Hume City Council at its Ordinary Council meeting on 15 March 2022 resolved to abandon Amendment C250 to the Hume Planning Scheme.
The amendment proposes proposed to rezone the land within the Urban Growth Boundary from Farming Zone – Schedule 3 (FZ3) to part General Residential Zone – Schedule 1 (GRZ1) and part Industrial 3 Zone (INZ3) and apply the Development Plan Overlay – Schedule 33 (DPO33) to the whole of the land.
The amendment was exhibited from 13 May to 15 June 2021 and attracted 326 submissions.
The resolution to abandon the amendment reflects Council’s consideration of the submissions. In coming to this decision Councillors cited the following reasons:
- Concerns with the fairness to the health and wellbeing of the local community due to the removal of the land as an undeveloped buffer to the Tullamarine Closed Landfill.
- Concerns with the risks associated with the groundwater contamination and the ongoing monitoring of groundwater contamination.
- Concerns with the currency of the existing Environmental Audit Report and Statement for the land at 140-204 Western Avenue and the validity of peer reviews.
- Concerns with the absence of a full environmental audit for the land at 47-67 and 69-99 Wright Street.
- Concerns about the proposed provision of affordable housing on the land given the groundwater contamination.
- Concerns about the existing traffic congestion issues in the local area and the ability of proposed mitigation works to address the traffic impacts.