Cr Cox brought up the motion to leave the UGB as it is.
By Mara Pattison-Sowden
YARRA Ranges Council has decided to leave the Urban Growth Boundary as it is, despite a number of areas in the shire pushing for changes.
Not all councillors were happy with the decision to support the UGB without amendments, with the vote a five-four majority at last Tuesday’s council meeting.
Councillors Jeanette McRae, Len Cox, Noel Cliff, Tim Heenan and Samantha Dunn supported the decision, saying there was clear intent the broader community was happy with the Yarra Ranges as it was.
But councillors Terry Avery, Chris Templer, Richard Higgins and Mayor Graham Warren acknowledged although there was no need for big changes, there were anomalies that needed fixing.
“We do have issues with anomalies in our area…we need to do a small body of work to address those,” Cr Avery said.
Cr Templer said the motion was just about “making a statement”.
“It seems to be a mute point – we’re no longer being asked and they (the State Government) have moved on without us,” he said.
“In terms of growth and the future of towns in the area, the status quo is not sustainable over time.
Cr Len Cox brought up the issue as a councillor motion, as he felt there was a fair degree of confusion in the community.
“To me, there doesn’t need to be any further fiddling at all,” he said.
Cr Cox said he didn’t want to see tourism suffer if the shire was to become “masses of suburbia”.
“We’re an outer Melbourne suburban area that doesn’t have this massive growth, and I wouldn’t think we’d want an 8 per cent growth like our neighbours Cardinia,” he said.
“I want the municipality to stay as it is, and that is sustainable.”
But groups like Coldstream 2020 will continue to push for changes to allow development of green wedge land around the town.
