Baillieu bowls tower blocks

Of the many policies being released by Victoria’s new Liberal government, one caught my ear (oh, and the announcement that train stations are so dangerous they need armed guards).

Premier-elect Ted Baillieu has promised to scrap Labor’s proposed high density residential developments along public transport routes, in a bid to protect residential areas from.. shadows and people I guess, and to protect neighbourhood character. It’s a bit tricky to find much about what they do propose, as the Liberals have removed their planning policy from their website, but Google’s cache comes to the rescue. In October, shadow planning minister Matthew Guy stated:

“The Coalition will not allow Melbourne to be turned into a dysfunctional city like Sydney with high-rise, high-density development along every bus, tram or train route.”

Trouble is, they don’t say where the bigger multiresidential developments might go. Maybe out to the edge? Fewer people to annoy out there.

We can also look forward to a strengthening of heritage protection for ALL municipalities, a 48 hour notification period before the State seizes planning control of a site from council, and a BER investigation.

P.S.
Ted Baillieu on architecture (PDF, a few years old)

Posted by Peter on 01.12.10 in urban planning