Planning for the Community
Its 2019. Almost two decades after a local member said
“there is the question of upgrading the necessary infrastructure if the site were to be devoted to housing development. For example, Point Cook Road—the road that links the base with the major freeway, the Princes Freeway—is in no way capable of taking extra traffic and is under standard for the volume of traffic that it currently is required to cater for. ”
Julia Gillard [1]
At times I point things like this issue on social media. Oddly though fans of the major parties will come out to defend them or try to say the issue does not exist.
But we live in it. We deal with the slog all the time. We stress over school places. For those of us with teens in the home, we wonder where the local jobs will come for them. Getting around our piece of Melbourne is getting harder and harder.
Deflection only works if there is a possibility of hyperbole or exaggeration.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Point Cook has been poorly planned in the past. Its not hyperbole to say the lessons that should have been learned have gone unheeded. It is not hyperbolic to stress the real lack of local employment here. The State Government and its raft of PSP’s are causing undue pressure on our community.
Trying to avoid that, is just avoiding the problem.
I’ve said it before, political powers elected by the people of Wyndham, Altona and the West, have progressively failed to address fundamental issues of the region.
Point Cook is an incredible community, but it still is lacking local Employment Opportunities, Police Presence, Secondary Schools, Recreational Facilities, and Transport Infrastructure. That is not to say some inroads have not occurred, just look at all the road works right now.
But that is a band aid when we need surgery.
A lesson needs to be learned by government and those in its employ. Development must be sustainable. Impacts on the environment, heritage, infrastructure, services, and the community as a whole, must be addressed. Roads and Transport issues need to be taken into account.
Councils MUST be able to push a “pause growth button”. Give them the ability to for services to catch up.
Internet access for some Westies still remains an issue, with people using 3G internet or dial-up connections. Simply because the availability of NBN or ADSL ports had fallen short of the demand brought by population growth. “The area is a complete and utter internet black hole and will remain so until they throw some money at it, but it seems they don’t want to. It beggars belief,” [2]
Basic internet, unable to cope with the rapid growth of the region. Growth driven out here due to our government (both State and Federal). It is as if the left hand not only does not talk to the right hand, its as if they are on totally separate bodies, on different planets.
Developers must ensure that services are available (and accessible) to each lot of an estate. If they cannot do that, then they must disclose what is not available (and what time-frames to expect for connections).
The long term issues this poor planning could cause is not to be taken lightly. “NEW suburbs in Melbourne are so poorly designed that residents face an epidemic of chronic diseases such as obesity and depression that will cost the health system millions of dollars, a state government inquiry has been told. Councils in outer growth areas say soaring populations have outstripped their ability to provide basic infrastructure such as public transport, parks and medical services, and are creating ”obesogenic” environments that promote weight gain.” [3]
Roads and services must be designed to address the future needs of the community, not address a shortcoming from two decades ago. It is totally unfair on not just our community, but the peoples to come. Especially when you realize, that in two decades Wyndham will go from 270,000 people to 490,000. [4]
The excuse “the growth was unexpected!” is just not true.
Sources:
[1] http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id=chamber%2Fhansardr%2F2000-04-10%2F0111;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansardr%2F2000-04-10%2F0000%22
[2] http://www.wyndham.starweekly.com.au/story/294577/nbn-rollout-point-cook-stuck-in-internet-black-hole/
[3] http://news.domain.com.au/domain/health-fear-on-estates-20120314-1v3lw.html
[4] https://forecast.id.com.au/wyndham