By XAVIER SMERDON
WYNDHAM residents have panned a masterplan for a new precinct that will bring around 20,000 new residents to the area and be five times the size of the Melbourne CBD and the Docklands combined.
Premier Ted Baillieu and the Minister for Planning Matthew Guy unveiled the draft plans for the development, known as the East Werribee Employment Precinct, last week to a packed lecture theatre at Melbourne University in Werribee.
The 770 hectare site is hoped to bring 50,000 jobs to the area over the next 20 or 30 years and the State Government has also committed to spending $40 million to build a Sneydes Rd interchange.
Mr Baillieu would not confirm that the infrastructure would be in place before any new residents moved in but said that the two components would work “in parallel”.
He also claimed that the Werribee and Hoppers Crossing train stations would be able to accommodate the increased number of residents.
“Obviously there will be fantastic rail access through Hoppers Crossing and the Werribee stations, and there is potential for a further station there as well, and obviously with the bus network as a part of that,” Mr Baillieu said.
“The key is to bring jobs to the West and not to invite people simply to drive to the city to find jobs.”
But Wyndham councillor Intaj Khan said residents had already expressed their dismay to him over the project.
“People have big concerns about this,” Cr Khan told Star.
“They are concerned about the growth and they want the infrastructure first.”
Cr Kahn said while he welcomed the development and the jobs it could bring to the area he also felt that Wyndham needed a new train station if it was to have any chance of coping with the influx of new residents.
“They’ve said there could be a new station in the future, but when?” he said.
“I wish we (the council council) could have had more consultation, because Sneydes Rd needs to be sorted out first.
“Residents have already complained about this to me. They don’t feel any excitement when they are already feeling pain.”
Mitchell Smith, a father of three from Point Cook, said he was sick of being stuck in gridlocked traffic.
“I don’t know how it will improve things unless they can guarantee that all these new residents will work in the precinct too,” Mr Smith said.
“It takes me forever just to get onto the freeway and I can’t see how 20,000 plus more people is going to make it easier.
“I think most people feel like they’ve been slapped in the face for choosing to live here.”
Mayor Heather Marcus confirmed that the council was first notified of the details in the masterplan last Tuesday.
“This has been on the drawing board for a long, long time,” Cr Marcus said.
“We’ve certainly known it was coming but we just didn’t know what we were going to get in this announcement.
“We want to make sure that we get the infrastructure before the housing because this is what has come through loud and clear from our residents that they want infrastructure.
“We will just keep advocating, and I want to emphasise that. We will keep on pushing this government to make sure we’ve got the infrastructure coming just slightly before the housing.”
