New hills houses slammed

By Tania Martin
KALLISTA environmentalist Jo Tenner says a local council has failed to see the importance of maintaining low levels of housing density in the Dandenong Ranges.
This comes as the Shire of Yarra Ranges adopted a number of recommendations as part of an issues paper on its proposed draft housing strategy.
The council was faced with a full-house last week as it adopted the paper.
However, despite the ongoing controversy over the strategy, the issues paper was passed with little dissent.
At an ordinary council meeting last Tuesday (24 June), shire director of planning building and health James Lamour-Reid rushed to reassure residents that the adoption of the paper was not the final stage of the housing strategy.
Mr Lamour-Reid said there was still a lot more consultation to be done before that stage was reached.
“This is an interim stage. There is still a wide variety of views to be considered,” he said.
Mr Lamour-Reid said there was still a further and final report on the housing strategy to be done.
The paper, which was developed following one of the council’s most extensive consultation processes, outlines the council’s intentions to maintain the current housing density in the Dandenong Ranges. This follows community outrage over the proposal to increase housing density in areas such as Belgrave, Monbulk, Mt Evelyn, Seville, Upwey, Tecoma, Woori Yallock, Healesville, Yarra Glen and Yarra Junction.
Streeton Ward councillor Noel Cliff last November called for the Dandenong Ranges to be removed from the strategy.
He told the Mail at the time that residents feared that if the strategy was to go ahead it would have a severe impact on the hills way of life.
Councillor Samantha Dunn also told The Mail that introducing high-density housing into areas such as Belgrave and Tecoma would be a big mistake.
She said it was clear that the community had rejected the idea of high-density housing.
Chandler Ward councillor Graham Warren last week called for additional housing options for Monbulk to be added to the draft strategy, which was endorsed by the council.
Despite the concessions made in the issues paper, Upper Yarra and Dandenong Ranges Environment Council president Jo Tenner said that the council still doesn’t understand the community’s opposition.
Ms Tenner said that areas such as Monbulk, Wandin North and Seville were still marked as consolidation areas (higher density housing). She said that there wasn’t enough infrastructure such as health care and child care services available in those areas to warrant the increase in housing density.
Ms Tenner said that areas in the Dandenong Ranges which had been returned to their original status should never have been included in the strategy for consolidation.
She said there needed to be a lot more consultation on the plan before it reaches the final draft.
The issues papers’ recommendations will now be used to guide the council as it finalises the draft strategy before releasing it again for public comment.