Warrandyte — proposed rezoning lunacy
I have just learned that the state government is proposing to rezone Warrandyte to allow more people to move into this bushfire prone area — without providing any safeguards against the horror that killed 173 men, women and children on Black Saturday.
As a resident of Warrandyte I call this criminal.
Warrandyte is not a nice, safe, inner city suburb where house fires are either accidental or the result of arson. Warrandyte is a fringe suburb that burns. Regularly. Major burns occurred in :
1851 — February 6 “Black Thursday”
1939 — January 13 “Black Friday”
1962 — January 14–16
Warrandyte also experienced less destructive bushfires in 1965 and 1969. All the old-timers say we are well and truly overdue for another. So what has changed to make Warrandyte a less fire prone area? Nothing. Not a single damned thing. If anything the danger has become more extreme because of the ideological madness of successive governments and local councils doing even less to reduce fuel loads in the area. If you are interested please see previous posts on bushfire preparedness here and here.
To be brutally honest I don’t give a flying fruitbat for the preservation of the Green Wedge in its present form. I am not interested in ideology. I am not interested in preserving anything in a bubble. Change is inevitable and we are not going to preserve our native flora and fauna by trying to turn back the clock to a time before white settlement. Nonetheless on the issue of rezoning I am siding with the conservationists but for very different reasons. I truly believe that increasing population density in Warrandyte is a recipe for disaster… for people.
Whatever your thoughts on conservation I ask that you go to the website below by following this link or by cutting and pasting the url into the address bar of your browser. Once you get there please sign up to make your views heard.
http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/planning/theplanningsystem/improving-the-system/new-zones-for-victoria
This forum is our only chance to tell the government exactly what we think without having to go through committees or MPs or other representatives. If enough of us raise our voices then maybe, just maybe someone will listen.
