Dear Mrs Irwin

I refer to your letter seeking my comments regarding the terms of the petition for the Moorabbin Golf Course.

I understand that representatives from Kingston City Council recently met with the Hon. Anthony Albanese MP, Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, to outline concerns relating to the current Moorabbin Airport Master Plan.

Council has also formally requested Minister Albanese to use his powers under section

78(2) of the Airports Act 1996 to require the Moorabbin Airport lessee to prepare a revised draft Master Plan to replace the current Master Plan. The primary basis for this request is:

• The issues raised by the Master Plan in relation to the potential to introduce a new ‘full line’ supermarket on the airport site.
• The potential loss of leased land which has been the home of Council’s Municipal Public Golf Course and its conversion to urban activities despite the land’s non-urban designation.

In a letter to Council of 7 May 2008, I provided support for the review of the current Master Plan to ensure that the uses on this site are consistent with State and local planning policy, including Melbourne 2030 and the Kingston Planning Scheme.

I also understand that Council made a submission on 27 June 2008 to the National Aviation Policy Statement - Issues Paper April 2008 which was sent to the Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.

The current Moorabbin Airport Master Plan raises a number of issues from a State planning perspective, previously identified in the Department of Sustainability and Environment’s submission on the preliminary draft Moorabbin Airport Master Plan 2004 (31 May 2004).

I provide the following comments in relation to the current Master Plan;

• Melbourne 2030 Policy 4.3 identifies Moorabbin Airport as “an important regional and State aviation asset and its continued use as a general aviation airport is vital”. Melbourne 2030 states that “The Government will work with the airport operators to ensure that future development of the site encourages uses that support and enhance the State’s aviation industry generally and take into account potential growth that could result from the closure of Essendon. The Moorabbin Airport Master Plan should reflect the principles of key Government strategies, including Melbourne 2030”.
• The current Moorabbin Airport Master Plan recognises the important aviation role that Moorabbin Airport contributes to the Victorian economy. However, it also provides for substantial non-aviation uses on the site, which raises concern about the Plan’s consistency with State and local planning policy, including Melbourne 2030, particularly in relation to the proposed expansion of retail uses on the site.
• Melbourne 2030’s activity centre policy (Direction 1 - A more compact city), seeks to concentrate a mixture of land uses and developments around key transport nodes in a defined network of activity centres. Melbourne 2030 discourages out-of-centre development and contains guidelines for assessing new out-of-centre development.
• Moorabbin Airport is not defined as a principal or major activity centre in Melbourne 2030, and has limited access to the Principal Public Transport Network. The nearest principal and major activity centres within the City of Kingston are located at Cheltenham, Cheltenham (Southland) and Mentone. The airport has a very limited residential catchment and is unsuitable as a location for general retail and community services. As such, non-aviation related development at Moorabbin Airport is regarded as out-of-centre development in the Melbourne 2030 context.
• Kingston City Council has previously raised concerns about the impacts of retail expansion at Moorabbin Airport upon the City’s established retailing uses in the three activity centres listed above. Any expansion of retailing uses at the airport (be that a supermarket, department store and/or restricted retailing uses) is not considered to be ancillary to the aviation role of the airport, and would be inconsistent with Melbourne 2030.
• Melbourne 2030 also seeks to better manage metropolitan growth (Direction 2) by establishing an urban growth boundary around the urban areas of metropolitan Melbourne and protecting Melbourne’s green wedges from inappropriate development. The Moorabbin Airport sits outside the urban growth boundary and within the South East Green Wedge. This designation recognises the airport’s role as a major transport facility, and the need to ensure surrounding development does not compromise future airport uses. Expansion of non-aviation uses on the airport site is generally inconsistent with green wedge policy, and could potentially compromise the primary role of the airport into the medium and long term.
• The imminent expiry of Kingston City Council’s lease to operate the Municipal Public Golf Course on the airport site raises questions about the future use of this land. Retention of the golf course on the airport site would be well aligned with the Government’s green wedge policy, and would not compromise the future use of this land for aviation uses. Conversion of this land to retail uses would not be supported.

In light of the above comments, I support a review of the current Moorabbin Airport Master Plan to ensure that the uses on this site are consistent with State and local planning policy, including Melbourne 2030 and the Kingston Planning Scheme. Any review should include a thorough investigation of the immediate and long term aviation needs of the airport.

from the Victorian Minister for Planning, Mr Madden MLC, to a petition presented on 26 May by The Speaker (from 1,192 citizens)