RELATED:
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
MALDON residents have had ample opportunity to have their say on the Tarran Valley Estate, a developer says.
Gary McClure said the proposal for the estate, which involved constructing a 43-lot housing development on 125 hectares of land about two kilometres from Maldon, had been reviewed by an independent panel three times.
He said the initial review was part of the Mount Alexander Planning Scheme Amendment in 2005, while the second was a panel hearing to amend the planning scheme for Tarran Valley Estate in 2008.
Mr McClure said a third review was conducted in May this year into bushfire management.
"There has been lots of community consultation," he said.
"One of the biggest problems with this is the period of time it has gone over - 10 or 12 years - there has been many changes of residents living in Maldon.
"There are a lot of people who are objecting to it who haven't been part of the consulting process because of the duration that it has gone over."
The comments come after Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards announced she would refer the proposal to an independent panel for review if Labor win the state election.
Mr McClure also addressed concerns raised by residents over bushfire risk and the loss of heritage value.
"Bushfire risk is no greater than in Macedon itself and, in fact, residents face a greater risk with no buffers or defensible space requirements addressed by residents, council or government," Mr McClure said.
"Historical values in respect to housing development can be addressed through planning requirements."
In August of this year, Maldon residents gathered at the Parliament of Victoria to urge Planning Minister Matthew Guy to reject a proposal for the estate.
Group spokesman Ian Slattery said the housing development would cheapen Maldon's appeal.
"People don't move to Maldon to experience urban-style living, they move there to get away from that. This is a small town, which has been preserved with 19th-century architecture," he said at the time of the protest.
"We don't want to see it littered with cheap, brick veneer homes."