Victorian Budget: Fishermans Bend to get $5 million to complete planning work
This year's Victorian Budget included an allocation of $5 million to complete the planning work for Fishermans Bend, the city's largest and most ambitious redevelopment precinct.
$3.8 million will be used for the planning work required to get Fishermans Bend its first secondary school.
$1 million will be used to finalise plans for the first rail-based public transport link from the CBD to the redevelopment precinct with a business case to be developed for both active and public transport links. A ministerial media release refers to this as a 'tram bridge, connecting Fishermans Bend and the CBD'.
The transport initiatives for Fishermans Bend were floated when the draft framework plan for the precinct were unveiled in October 2017.
On top of corridor identification - a bridge across the Yarra from Collins Street to Hartley Street just beyond Yarra's Edge was the preferred option - the draft transport plan for the region included two tram branches - one which would travel west along Turner Street (north of the West Gate Freeway) and one that would travel west along Fennell and Plummer Streets (south of the West Gate Freeway).
The draft transport plan also came up with two preferred heavy rail corridors, better known as Melbourne Metro 2.
There was no specific reference to this aspect of Fishermans Bend's transport planning work in the budget speech, however, the $50 million announced to speed up Geelong rail services and marrying it with the planning work for Melbourne Airport Rail Link might shed more light when that report is concluded.
Elsewhere in the budget, just under $600,000 has been allocated for new exterior design standards and the Planning Minister announced $25 million will be allocated to increased safety inspections for high-rise buildings.
“There’s nothing more important than keeping people safe – that’s why we’re inspecting more high-rise buildings for dangerous and flammable materials, and cracking down on dodgy builders who flout the rules,” Planning Minister Richard Wynne said.
The new exterior design standards come on top of the apartment design standards that were rolled out in December 2016.
No new first home ownership initiatives were announced as part of the 2018/2019 budget.
The budget furthermore allocated $1 million for the development of an online portal which will provide access to better information on public land; $9.7 million will be allocated to processing planning permits faster; $3.5 million will help speed up council's assessment processes on new subdivisions.
