PLEASE HELP OUR COMMUNITY SAVE THE WESTERN PORT GREEN WEDGE.

The Western Port Green Wedge Protection Group (WPGWPG) is a dedicated group of Green Wedge supporters from across Victoria. We are passionate about preserving the unique and essential non-urban land that lies beyond Melbourne’s Urban Growth Boundary.

What are Melbourne’s Green Wedges?

In 1967, Melbourne’s planners envisioned a series of urban corridors radiating from the existing metropolitan area, with green wedges of open country between them. The following year, the Victorian Government adopted the corridor / green wedge concept as policy.

In 1971, these permanent non-urban areas were defined in greater detail and recognised as worthy of conservation for their significant landscapes, historic and scientific interest, major agricultural resources and water catchments, and important plant and wildlife habitat. The intention was to preserve these valuable areas and their resources for the future.

In 2002, "Melbourne 2030", the Victorian Government’s metropolitan planning strategy, formally recognised the term “green wedges” and introduced Melbourne’s Urban Growth Boundary.

The Western Port Green Wedge is particularly significant. It contains areas of internationally recognised ecological importance, diverse flora and fauna, rich biodiversity, valuable wildlife habitat, and outstanding landscape values. Its fertile soils support extensive agricultural and horticultural industries, making it a crucial part of Melbourne’s food bowl and a supplier to interstate and overseas markets. It also holds significant historical, recreational and community health value, and is widely enjoyed by locals and visitors alike.

The WPGWPG is committed to protecting and enhancing the Western Port Green Wedge and working toward the protection and betterment of all of Melbourne’s Green Wedges. We work alongside our Peninsula and Whittlesea sister groups, and in conjunction with numerous local neighbourhood Green Wedge groups.

Why do we need your help?

Melbourne’s twelve Green Wedges have long been among Victoria’s greatest assets and a key contributor to Melbourne’s reputation as one of the world’s most liveable cities. Yet today, they are being rapidly and tragically diminished by urbanisation, over-development and inappropriate land use.

Destruction and fragmentation of Melbourne’s Green Wedges - including the Western Port Green Wedge - is occurring at an alarming rate. The future of these irreplaceable landscapes now hangs in the balance.

We need to work together as a community. We need to act now. We need your help. Once lost, our precious Green Wedges can never be replaced.

What do we do?

Our approach to protecting and improving the Western Port Green Wedge is multifaceted. We are involved in a range of initiatives that undertake and support practical conservation, land restoration and environmental improvement, including tree planting and rabbit control, as well as initiatives that support wildlife, biodiversity and sustainable agriculture.

Furthermore, in response to significant community concern, the WPGWPG is investigating and, where warranted, actively opposing a number of inappropriate proposals and activities within Green Wedge areas in the City of Casey and Shire of Cardinia. These include urban-style uses, illegal landfill sites, commercial and industrial activities operating without permits, and other inappropriate uses.

In responding to these proposals and activities, the WPGWPG:

• works closely with community members and local councils;

• lobbies for legislative change at local, state and federal levels to strengthen Green Wedge protections;

• opposes unsuitable developments and land uses through local council planning processes, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), the Victorian Government’s Development Facilitation Program (DFP), and Commonwealth environmental assessment processes under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC);

• assists like-minded community groups as they navigate the often-complex pathways to achieving better planning outcomes.

Recently, we successfully contested an application for an inappropriate development on Browns Road, Cranbourne South. The proposal, which Council had decided to support through a Notice of Decision to Grant a Permit, was subsequently rejected at VCAT as an unsuitable urban-style development within a Green Wedge context. Whilst this was a significant win for Green Wedge land, our community is still facing extensive legal costs incurred during this case.

Unfortunately, this is only one example of a growing trend of inappropriate development across the Western Port Green Wedge. There are a numerous inappropriate applications threatening our Green Wedge, which you can explore in more detail on our website.

Historically, places of worship were not permitted in Green Wedge zones but were located within urban areas and town centres, where infrastructure already existed and where they were readily accessible to the communities they served.

Developments such as these often include large buildings and extensive car-parking facilities and can accommodate hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of people on a daily basis. This level of development and activity impacts both the site itself and the surrounding rural landscape by clearing native vegetation, reducing and fragmenting wildlife habitat, displacing wildlife, decreasing biodiversity, altering watercourses, and consuming land previously reserved for agriculture and other rural enterprises that can only be accommodated beyond the Urban Growth Boundary.

In 2013, changes to Victoria's rural zones allowed a number of previously prohibited uses to become discretionary uses on Green Wedge land, opening the door to an influx of urban-style developments. Many of these proposals are rejected by Council or VCAT only because of coordinated and sustained community opposition - a time-consuming and costly process.

Why is your donation so important?

As a volunteer-run community organisation, much of our work is carried out by people freely giving their time, skills and energy. However, protecting our Green Wedges also involves significant unavoidable costs. Investigating proposals, obtaining information and professional advice, maintaining our campaigns and public communications, and meeting the operational costs of an effective community organisation all require funding. As the number and complexity of the issues we are dealing with continues to grow, these costs can no longer be carried personally by our volunteers.

In representing our community, we first strive to address these issues through constructive discussions with applicants, councils and government departments. However, satisfactory outcomes are not always possible at this level and some matters may ultimately require VCAT proceedings, involving substantial legal and expert witness costs. Community donations help ensure that, when these challenges arise, we have the resources needed to respond effectively.

We are therefore reaching out to the wider community – those who value not just the Western Port Green Wedge, but all of Melbourne’s Green Wedges – to stand with us as we continue working to protect these irreplaceable areas for their agricultural role, environmental significance, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, and historical, recreational, community health and landscape values.

Without community support, we simply cannot sustain this work. Please help us keep Melbourne’s Green Wedges green – for our communities, our environment and future generations.

Please support the protection of the Western Port Green Wedge by:

• Donating to this GoFundMe campaign - every contribution helps and is deeply appreciated

• Sharing this GoFundMe campaign – please help us spread the word!

• Joining the Western Port Green Wedge Protection Group Facebook page, where we share updates and foster community discussion

• Signing the Change.org Green Wedge Petition - it’s quick, free, and your signature helps amplify our call for permanent protection

• Visiting the WPGWPG website to learn more about Melbourne’s Green Wedges, our campaigns, and other ways you can assist

With gratitude,

The Western Port Green Wedge Protection Group