http://www.theage.com.au/national/developers-lobby-shifted-freeway-route-20091004-ghwc.html

A NEW ring road planned around outer Melbourne was shifted almost two kilometres west after lobbying by property developers, including a company half-owned by Ron Walker.

When the ring road's first alignment was released earlier this year, it was to run close to Caroline Springs.

Four months after the Government released that first proposed alignment for the ring road, Planning Minister Justin Madden announced it would be shifted 1.7 kilometres west.

This was because, Mr Madden said, "we now know the grasslands are not as prolific in this area as originally thought".



Rosemary West from the Green Wedges Coalition said the ring road had been shifted west "because a number of property developers speculated on land within the green wedges".

http://www.theage.com.au/national/letters/

An amendment too far

THE Brumby Government has finally become more arrogant than the Kennett government in its treatment of the Victorian people.

The Planning Minister has gone too far in his handling of changes in the positioning of the new ring road to appease his developer mates. The lack of open government is appalling, along with the lack of consultation with the people adversely affected by their decisions.

Living in an urban growth area, I have experienced first-hand the lack of consultation and misinformation from this Government. It took a long time before Justin Madden was prepared to meet members of Taxed Out, the lobby group opposed to the Growth Areas Infrastructure Contribution (tax). I don't think he had realised just how organised we are.

There needs to be an independent inquiry into the powers wielded by this Government. It is a law unto itself and does all it can to help big business, at the peril of anyone who gets in its way. The Brumby Government is more Liberal than Labor; it is completely out of touch with its grassroots members. John Brumby may well go down in history as the best Liberal premier that Labor ever had. Hopefully, also, the Premier who never got elected.

H.H, Officer

Developers required to conform to new regulations to cut Melbourne sprawl
Matt Johnston From: Herald Sun October 07, 2009 12:00AM

MELBURNIANS will have to live in smaller houses on smaller blocks as authorities try to stop the spread of McMansions and improve the city's transport networks.

Developers will be required to fit 15 homes to a hectare in our fastest-growing suburbs.

And they will have to show potential buyers how far they will have to travel to schools and jobs.

The tough new planning guidelines aim to create vibrant communities and local employment rather than empty, sprawling suburbs.

The guidelines will be launched by Planning Minister Justin Madden to enable councils and planners to create master plans for new precincts of more than 3000 homes.

The guidelines are not legally binding but will assist planning approvals.

In areas such as Casey-Cardinia, Hume, Whittlesea, Melton and Wyndham, developers will be expected to provide a mix of homes including one-person units and home/offices.

Developers also will be encouraged to ensure people who move to growth suburbs can walk to local centres, transport and jobs to reduce reliance on cars.

Mr Madden said the plan was to create communities rather than housing, so families could raise children and work locally.

The State Government wants to see more community-based plans for large-scale developments to stop "dormitory suburbs".

Planning experts have slammed urban sprawl and called for higher density living to create sustainable housing.

Developers will be required to prepare an "employment statement" showing the number and type of jobs forecast for new communities.

Growth Areas Authority chief executive Peter Seamer said the guidelines built on interim guidelines set up in 2006. Apart from a "journey to work" statement, "The guidelines will also bring native vegetation and cultural heritage into the mainstream planning process to ensure protection of bush land and indigenous cultural heritage."

They also must set out how public space will be used and when community infrastructure, such as schools, will be available to residents.

What a joke Mad Dog Madden is.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26179937-5006785,00.html

MELBOURNE'S sprawling outer belt of McMansions is worse than the Gold Coast and second only to Sydney in terms of poorly integrated planning, according to a leading urban academic.

The University of Melbourne's Carolyn Whitzman said the new Victorian government guidelines released yesterday did not go far enough, and warned that the construction of sprawling suburbs would continue.

"We may be building the slums of tomorrow in the growth areas of today," she said.

State Planning Minister Justin Madden said the new guidelines would specify a minimum of 15 houses per hectare in new developments, and that estates must be built within walking distance of transport and local centres.

