Fishermans freeze: Wynne defends planning halt on top city development
The Planning Minister has defended his decision to ‘call in’ 26 major apartment projects at Fishermans Bend, placing them in limbo until new planning controls are established later this year.
The freeze potentially affects the future of thousands of proposed houses, offices and retail spaces.
But Planning Minister Richard Wynne says he inherited a mess from the previous government, and something needs to change.
“This is the largest urban renewal site in Australia, and we want to get the planning for this right,” he told Ross and John.
“In the future, we’re going to have 80,000 people at Fishermans Bend and another 80,000 people working there.
“I put in place interim controls, which have been in place for 12 months, whilst we have a panel considering permanent controls, and they will be sitting between March and May this year.”
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Developers have been marketing the various projects, but Mr Wynne says they were not at the point of taking deposits from prospective buyers.
A panel of experts will consider the 26 applications once permanent planning controls are in place, which should be July or August.