BY Ann Marie Angebandt
THE STATE Government has approved a $1-billion community that will bring up to 8,000 new residents and 5,000 jobs to Wyndham, despite claims that the area contains some of Australia’s rarest ecology.
The 275-hectare Williams Landing, to be built on the former Laverton RAAF base over 15 years, also means the likely end to Wyndham City Council’s plans for a freight rail route through the development to the industrial area of Truganina.
The council has reserved a land corridor north of the development for a freight rail line and an eventual “inland port” stretching to Brimbank.
Cr Leigh Barrett, said he was extremely disappointed that the rail route was now "dead in the water."
“If we don’t grasp these opportunities of getting more trucks off the road – and off the Westgate – when they’re before us; it’s a hell of lot more expensive down the track.”
Williams Landing will include about 2,000 houses, built in four neighborhoods, as well as a town centre with shops, entertainment and offices.
About 20 per cent, or 55 hectares, will be retained in three reserves to protect native vegetation.
The director of Western Region Environment Centre (WREC) Harry Van Moorst said the development would retain only pre-existing grassland reserves and wetland, which were included in the Federal Government’s contract of sale for the air base in 1999.
Cedar Woods Properties’ state manager, Nathan Blackburne, said he was satisfied the project achieved a balance of interests.
“This will be a benchmark residential development for a variety of Melbourne buyer-types,” he said.
Not everyone is so enthusiastic about the development. A local conservationist, Frances Overmars, said the area was a wonderful showcase of rare plant and animal species retained only by accident because of the base.
“It is terrible to think that industry and housing have won out,” she said.
Wyndham City Council’s mayor, Shane Bourke, said the project, although approved in general, would still be subject to public consultation.
“This is an exciting development we’ve been waiting a long time for,” he said. The project was originally designed to be strictly an employment hub and source of local jobs, with business parks and commercial offices.
Mr Blackburne said construction of Williams Landing – named for the Laverton Base founder, Air Marshall Richard Williams – was expected to begin by the end of the year, with the first residents moving in next year.
He said developers wanted to keep the air traffic control tower, and would use one runway as the basis for the suburb’s main north-south road.
Cedar Woods is also managing Banbury Village, a nine-hectare site in West Footscray.
