FISHERMANS BEND, VIC. — The gazettal of the long-awaited Development Contributions Plan (DCP) for Fishermans Bend is a welcome step in Backing the Bend, but key questions about funding commitments remain.
Port Phillip Council has advocated for years for the DCP to be adopted, and “warmly welcome the certainty it now gives developers, Council and our community.”
The DCP sets the framework for developer contributions towards the infrastructure needed to support growth in Australia’s largest urban renewal precinct, including parks, roads, drainage and community facilities.
However, council is concerned that the Victorian Government has set aside an independent panel’s recommendation to deliver the Sandridge multipurpose sports facilities on the former Australia Post site in Port Melbourne by 2035.
The DCP instead pushes delivery of the Sandridge Recreation Precinct (SRP) out by up to another decade to 2045.
Families moving into Fishermans Bend need parks, sporting fields and community facilities now, not decades from now.
Local sporting clubs, schools and young athletes are already feeling the squeeze from a shortage of open space, and further delay will only add to that pressure.
Port Phillip City Council invested $38.9 million to secure the site and demolished the existing building so the precinct could be delivered as soon as possible and in time for the 2035 target.
The council is also seeking clarity on:
- funding for projects not covered by the DCP, including the Montague Arts and Cultural Hub;
- funding pathways for the Sandridge Recreation Precinct beyond Stage 1;
- forward funding for public transport improvements that sit outside the DCP but are needed to catalyse growth; and
- financing for water infrastructure to address existing flood risks, estimated at about $375 million.
Through the DCP, the Government has shown it is ‘Backing the Bend’. Now Port Phillip City Council is calling on all parties to commit, ahead of the Victorian State Election, to turning the desolate concrete slab at Sandridge into the community facilities current and future residents need.