At tonight’s Bayside Council meeting, councillors will decide on the draft Bayside Housing Strategy as well as the draft Information Sheets which will form the first part of community consultation on their Planning Scheme Review. We’ve decided to highlight this strategy since it stands in stark contrast to the Glen Eira approach to planning. There are several things that readers need to note:

  • The Glen Eira Housing and Residential Strategy dates back a decade. It’s genesis is even earlier. Yet the amendment which this precipitated still stands. The jargon includes ‘structure plans’ – yet no structure plans have ever been devised.
  • With the C25 amendment, Glen Eira earmarked 20% of the municipality as ripe for development.  The Planning Scheme [clause 24.04(1)] states: “Over the next 20 years, the City will undergo moderate population growth and will see a continued decline in household sizes”. This has not been adequately reviewed to determine whether the assumption still holds a decade later. Glen Eira has in fact already outstripped its projected population figures. Yet, the consequences of such a policy are rampant high density living in more than 20% of the municipality. According to the 2009/10 annual Report (page 71), only 40% of new dwellings are being located in the so called ‘housing diversity areas’. Instead of protecting neighbourhoods, there is now basically open slather.
  • Glen Eira’s approach is reactive – that is, developers submit proposals, rather than developers having to fit in with clearly designated Structure Plans that govern growth, and development
  • Glen Eira’s policies are piecemeal. There is a real failure to fully integrate, and take account of such basics as: ESD, Open Space; health and wellbeing; etc.

By way of comparison to the above points, we would like readers to note that the Bayside strategy works in completely different, and we contend, better ways. Firstly, their starting point has always been carefully researched and developed structure plans for activity centres that have been endorsed by the community following bone fide consultation. Bayside also concentrates on population growth, not just housing stock, and finally the imperative to incorporate community sentiments via their Community Plan is given major prominence. Glen Eira of course does not have a ‘real’ community plan. It only has a Council Plan. The Bayside diagram below illustrates the interconnection of all these facets –

Your comments are welcome.