But Dr Whitzman said the government had had 10 years to tackle suburban sprawl, and had failed so far.

"Melbourne is probably not doing worse than Sydney, but then Sydney is a bit of a basketcase," she said.

It was a stupid idea to begin with, was this Mad Dog's "important work" that he had to concentrat on while corruption flourished in his own office? No, it was just more bullshit from the Mad Dog and filthy bastards in the ALP Unity faction.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/justin-madden-backflip-on-suburbs-tax/story-e6frf7kx-1225787705026

A REBELLION within the state Labor Party has forced Planning Minister Justin Madden into a backflip on the controversial growth areas tax.

After major opposition from community groups, farmers and local Labor MPs, Mr Madden reversed the $95,000-a-hectare tax on land in Melbourne's new suburbs so that it will now be paid by property developers rather than landowners.

The Victorian Labor Party is in terminal decline.

You can smell the stench of the rotting carcasses.

I don't understand how Justin Madden can call that what he does "important work". It's all willy nilly and back to front, more to do with political expediency than proper planning, which died ages ago.

peee-ew. wrote:
The Victorian Labor Party is in terminal decline.

You can smell the stench of the rotting carcasses.Can hardly wait for georges Book to come out.The stench from smelly corner[western ring road corner]will smell like roses.

Running rings around Madden. Have you noticed? Justin? See how it goes? Where's the "important work" now, Justin? Stop fiddling with yourself mate and do something to clean up your filthy party. Or you can piss off.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/madden-kept-in-dark-over-docklands-megatavern-20091028-hl0f.html

PLANNING Minister Justin Madden will investigate his own department after it failed to inform him of a controversial application for a 750-person tavern at Docklands until after the planning approval had been granted.

Despite his late knowledge of the decision, Mr Madden said it was the correct one and added the venue was "more an entertainment venue on the basis of eating and dining".



What a moron.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/brumby-government-approves-nightclub-with-room-for-1500-revellers/story-e6frf7jo-1225792226840

A NIGHTCLUB with room for 1500 revellers has been given the green light, shredding the Brumby Government's tough stand on liquor licensing and violence on the streets.

Melbourne's hard-core party scene is expected to turn up in droves when Neverland nightclub opens in South Melbourne next month.

And local police fear the massive party venue will result in more sex assaults, late-night violence and drug offences.

How is Mad Dog Madden, eh?

First he claims not to know anything about rampant corruption in his own office, now he claims not to know what his department is doing.

And this from the guy who wants to be premier of Victoria.

Once upon a time, comedies would have been written about jerks like him.

This guy doesn't even know what his own department is doing.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/thats-it-for-sprawl-madden-20091110-i7k5.html

MELBOURNE'S urban-growth boundary will not be moved again "in my lifetime", state Planning Minister Justin Madden has predicted.



"This is the third time they have made this promise, originally it was made by [former premier] Steve Bracks," Associate Professor Buxton said.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/parliament-move-to-block-urban-expansion-20091111-i9yl.html

A HUGE expansion of Melbourne's urban boundary is expected to be held up by State Parliament, with the Opposition and Greens poised to block the move.

It is believed the Opposition will oppose the new growth areas tax of $95,000 a hectare on new land brought inside Melbourne's urban boundary and is prepared to block the tax even if it means halting the urban expansion.

Greg Barber of the Greens said his party was unlikely to support the movement of the urban growth boundary or the new growth areas tax before "much further scrutiny".

On Thursday, 12 November 2009 notices were given of the following motions:

MR O’DONOHUE — To move —
That this House —
(1) notes that on 3 June 2009, this House expressed its lack of confidence in the Minister for Planning;
(2) notes that this House has not expressed a lack of confidence in a Minister since 1989; and
(3) calls on the Treasurer to respect the will and role of the Legislative Council, and requests that he, as Leader of the Government, works with the Premier to terminate the Ministerial position and responsibilities held by the Minister for Planning.

