By Kerri-Anne Mesner
THE STATE Government needs to put its money where its mouth is when it comes to green wedges, according to a Brimbank councillor.
Greens councillor Miles Dymott said the State Government should be providing more funds to help protect “the lungs of Melbourne”, not just writing policies.
The comment came as Brimbank City Council looked at the “North of the Calder Non-Urban Land Review”, which recommended council create a management plan for the green wedge in the municipality based on parts of the review.
Cr Dymott said green wedges were very precious and needed to be protected.
“It is a government policy that it be protected,” he said.
“The State Government needs to put its money where its mouth is.”
Cr Dymott said he regularly visited Brimbank’s green wedge, walking through the Keilor garden markets or canoeing down the Maribyrnong River.
Cr Natalie Suleyman suggested that now was the right time to lobby political parties campaigning for the coming Federal election to get funding promises to provide better access points between the Calder Highway and parts of the green wedge.
“Residents have been lobbying for many years that both sides of the Calder be made accessible,” she said.
Cr Suleyman said that while she supported the report and moving towards preparing a green wedge management plan, the viability of farming remained unaddressed.
The report tabled at Tuesday night’s council meeting stated farming operations within this green wedge were also regarded as being unattractive due to deteriorating viability and restrictions on river access.
Negative social and economic impacts included the area’s continued physical and social isolation due to freeway access issues, along with ongoing land degradation.
According to the council’s report, many submitters in 2005 and 2006 supported the proposal for further subdivision of land.
Reasons included existing land parcels being too large for one person to manage, with problems such as weed infestation and inadequate funding for improvements.
The report also highlights the need for better freeway links.
The report states VicRoads’ intention is to provide grade-separated interchanges (such as on/off ramps) at Sunshine Avenue, Kings Rd and Calder Park Drive, with all other existing access points closed and redirected to one of the three new interchanges.
The land on the northern side of the freeway that was required for future interchange works was in public ownership — land owned by Brimbank Council, the State Government and VicRoads.
Green wedges have been identified on the urban fringes of Melbourne and are to be protected from inappropriate development. The study recognises key features such as environmental, landscape and horticultural values along the Maribyrnong River and the flight paths associated with Melbourne Airport.
The green wedges of Melbourne were proposed for preservation as non-urban areas in the late 1960s and set aside in the 1971 metropolitan plan.
Green wedge land is now defined under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 as land that is described in a metropolitan fringe planning scheme as being outside an Urban Growth Boundary.
