According to the constant Council propaganda regarding development, what is happening in Glen Eira is not unique and has got nothing whatsoever to do with the new zones. It’s all part of a universal ‘building boom’. To support this notion, officer reports (ably supported by Hyams and others) have cited building approval figures as the conclusive proof. Unfortunately for Council, the facts do not support the spin!
Below is an Australian Bureau of Statistics table providing the data on building approvals for the 2014/15 financial year to date. (ie to March 2015). Please remember that building permits usually come AFTER planning permits. Thus the figures below for Glen Eira do NOT include the countless additional permits granted for the Residential Growth Zones and the General Residential Zones or those land banking sites that have been sitting idle for eons. Other points that influence the figures presented below are:
- Moreland, Moonee Valley and several other municipalities decided to apply to the Residential Zones Standing Advisory Committee to introduce their zones. The committee refused to support these council’s proposed amendments and thus these municipalities were left in limbo – unable to introduce their desired zoning. On 1st July these councils had the General Residential Zones automatically imposed on them. Some amendments are still waiting approval. Glen Eira of course rushed its new zones in secretly and they became ‘law’ on the 23rd August 2013 providing ‘certainty’ to developers that they could get their 3 and 4 storey multi unit developments in immediately.
- Stonnington has had many building permits. However, Stonnington has 6.2% of its municipality designated as Commercial. Glen Eira has roughly 2.2%. Hence much of Stonnington’s development has occurred in these commercial areas. Boroondara and Yarra also have a huge percentage zoned C1Z.
- Port Phillip is in the unique situation of having Capital City Zone status for part of its land – plus 4 major activity centres and miles of Mixed Use Zoning – especially along Bay Street, St. Kilda Road etc.
- Glen Eira is NOT an ‘inner suburban’ municipality such as Port Phillip, Stonnington, Yarra, etc.
- Other councils have had more building permits issued than Glen Eira. However, readers need to look at the ‘nature’ of these new buildings. Many are for single houses. In Glen Eira the vast majority (ie ratio of 5:1) has occurred as multi-unit development – courtesy of the new zones.
- The Lobo request for a report of a little while back unfortunately did not ask for figures on Commercial and Mixed Use zones. This is vital to glean a full picture of what is happening – especially when an application can come in for 2 token shops and 100+ units on top! Thus far very little development has occurred in Glen Eira’s commercial centres when compared to what is happening in the growth and general residential zones. It is these two latter zonings which are taking the full brunt of over-development in our view – again thanks to the zones! This must again cast doubt on the spin and efficacy of commercial centres providing the bulk of development.
- The final point that requires consideration is the number of new dwellings per municipality and the size of the municipality. For example: Boroondara, Kingston, Manningham and plenty of others are double or triple the size of Glen Eira. Erecting 1000 new dwellings in municipalities such as these, compared to Glen Eira will in all probability have a limited impact on overall DENSITY. In Glen Eira, the impact will be far worse, with the resultant loss of environmental and social amenity.
We’ve uploaded the full EXCEL spreadsheet HERE and provided a summary of the data below. We urge readers to do their own comparisons with other councils. We take no responsibility for the ‘totals’ as presented in these figures.
June 3, 2015 at 2:21 PM
Would anyone know if the Melbourne racing club has got a building permit yet for their 400 apartments. If they haven’t then the numbers are worser.
June 3, 2015 at 3:09 PM
Don’t know. Permit let them start on infrastructure straight off. Cranes now working away. Not a tree or blade of grass in sight.
June 3, 2015 at 5:49 PM
Proportion of houses to flats is one of the highest according to this data. That’s the important stat and will change Glen Eira forever. No more “green and gregarious”. More blue and concrete.
June 3, 2015 at 7:22 PM
notice there is another planning permission application to expand the casino at Caulfield Racecourse by the MRC with as far as we know no lease. Also see the following
http://www.danbymp.com/press-releases/2183-after-100-years-let-public-access-caulfield-racecourse.html
June 4, 2015 at 8:31 AM
The “Lobo Dwellings Report” (LDR) was delayed inordinately and 3 months of dwelling statistics not shown (deliberately?). On the hindsight you may be write that the report should have shown “Commercial and Mixed use zones. It is now on to Hon Richard Wynn to cease the zones and start from ABC.
June 4, 2015 at 10:32 AM
Lobo should ask agin and this time spell it out completely. I also reckon it’s not up to Wynn to do the planning but council. Anon is dead right. The wait and see is not going to get anywhere. Time for doing things is now and that is up to councillors to insist and get the ball rolling. If they don’t then they are responsible for what’s happening.
June 4, 2015 at 10:49 AM
Councillors are already responsible – the only question is what and when they are going to do something about it.
June 4, 2015 at 8:41 AM
The statistics supplied by Council have been shown to be incorrect (ie. understated) many times and complaints about their accuracy have fallen on the deaf ears of both Council and the State Planning Department that uses them for a multitude of planning purposes.
BUT even with a low credibility factor, the statistics tell a damming story.
I think it’s a line ball call as to identifying the main culprit – is it
a) Council’s total failure to implement any of the planning tools it promised to implement when the Housing Diversity/Minimal Change policy was introduced (2002) or
b) Council’s implementation of the zones which were supposedly a “direct and neutral translation” of the 2002 Housing Diversity/Minimal change policy only this time they omitted any pointless promises and community consultation.
WHATEVER!!! When the two combine the time for finger pointing is over and the priority becomes a case finding and applying the appropriate fix then secondly how best to ensure the same mistakes are not repeated in the future.
Yet this Council has decided to adopt a “wait and see approach” rather than making it a priority. It’s no wonder residents are beginning to wonder what Council has to “see” before it does anything and where “wait and see” fits within the good planning and traffic management principles Council claims it practices.
June 5, 2015 at 7:59 PM
The fundamentals of proper planning have not changed as suggested by anon in a). It is time to do some proper structure planning. The first step should be to restrict developments to commercial zones only, so that not only residential but shop strip trading is developed. After all that was the original idea behind Activity Centres. That idea and policy has totally failed in Glen Eira. Just ask traders. Time to change Councillors.
June 5, 2015 at 9:26 PM
time to change the whole damn lot including senior officers