By YASEMIN TALAT
Wyndham City Council has adopted a new strategy to manage the population growth in Wyndham.
It appears to be the first time in Victoria, and possibly Australia, that a municipality has adopted a strategy calling for a slowdown in residential growth.
The Strategy for Managing Growth in Wyndham, which was adopted by councillors last Monday, includes a nine-point plan mapping out how the council will address issues such as addressing infrastructure backlogs and putting a limitation on the rate of development.
As the country’s fastest growing municipality, Wyndham is growing by 8.3 per cent a year.
Wyndham Mayor Heather Marcus said the city had reached the point where residential growth could not continue at the current rate without the provision of adequate infrastructure.
“The State Government are significantly behind in their responsibility to provide train and bus services, duplicating arterial roads and build schools and health services,” Cr Marcus said.
“Economic and employment growth has not kept pace with residential growth and our residents are telling us very loudly and clearly that this can’t continue,” she said.
“There has to be a better way to manage growth.”
Cr Marcus said the council was optimistic its message for providing for Wyndham’s growth was starting to be heard by State and Federal Governments.
“We will continue to push our case for ongoing investment in infrastructure, jobs and services across the City, because our residents have increasingly made it clear that delays in infrastructure and service provision associated with rapid growth are unacceptable,” Cr Marcus said.
“Wyndham needs to grow sustainably while ensuring adequate jobs and infrastructure are provided to build communities and a quality of life comparable with the rest of Melbourne.”
