Council can continue with its spin all it likes, but the reality is that development in Glen Eira is outstripping practically every other municipality apart from perhaps the CBD!
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has today released its latest building permit approvals for the current financial year – that is from July to the end of October – 4 months worth of data! Glen Eira is streaks ahead of every other municipality and when size, open space, existing density, and the number of single houses being built as opposed to apartments is taken into account, then we are indeed in dire straits. Yet council is proposing to make it even more attractive for developers by opening up huge areas for 12 storey developments and rezoning hundreds upon hundreds of Neighbourhood Residential zoned sites to both GRZ and RGZ.
These stats (ABS DATA UPLOADED HERE) DON’T LIE! Glen Eira is hell bent on becoming the development capital of the south and probably the west!
Glen Eira Debates 
December 7, 2017 at 12:13 PM
Terrifying. None of the Councillors will be able to lie straight in bed if they continue on with this pro-development propaganda. NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
December 7, 2017 at 12:22 PM
Jesus, more than double and close to triple our neighbours. Unbelievable. This is without the 3000 plus for Virginia park and the rest of Caulfield village too. Stop this now councillors and work for residents not developers.
December 7, 2017 at 12:51 PM
This is an indictment of our council on multiple fronts including sustainability. The council is elected by the residents to represent their constituents & not as lobbyists & advocates of the developers. Start representing the interests of the residents Councillors!
December 7, 2017 at 1:38 PM
I shout corruption of process, corruption of council officers, and possible corruption of councillors, money talks; and there’s enough cash being made here in Glen Eira to grease all the wheels.
December 7, 2017 at 2:26 PM
A bewildering difference between Glen Eira and other councils which can only be explained by the failure of council to do anything positive and who knows what deals have already been made with developers.
December 7, 2017 at 4:29 PM
Dear Tony,
Congratulations on your appointment as the Mayor, an exciting year ahead. An independent and new perspective should be invaluable for confronting our key challenges. And yes, Glen Eira has some significant challenges as further highlighted by the latest ABS building permit approval numbers. These figures again reiterate the reasonable community concern that Glen Eira is growing at a very disturbing and unsustainable rate.
I understand that you have inherited this excessive and unplanned growth however unless it is slowed it will destroy the municipality that we have grown to love. We already have exceptionally high population density, rapid development rates and very low open space provision and hence have been very strongly pulling our weight in terms of Melbourne’s overall population growth. I am not in any way anti-development (I have several children that will want to live in a home somewhere) but am pleading for a balance to ensure liveability, long term sustainability and the right legacy.
Respectfully, what’s required is a counter-balance to address the weaknesses of the past. Firstly, a genuine acknowledgement of the current situation is fundamental to the move forward situation. Unfortunately, the ABS building approvals, which are consistent with last years, have not been highlighted in any of the research and reporting undertaken as part of the structure planning process. The projection of 9,000 new dwellings over 15 years is well and truly understated (unless controlled) and this is further confirmed by these ABS figures. I have requested on numerous occasions that Council project new dwellings numbers forward, including East Village, Caulfield Village, VC110 etc. but this has yet to be done. The Housing ID analysis, which is a research basis for Glen Eira planning, didn’t undertake this fundamental assessment. In summary, we need some real honesty and transparency, a good fair dinkum look in the mirror. Let the community know that you know, this is a message that hasn’t been received before.
Secondly, Glen Eira needs to implement appropriate controls and quickly. I understand and greatly respect that Council officers are working very hard on the structure planning process but it is counter-productive if Activity Centres are expanded, heights are discretionary, heights are excessive, public land is sold (or used) for further development and interim controls are weak. We are at a critical juncture where a counter-balance is required to offset the legacy. We need to get our planners to seriously assess the controls that are required to achieve fair and reasonable outcomes. Develop a clear and public action plan that demonstrates a strong commitment to this objective.
Thirdly the community needs strong advocacy and representation on this issue. All too often the justification has been about state government policy. I understand state government policy but the beauty (?) of Australia is that we have three tiers of government all of which has the power to play a role. I am not interested in the politics of this situation, as has been introduced by others, but a pragmatic and evidenced based approach. The evidence is clear that strong advocacy is justifiable and required and now is the last opportunity. In talking and listening to fellow residents, I believe that this situation is a very major issue in Glen Eira that is effecting people’s lives on a daily basis. It is also an opportunity to actively address the issues that we confront.
