Housing boost

By Kelly Yates
THOUSANDS of new homes are set to be built as part of a massive increase in the Casey-Cardinia growth corridor.
The Urban Growth Zone, a State Government initiative will rezone large areas of farmland for residential development in order to ease the rapid population growth.
Premier John Brumby announced the plan on Tuesday.
“Victoria’s population boom is placing pressure on land supply, and we are taking action to meet demand for zoned land.
“The reforms I am announcing will cut the time it takes to prepare land for development by more than 12 months,” Mr Brumby said.
Five growth corridors with tens of thousands of new home sites will be created around Melbourne under a State Government strategy to tackle housing affordability and cope with the city’s population growth.
This is one of the biggest land releases in the city’s history.
Cranbourne MP Jude Perera welcomed the decision.
He said the creation of the new zone in growth areas within the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB), such as the City of Casey, would help speed up residential development in the area and contribute to the Government maintaining a 10-year supply of zoned land.
Shadow Minister for Planning MP Matthew Guy said the decision that all land within the Urban Growth Boundary be rezoned residential was a panicked admission that Labor’s Melbourne 2030 document had failed.
He said Melbourne had been in a deep housing affordability crisis for the past seven years.
“The Premier’s land release announcement is far too late,” he said. Mr Guy said for the Premier to decide that all land within the UGB should be immediately zoned residential indicated the Government had been misleading Victorians for the past 25 years by claiming Melbourne had enough land.
“The land to be rezoned is not new land; it is land that was always meant for residential growth.”
He said Melbourne risked losing its title of Australia’s most livable city if they didn’t plan ahead to grow in a sustainable manner.