Planning for growth

By Justin Robertson
FOR the next 10 years Cardinia Shire Council will target health clinics and sports grounds to deal with the region’s booming population.
Consider this: there are 77,000 residents in the shire. In 20 years that figure is set to double.
Asked if he was worried about the spike in population, mayor George Blenkhorn said, “It’s going to happen, we just have to accommodate it.”
More than 1000 people per week pour into Melbourne’s outer fringe and as new figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show, Cardinia is the third-fastest growing municipality in the country.
Pakenham accounted for 90 per cent of Cardinia Shire’s population growth between 2009-10 with 41,288 residents at growth rate of 11.3 per cent.
Cr Blenkhorn said the difficulty in this situation was building adequate infrastructure as it was required and trying to satisfy residents’ expectations.
“It’s a balance,” he said. “There is an awful lot of work being done by council officers to work out what will go where.”
The Cardinia Shire is already working through a long-term development plan and Cr Blenkhorn said aside from school development – a State Government responsibility – the shire was focusing on projects specific to the needs of community.
“We are trying to provide facilities needed in the growth area – child welfare, health clinics, community buildings, sports pavilions,” he said. “We are certainly trying to encourage education facilities, tertiary training for post secondary schools, which is really lacking in the shire as there are virtually none.”
After posing the question “What are your concerns about Cardinia’s population growth” on the Gazette’s Facebook page, residents hit back with opinions on the increasing traffic in the area, lack of public toilets and infrastructure and poor water supply.
One resident was concerned about land space, posting: “Why is good farming land being sold off to make way for these housing developments? Where will we grow our food in the future? “
In the next 10 years the Cardinia Shire can expect to see an explosion of health and sporting community centres, but Cr Blenkorn assured the community it was already happening.
“Child health centres – that’s a council problem – and we are building one per year,” he said. “We try to build a facility as the need arises. We simply can’t afford to put a brand new facility up before anything arises. But as soon as there is adequate need, we try to keep abreast of developments and try not to let it lag. “
Central Ward councillor Brett Owen said the Federal Government – which has pinpointed Cardinia Shire as a growth area – must assist with infrastructure costs such as major road improvement, child health centres, recreational reserves and libraries, but also urged the community to stay informed and get involved.
“The community needs to play a significant part in the process and be onboard with the change,” he said. “It is important for council, for us, to really get the planning right.”