I have been fortunate to meet you on several occasions and believe that you are a person of exceptional integrity with a focus on community representation and advocacy. I appreciate that Rome wasn’t built in a day but implore you, in your role as a custodian, to actively address the culture and practices associated with development in Glen Eira and to do this with resolve, dedication and strong leadership. If you need any assistance to achieve the outcomes you can call on the people to support you. It is through the third space – the people (a term used by William Ury in Getting to Yes) that substantial and meaningful change can occur.
With respect and kind regards,
Warren Green.
Foot Note: I trust that any following responses from readers are very respectful to the Mayor.
December 7, 2017 at 4:54 PM
Admire your optimism Mr Green. Methinks it’s misplaced. Athanasopoulos’ voting record besides opposing the obvious isn’t anything to write home about. The ballot box for both state and local elections is a much better alternative and inducement for common sense to prevail.
December 7, 2017 at 5:03 PM
It’s now or never Macca, will vote accordingly also.
December 7, 2017 at 5:51 PM
Nice sensible letter. Here are my added suggestions for council.
1. Redo the entire housing figures making sure to spell out the impact of vc110 that is realistic.
2. Reveal now the proposed changes to zone schedules
3. Reveal draft MSS
4. Publish some decent traffic analysis based on future dwellings and population
5. Reveal cafe numbers and how many other businesses have gone bust in the past 5 years
6. Reveal new developer contribution rates for drainage, parking and open space
7. Reveal what you’re planning for neighbourhood centres aka activity centres. What heights will be imposed on these centres and when.
This is what I want to know and probably most of the Glen Eira population.
December 7, 2017 at 6:02 PM
Good points
December 7, 2017 at 8:00 PM
Warren – The Council does not acknowledge this Blog and if the mayor responds to your public letter and does something about it, it will confirm that he has mind of his own. It is then a confirmation that the Council reads this blog but denies they do not read/ Unfortunately, this blog does not go far enough to take matters up on behalf of the residents and the Council knows that it is just a paper tiger.
December 7, 2017 at 9:15 PM
The councillors do read this blog. Most of them are bootlickers just following the staff. They are intimidated. If you expect anything good you will be disappointed. The staff pump up their tyres and keep them onside. It is a craft passed on by public servants for hundreds of years.
December 7, 2017 at 9:24 PM
Really, why doesn’t Council acknowledge this blog? This is just straight reporting of the facts as they stand. I would have thought the use of evidence to under pin decision making is central to good governance. The blogs has had over 1M visits so there must be something in it? None of these are from Council?
December 7, 2017 at 9:35 PM
We remind readers of some of our previous posts which revealed that Magee, Hyams, Lobo and others were not only readers of the blog but contributors – for the most part anonymously, even though they took great delight in criticising those individuals (and authors) who chose to comment anonymously. Hypocrisy par excellence!
December 7, 2017 at 5:40 PM
Only other councils with higher total numbers are the growth areas like Casey and they get 90% of their development as houses not dog boxes. Terrific. We’re leading the state in lego land.
December 7, 2017 at 11:42 PM
The reasons some councillors dislike this blog is because it holds them accountable to what they say in public. Hyams and Magee and the past Green come Liberal Councillor Pilling were particularly strident with their criticism.
All three would make great long statement on how this was this, and that was that, only to come to the next council meeting and say the complete opposite.
As they say if you want to be a good liar it pays to have a good memory. All three of the above didn’t, and therefore hated their words being given back to them. Even the official minutes hide the the way they personally vote and still does, unless a councillor calls for a division and that only happens about three times a year. The system is built to hide there skullduggery.
Your Dear Tony letter is admirable and unfortunately this may be lost on Dear Tony as he is turning out to be a man of many words, sadly for a young man he also seems to suffer memory loss.
Cr. Esacoff know exactly what she say from one meeting to the next, because she just reads her words straight off the Agenda. I guess the reason being is she always has a factual account of what she says.
Glen Eira will be webcasting their general council meeting soon, so tune in as see what your Ward Councillor are up to. You maybe surprised to see and hear Dear Tony doesn’t support what was on his election material he spruiked about our town.
December 8, 2017 at 12:38 AM
Glen Eira numbers seem even higher when compared to Monash (second highest on the list). Monash is twice the size of GE and has lower density per hectare. See figures here:
Glen Eira:
Size: 39 sq. Km
population: 149,000
Density: 38.53 per hectare
Monash:
Size: 81 sq Km
Population: 192,850
Density 23.68 per hectare
Suspect Monash possibly has more ‘open space’ too.
December 8, 2017 at 6:56 AM
If the CEO did not read the blog she would not be doing her job. She should be across public feeling.