The map was published in pdf format on 23 December 2009 (the date stamp on the pdf document) and one assumes prepared by VicRoads - however "VicRoads would not confirm when the map was produced, but it is believed to have been done with planning authorities as part of a long-term study looking at the city's shape in 2046".
What is interesting about this map is the planned future development of the Drysdale and Clifton Springs area. Although hard to see until you blow the map up to about 400% in Adobe Acrobat, there are shaded areas in pale pink showing expansion plans for residential development in the area.
This residential development goes further than that currently existing in the Geelong Council Drysdale Clifton Springs Structure plan for the area. There are now Proposed Urban Growth Boundary Extensions to the east of the proposed Drysdale bypass road and this takes in Scotchmans Road to the top of Murradoc Hill and down to Anderson's Road. Also the Jetty Road urban development is shown to extend from the Portarlington Road, down Jetty Road along the shores of Corio Bay and across to Scarborough Road.
The Geelong Council recently adopted the Amendment C177 to provide Significant Landscape Overlay to 5 areas of the Bellarine Peninsula including Clifton Springs and Drysdale. This significant overlay took in Murradoc Hill - which is shown as now being set aside for proposed urban growth!
You have to ask - whether the Geelong Council planning department was consulted prior to the development of this plan for our local area? Was there any consultation with the Drysdale and Clifton Springs Community Association? The Association has already come out in last Friday's Bellarine Independent outlaying their fears that Clifton Springs is becoming 'broad-acre' housing under a Geelong Council plan. Perhaps this is the Department of Planning and Community Development's work in association with VicRoads?
You can imagine the price of real estate on the top of Murradoc Hill with commanding 360 degree views! Developers would be rubbing their hands together with glee!
I just hope there is community consultation on this going into the future. I don't want to see large scale residential development as they have proposed. The Bellarine Peninsula will just become one giant housing estate!
Below is an extract taken from the map showing the shaded areas. You have to look really hard to see them - best way to view this is to download the detailed map entitled "Proposed 2040 Road Network Development" (pdf format -12mb).
It certainly isn't an easy map to read, even with your excellent advice! What is very clear, however, is that this projection by Vic Roads of transport in the area includes no public transport - a major flaw in its strategic thinking.
ReplyDeleteNow, Vic Roads is in the business of, well, roads, but continuing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions will be a driver of our transport futures and so you'd expect a major transport authority to take that into account and think about future road-use in new ways.
Where are dedicated bus lanes for both standard (medium distance) and 'smart' (local, short distances) buses? Where are new forms of non-road, non-oil public transport, such as a light rail system circling the Bellarine and a revived rail trail between Geelong and Queenscliff?
Vic Roads shares with the City of Greater Geelong a 'vision' of the Bellarine as a sprawling housing estate. It might well colour-in various places as 'urban growth', but where are the new jobs and workplaces for all these additional local people? The Vic Roads 'strategy' will reinforce the Bellarine's growing status as just a collection of dormitory towns for Geelong and Melbourne.