Plan Melbourne Discussion Paper (2015)

The future of the Green Wedges is vital to the quality of life andthe reputation of Melbourne asone of the world’s most liveable cities.

Yet the Green Wedges are in danger of disappearing from both the ongoing encroachment ofurban development and more insidiously a gradual increase in built development under uses permissible under existing nonurban zoning. These could lead to ‘death by a thousand cuts’.

The end result if this is allowed to continue to happen will be the destruction of the vision of the urban form for Melbourne first set in place in strategic planning for metropolitan area in the 1970’s recognising the need to contain  the urban sprawl avoiding a future metropolis of seemingly endless suburbia.

There have been two major planning events that have formed the shape of Melbourne in modern times. These are:

• In the 1970’s, the original vision of the Green Wedges of the Late R J Hamer and its incorporation into the Melbourne Metropolitan Strategic Plan; and
• In 2002, the formal recognition and protection of the Green Wedges in Melbourne 2030.

The Green Wedge Coalition wants to see Plan Melbourne (2106) enable the third visionary step that will see the achievement of a permanent Urban Growth Boundary, with no further provision for the expansion of the present UGB, and the revision of the Victorian Planning Provisions to ensure the maintenance and enhancement of the rural landscapes that characterisies the openness of the Green Wedges as a key driver for future decisions on land use and development.

See the attachement for the reminder of the submission