An independent planning panel may be formed to help Maribyrnong council determine the future of development in Footscray.
Almost 70 submissions on a draft Footscray structure plan (amendment C125) would be considered by the panel, which would be appointed by Planning Minister Matthew Guy.
The council’s structure plan focuses on a five-kilometre-square footprint from the Maribyrnong River to Ballarat and Geelong roads, dividing Footscray into eight distinct precincts.
It includes predictions that about 7000 new dwellings would be needed to house an expected increase in resident numbers to 30,500 by 2031 – almost double the present population.
At last week’s council meeting, Hugh Basset, of the Inner West branch of the National Trust, warned against token façadism and called for heritage issues to have greater prominence in council decision making.
Resident Ben Speth called for a European-style height limit of six to eight storeys around the Footscray station area, down to four storeys elsewhere.
“I guess I don’t think it’s [the plan] gone far enough,’’ Mr Speth said. “I would dearly love to see an environmentally ethical, socially responsible, historically conscious city.
“I’ve lived in a number of places and the models I take, Berlin, Stockholm, even Rome … these places would not allow the kind of buildings that this council allows and I think that’s really unconscionable. We can do better.”
Council sustainable development director Nigel Higgins said the council had called for the formation of the independent panel to look at concerns like those expressed at the meeting.
