COUNCIL DIRECTOR DROPS APPLICATION
A CITY of Greater Geelong director has withdrawn a controversial planning application at a St Albans Park property which attracted the ire of neighbours.
Director of city services Guy Wilson-Browne, who has been employed by council since October 2017, purchased the property at 7-8 Oakwood Ridge in May 2018.
He wanted to subdivide the acreage-sized property into three lots, which upset residents who said it was out of character for the area.
Mr Wilson-Browne stated his address on the planning application as Cowes on Phillip Island.
Kevin Neville, whose home was built in 1995 and was one of the first homes built in the area, said the proposal was unprecedented.
“In a neighbourhood of low density living, a three-lot subdivision has never been approved and created within the area,” he said.
“I purchased my property in 1992 due to the attraction of low density living, which is the stance other property owners throughout the neighbourhood have.”
Mr Neville said a significant cypress tree, planted by the original owners of the St Albans Park horse stud, also existed on the property.
The owners of Phar Lap decided to relocate the horse away from Melbourne to St Albans Park for its own safety before the 1931 Melbourne Cup, the horse’s last race in Australia. Phar Lap’s stablemate Freeman is buried under the tree.
An application has been made to the National Trust and Heritage Victoria to protect the tree.
Another neighbour, Cinta Baker, was equally scathing of the proposal.
“We’ve been here 22 years and we were told right from the go that it was rural low density living,” she said. “Our neighbours have got 11 acres, there is a bloke that breeds cows and bulls about 200m from us, there is no high density at all in this area.”
In a letter to residents yesterday, council’s statutory planning co-ordinator Tim Webb said there had been a change of heart from Mr Wilson-Browne. “I wish to advise that the applicant has withdrawn the application and it will no longer be proceeding,” he wrote.
Mr Wilson-Browne declined to comment.