Labor’s move to add hundreds more units and apartment blocks to Whitehorse streets

The Victorian Labor Party’s decision to oppose urban regeneration at Fisherman’s Bend will see hundreds of apartments built along quiet neighborhood streets in the Whitehorse Municipality, State Members of Parliament for Mitcham, Box Hill and Forest Hill said today.

The Fisherman’s Bend urban renewal project is the largest of its kind in Australia and will be home to tens of thousands of residents, taking the pressure for high density, high rise development off existing suburbs.

“The Labor opposition is trying to use State Parliament to reverse the rezoning for the Fisherman’s Bend precinct, threatening a return to the Justin Madden Melbourne 2030 approach of building high rise, high density development in every suburb,” Member for Box Hill, Robert Clark said.

Member for Mitcham Dee Ryall said that this reckless approach from the Labor opposition would have a direct impact upon Whitehorse if it was passed by the parliament.

“If Labor scraps the Fisherman’s Bend urban renewal project, it would see a huge increase in high rise, high density apartment blocks in local neighbourhood streets,” Ms Ryall said.

“The Justin Madden bulldozer is back, this time with Daniel Andrews at the wheel.

The Baillieu Government’s Fisherman’s Bend urban renewal vision is worth almost $2 billion to the Victorian economy in its first ten years. The 240 hectare precinct would generate thousands of construction jobs and take massive pressure off development in existing suburbs.

“The Baillieu Government is committed to making the planning system better, simpler and fairer,” Member for Forest Hill, Neil Angus said.

“We are ensuring that urban renewal has its place and planning zones are reformed. We are also ensuring that while high rise, high density development proceeds, it does so in suitable areas that are known and identified by the community.”