Call for action on sustainable planning

A call for Baw Baw Shire Council to quickly progress an action plan to implement its Environmental Sustainability Strategy adopted last year will be the focus of a meeting at Yarragon on Thursday night.

The meeting, organised by the Baw Baw Sustainability Network, will focus on planning for new residential estates throughout the shire.

It’s not just about the growth in the major towns of Warragul and Drouin but also smaller centres such as Yarragon, Longwarry, Trafalgar and Neerim South where develpment is also happening and new subdivisions are planned, BBSN’s vice-president and head of its advocacy sub-committee Inge Mitchell said.

Local consultant planner Jan Cussen will be guest speaker.

Baw Baw mayor Annemarie McCabe has indicated she will attend as an observer and the shire’s director and manager of planning have also stated they will attend and are prepared to take part in general discussions but declined to make addresses, Ms Mitchell said. I’d like all councillors to attend, she added. Ms Mitchell said an action plan by council incorporating a Sustainable Subdivisions Framework (SSF) and an Ecologically Sustainable Design for Built Environments (ESD) to suit climate change and enable people to prepare for and cope with climate emergencies was a priority.

Twenty-one Victorian councils have joined a Councils Alliance for a Sustainable Built Environment that incorporates SDF and ESD in their planning, but Baw Baw is not one of them.

Bass Coast is the only one of the six Gippsland Local Government Association that is a member of the alliance.

Ms Mitchell said there was a need for Baw Baw to pick up on practical solutions.

“It doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel and state government funding is available to help,” she said.

The goals of the eight-year strategy adopted last year by council after working with its Environmental Voice Advisory Committee are to reduce energy use and emissions, create sustainable and resilient communities, protect the natural environment and develop a circular (recycling) economy.

Ms Mitchell said the aim of Thursday’s meeting, starting at 7pm at the Yarragon Uniting Church Hall, was to make the community, council and its officers more aware of planning methods that can improve people’s lifestyles.

Members of the public interested in attending can book their places at www.bbsn.org. au/events