By Luke Voogt
An urban development expert has accused Geelong councillors of giving away hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure funding for future growth areas for 110,000 residents.
Former Urban Development Institute of Australia Geelong chapter chair Tom Roe took aim at councillors for approving the plans without calling for an infrastructure contribution scheme.
“We’ll be paying for [this] for decades,” the Barwon Heads investment banker said.
Mr Roe said Geelong was already missing out on “millions of dollars” due to the state government not recognising it as a growth zone.
The state government had yet to “turn a sod” on the long-planned duplication of Barwon Heads Road, he pointed out.
Mr Roe has previously criticised the state government’s Growth Areas Infrastructure Contribution (GAIC), a one-off tax on developers in rapidly-growing areas on Melbourne’s fringe to raise money for infrastructure.
“Ludicrously”, the GAIC did not apply to Geelong developers despite a local “population explosion”, he explained.
Last month Mr Roe called for a similar scheme for council’s planned growth areas to Geelong’s northwest and west.
The growth areas had “a list a mile long of unfunded state government-responsible infrastructure”, he said.
“Just hoping for infrastructure support is nowhere close to what is required.”
On August 25, council approved planning amendment C395 for the growth areas.
Mr Roe said the amendment had “a total disregard for any form of value capture tax”.
“A similar GAIC or value capture tax would put hundreds of millions of dollars back into Geelong’s coffers. Perhaps more than a billion dollars if set correctly and fairly”.
But council planning director Gareth Smith said local government had no authority to raise new taxes on land and development.
“A levy for state infrastructure is possible through the new Infrastructure Contributions Plan framework, which is currently being prepared by the Victorian Planning Authority and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
“In the current economic climate, we should not delay progress on critical projects pending policy changes by the state government.
“A GAIC does not guarantee funding collected from Geelong is directed to infrastructure spending in Geelong.”
