Green Wedge Councils are required by the State Government to prepare a Green Wedge Management Plan and to review it periodically. Nillumbik’s GWMP is in two parts, the first containing descriptive and background information and the second focussing on actual management, and containing a list of actions for the council to undertake. Both parts are available as light reading on the Council’s website.
There are 113 actions listed on the GWMP, dating from 2011 when the plan was created. In 2015 the then Council commissioned Glossop Town Planners to review the GWMP, which they did with the help of Council Officers and a committee which included Councillors and community members. It reviewed the entire list of actions, acknowledging those completed, assessing some as impractical and reconfiguring others, in short bringing the GWMP up to date. This report was received by Council but never made public, and nor was the GWMP itself updated to reflect the review. If you’re interested you can read the Glossop report here.
Earlier this year the current Council launched its own GWMP review. The initial and a major component of the project is a community consultation phase, including a randomly selected community panel, meetings with ‘landowners’, a community survey and a several community group workshops. A timeline for the project is here.
The Green Wedges are always under threat from development, but there are signs that the threats are increasing, including from our own Council, as witnessed by their actions in relation to 2 Pigeon Bank Road, North Warrandyte, and their new draft plan, which manages to avoid any reference to their own Green Wedge. The Green Wedges are protected by the planning provisions, not by the GWMPs. Nevertheless, it is possible that a GWMP review could give rise to proposed planning scheme amendments which would then be considered at State Government level.
So if we want Green Wedge protections to be strengthened rather than eroded, we should make sure our thoughts and views are known by participating in the Council’s community consultation process.
- First, respond to the Council’s online survey.
- Second, attend a Council consultation session. There’s a ‘Workshop’ scheduled for next Monday, 18th June at the Eltham Community Centre. It’s from 10 am till 12pm, but attend if you can – if there are too few registrations it may not proceed. For details and to register go here.
- And last, when your household receives its invitation to join the Community Panel, consider putting yourself forward.