|
|
PORT
PHILLIP CONSERVATION COUNCIL INC. Telephone
+61393769442, A0020093K
Victoria
www.vicnet.net.au/~phillip ABN 46 291 176
191
1st September 2005 |
|
|
|
|
The
Officer-in-Charge Planning
Department Wyndham
City Council 45
Princes Highway WERRIBEE
VIC 3030 Dear
Sir or Madam, Submission on EES on “Wyndham Cove” Marina and Amendment C71 to
Wyndham Planning Scheme Port
Phillip Conservation Council Inc, a federation of sixteen conservation
organizations around Port Phillip Bay, is opposed to the extreme large scale
transformation proposed for the coastline, inshore waters, and immediate
hinterland of Port Phillip at Werribee South that the “Wyndham Cove”
marina-cum-residential proposal represents. Retrograde and Inappropriate Transformation: Port Phillip Bay
is undoubtedly the major remaining largely intact natural feature of the
Melbourne metropolitan region, which gives its seascapes and landscapes very
high value to the large number of people in that broad region. A significant
element of the strong appeal and viability of the region is dependent on the
continued existence of a healthy contrast between the increasingly crowded
and busy developed metropolis and the far less developed and more natural
areas of the Bay’s foreshores and waters. The
concept of the Bay’s foreshores and waters remaining as Crown land, held in
trust in perpetuity for general undisturbed use by the public, was an early
foundation of the social compact that has made Melbourne’s coastal areas so
popular and cherished. This concept needs to be maintained. The
proposed transformation would effect such a huge and quite discordant change
to the existing setting that it must be recognized as totally dismissive of
and insensitive to the existing qualities of the public land and sea there.
The EES uses a familiar developer’s ploy when it attempts to denigrate the
present foreshore reserve by stating, in the Executive Summary, that the
foreshore reserve is “significantly degraded”, with a “rough unconstructed
track”, “extensive weed infestation”, “dumped rubbish”, and “small areas of
Coast Saltbush”. Those characteristics are unfortunately quite common along
much of the public land along the coast of south-eastern Australia, as a
result of past and continuing ignorance and neglect, but selecting those
aspects - not all of them necessarily shortcomings - as a pretext for
substituting a massive commercial development is a very cheap and crude
tactic. There is no doubt that the low, flat, basaltic coastline on the
western side of Port Phillip should have been better treated in the past, and
should have been protected by a wider foreshore reserve, but the proper
response by authorities is to identify the longer term timeless values of the
area and work to “preserve, protect and defend”
them rather than to sanction opportunistic proposals for profit that would
obliterate the possibility of conserving and restoring those values. Massive Development Ought Not Seep Up To or Into Port Phillip: The Victorian
Coastal Strategy and Victoria’s planning system has recognized, in the public
interest, and for posterity, that development that is not coastal-dependent
should not intrude up to the coast or into the sea. A major appeal of Port
Phillip is the lack of intrusive development on its edges or generally
visible from its waters. The proposed five-storey structure would be
exceptionally intrusive on the Wyndham coastline, which is naturally low and
flat. In
certain municipalities around Port Phillip the Planning Schemes apply strict
two-storey height limits within a considerable distance of the coast, e.g. Bayside City Council’s
Building Height Control Overlay – Coastal (DDO1), to preserve the
coastal ambience (found only on the coast!). Planning Schemes also prohibit
devices to circumvent such controls, such as “roof decks”. Green Wedge
legislation has also been most properly used to keep coastal areas free of
non-coastal intrusions. There is no good reason to regard the Wyndham
coastline as a dumping ground for oversized and 5-storey developments that
would not be contemplated at other sites around Port Phillip.
EES is a Shameless Apologia Extolling a Fantasy and Caring
Little for Existing Values: Port Phillip Conservation Council Inc.
recommends that the Environment Effects Statement be regarded as a document
that focuses almost entirely on a hypothetical replacement environment and
avoids acknowledging that the commercial and quasi-industrial complex that
would be created if the scheme succeeded would utterly dominate the natural
and modest coastal environment presently existing, which is agreeable,
restful and affordable to all. The
EES process unfortunately does not include comparisons with a more benign
alternative scenario in which the public sector could plan and create, using
existing land and further land publicly acquired, a fine coastal park that
would cater to the future larger population expected on the large areas
further inland, leaving the coastal area free of the inevitably damaging
residential, commercial and quasi-industrial development proposed. Amendment C71 to the Wyndham Planning Scheme: The unprecedented
use of the Planning Scheme to legitimize and facilitate the excessive
transformation of large areas of foreshore and sea at Werribee South for a
huge marina-cum-residential development is to be deplored. It is recommended
that the amendment be abandoned in favour of the more environmentally
protective types of amendment referred to above. Support for Western Region Environment Centre Submission: Port Phillip
Conservation Council Inc. generally supports the submission lodged by the
Western Region Environment Centre. Yours
sincerely, Geoffrey
Goode President Port
Phillip Conservation Council Inc. cc.
Hon. John Thwaites MLA, Hon. Rob Hulls MLA, Hon.
Phil Honeywood MLA, Mr Ted Baillieu
MLA, MLCs
for Melbourne West and Geelong, MLAs for Lara, Tarneit and Altona, Wyndham
City Councillors, Western Region Environment Centre, Werribee Times,
Werribee Banner |
|
