A shroud of secrecy remains over ministerial planning approvals in Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay, despite moves towards transparency elsewhere.
The state government fronts this month’s state election without any commitment to releasing departmental reports to Planning Minister Matthew Guy for projects in the centre of Footscray or the riverside Joseph Road precinct.
Questions also remain about why the minister rejected the advice of an expert planning committee to set a compulsory height limit of eight storeys on the Port Phillip Woollen Mill development site at Williamstown.
Mr Guy trumpeted “a new era of planning transparency” when releasing officer reports on central city projects for which he is the responsible authority.
But the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure assessment reports for permit applications in and around Footscray are unlikely to see light of day, with the minister’s office failing to respond to a number of queries as to its intentions.
Star Weekly in June revealed the minister ignored advice of the Office of the Victorian Government Architect when approving a series of towers up to 28 storeys alongside and overshadowing the Maribyrnong River at 2 Hopkins Street.
The office expressed the “firm view that the civic amenity is negatively affected by this proposal”, and it held “fundamental concerns that the current proposal compromises the public amenity of the Maribyrnong riverside corridor and does not adequately contribute to the realisation of an integrated and successful urban precinct in Footscray”.
Maribyrnong council vehemently opposed the proposal, which was ‘flipped’ on to the market with its lucrative planning permit soon after approval was granted.
Mr Guy is also yet to adequately explain why he rejected a planning advisory report recommendation for a mandatory eight-storey height limit on Williamstown’s Port Phillip Woollen Mill site.
At the time of the decision, he said a non-compulsory height limit would provide better flexibility for Hobsons Bay council.
It was a decision the council bitterly opposed, accurately predicting the developer would seek to build higher. Evolve Development later gained approval for a 10-storey tower. The community fears that future stages of development will go even higher.
As exclusively reported by Star Weekly last week, a Labor government will impose a mandatory height limit of eight storeys on 60 per cent of the mill site that has not yet received planning approval.
