumby Government plan.

Those who have been a part of the bid to save green space and contain urban sprawl - through a planning blueprint called Melbourne 2030 – are now saying that their efforts are dead in the water.

The main expansion will happen along the Hume Freeway in the north and past Caroline Springs in the west and will add hundreds of new housing estates to the area.

Much of the land zoned for development is on previously protected ‘green wedge’ zones, leading to strong criticism of the plans by many eager to protect the city, but developers have (unsurprisingly) welcomed the news.

The number of people that the new developments plan to house – 415,000 - totals more than the entire population of Canberra.

Victorian Premier John Brumby said the growth boundary had to be extended because of Victoria’s huge population boom. “We are seeing 2000 people a week coming to our state.”

Planner and RMIT University Associate Professor Michael Buxton said, “It is tragic for Melbourne’s future because we are going to end up with two cities - we are going to end up with a whole lot of houses far from services and employment in the outer suburbs and more and more people being shoved into them.”

There are also huge transport changes in the pipeline – with a £2 billion regional rail plan and an outer ring road – to be finished in 2014 and 2020 respectively – on the cards.

In order to offset the loss of 6,918 hectares of grasslands, the Government plans to establish new reserves totaling 15,000 hectares. But this hasn’t gone far enough to placate green groups and planning experts, who warn that the urban sprawl will now go on indefinitely.

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