Residents ask council for environmental planning

Environmental planning needs to be a priority of Baw Baw Shire in dealing with increasing growth, according to a number of community members who addressed a special council meeting last week.

Four people addressed council’s budget submissions meeting on Wednesday night, calling on council to invest in strategic environmental planning.

The community members said council needed to allocate money in the 2019/20 budget for planning strategies that would give priority to, and protect the shire’s natural assets.

Chris Healy told council said council and the community faced a battle to save the soul of Baw Baw.

Mr Healy said council needed to allocate funding in its budget to planning scheme amendments and environmental planning strategies to ensure the “environmental vandalism” of past residential developments was not repeated.

“We had assurances the Crystal Waters estate fiasco would not be repeated.

“Once these 200 to 300-year-old trees are gone, they are gone for good.

“Until we put a dollar value on the trees, then they are just being removed. If we had an $800,000 asset (stand of trees), then it can’t be removed,” he said.

On behalf of the Friends of Drouin’s Trees group, Judy Farmer said Drouin was losing the “things of value in its natural environment at an alarming rate.”

Ms Farmer said there was a lack of planning controls for tree protection and lack of environmental strategic planning.

She said the system was geared towards maximum houses on land, minimum block sizes and developers who in the past ran the show. “The world is not just about economics and if we are to have healthy communities and healthy people, natural environment needs to be one of the key pillars of this shire.

“Where is the budget allocation for strategic forward thinking environmental planning?

“Where is the budget allocation for statutory plans which put natural environment first, such that all built form is built around the environmental assets?” she said.

Ms Farmer said without policies or regulations, things like the Precinct Structure Plans showed green corridors as pretty green dots on paper that had no enforcement or protection.

“We live in one of the most beautiful and biodiverse places in Australia and we seem to be content with removing our natural treasures and planting houses, bitumen and concrete,” she said.

Joan McColl, who also presented to council last year, said she felt like she had been talking about trees for years and nothing had changed.

“Maybe people don’t understand the value of trees. I would like to see a complete tree strategy. Moonee Valley, Melbourne and Maroondah councils all have tree strategies.

“My voice is not making any difference,” she said.

Pat Turner told councillors their vision and environmental statements were “motherhood statements.”

She said funds needed to be allocated to preparing planning scheme amendments that would protect the environment.

Ms Turner said councillors voted unanimously to reject a housing development in Monica Drv last year, that was later overruled by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

She said she wanted to see a planning scheme that allowed council to refuse applications on environmental grounds.

“Development will continue but surely it can be managed without destroying what we have,” she said.