A local politician has weighed in on the state government’s plan to build high rise apartments around six Melbourne stations as part of the Suburban Rail Loop, calling it ‘desperate’.
Premier Jacinta Allan unveiled plans to build 70,000 new homes along the SRL corridor.
Shadow Minister for Planning and Polwarth MP Richard Riordan has slammed the plan, he said Labor is drumming it up as Australia’s largest housing project.
“Labor is making sweeping decisions that will fundamentally change the look, feel, character, and use of Melbourne for generations without asking the people who call these communities home,” Mr Riordan said.
“Once again, this government is making backroom decisions that will reshape Melbourne’s suburbs, without addressing the real issues stopping new housing, crippling taxes, planning delays, and their own failure to build on underutilised government land.
“This isn’t about smart planning, this is about Labor’s desperation to justify their multibillion-dollar Suburban Rail Loop, a project Victorians neither voted for nor can afford.
“If the government was serious about delivering housing, it would start by cutting the taxes and red tape strangling development, instead of forcing through high-density towers that will overwhelm local roads, schools, and services.”
Ms Allan said community consultation will kick off soon, with locals to able to provide feedback on the draft structure plans and implementation plans for each SRL station site.
“Building world-class public transport and building affordable homes around it – it just makes sense,” she said.
“This is the vision that the Suburban Rail Loop delivers.
“This benefits our whole city, because building enough homes for young people near transport and jobs in established suburbs will take pressure off the outer suburbs.”