Poor Justin can't get a thing right.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/car-use-driven-by-lack-of-trains-buses-20091120-iqyq.html

FAMILIES in suburbs with poor access to trains, trams or high-frequency buses are being forced to buy a car for every adult, a new study of car ownership has found.

A railway down the centre of the Eastern Freeway was a good idea, she said. The State Government has ruled out rail lines to both Rowville and Doncaster.

The Eastern Transport Coalition, a local government lobby group, argues that a considerable gap has emerged in access to public transport in Melbourne's east. "If we're serious about reducing the use of cars, the Government needs to get serious about providing better options," the group's chairwoman, Samantha Dunn, a Yarra Ranges Shire councillor, said.

It can be done, comrades, IT CAN BE DONE.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/st-kilda-triangle-plan-scrapped-20091207-kfc4.html


ST KILDA'S embattled $400 million triangle project is no more. Almost a decade since planning work commenced on the remake of the prized seaside site, Port Phillip Council has abandoned the project at a cost of $5 million.

"The proposed development will be terminated, absolutely, from now," said Mayor Frank O'Connor in an interview with The Age last night.

Madden thinks he can keep stuffing up with his planning experiments. But Rudd has taken a swipe.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/rudd-signals-greater-role-in-capital-cities-planning/story-e6frg6nf-1225807981015

STATE governments and local councils will have to commit to better standards of planning in capital cities to qualify for future federal infrastructure funding.

The standards will cover traffic management, economic development and housing affordability, with a focus on ensuring new urban development is better linked to transport, jobs and services.

The infrastucture of corruption is being laid one brick at a time.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/privatisation-fears-over-planning-20091210-km96.html

THE State Government has been accused of moving to privatise Victoria's planning laws under proposed changes that could see developers performing planning duties now done by council staff.

"In effect, what you are doing is privatising the very fundamentals in terms of the planning of our city," the Planning Institute of Australia's Victorian president, David Vorchheimer, said.

He said the changes would reduce transparency and accountability and were "fundamentally fraught with the possibility of corruption and abuse - it is not one of those things you would seek to encourage in terms of getting a better outcome for all of our community".

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/contributors/planning-is-about-communities-not-power-20091214-krva.html

The idea is simple but profoundly misguided in this case. It goes something like: getting planning approvals through more quickly will free up development, more housing "product" will be on the market; prices will go down or at least stay stable in our population boom; everyone is happy.

However, this gross simplification of economists' perfect competition model ignores the realities of human settlements

the elephant in this planning room is why we would even want to produce increasingly economically and socially unfair, and ecologically unsound, cities and regions more quickly.

Mad Dog Madden wrote:


http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/contributors/planning-is-about-communities-not-power-20091214-krva.html

The idea is simple but profoundly misguided in this case. It goes something like: getting planning approvals through more quickly will free up development, more housing "product" will be on the market; prices will go down or at least stay stable in our population boom; everyone is happy.

However, this gross simplification of economists' perfect competition model ignores the realities of human settlements

the elephant in this planning room is why we would even want to produce increasingly economically and socially unfair, and ecologically unsound, cities and regions more quickly.


]

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/contributors/planning-is-about-communities-not-power-20091214-krva.html


This guy knows what Mad Dog is doing to the liveability of both existing and new communities.

And dont we know how the Planning Act despite its Objectives calling for it to do so, ignores social impact.

....."....However, more recent challenges have reminded us that trust in good government cannot be based on blind faith, particularly as environmental and social concerns emerge as core Australian planning problems. Our tradition of democratic government has been supported and improved by exercising the ability to question and examine the way government works, along with carefully organised agencies, run by public minded bureaucrats and planners. However, this ability to scrutinise is being eroded.

In all Australian states, including Victoria, social differences between those who have and have not are increasing to unprecedented levels, along various lines of housing stress, income, access to basic services, transport, health, and education. Put simply, the Tooraks are better off, while the Noble Parks, if the middle classes have even heard of them, are worse off....."....