Housing future glimpse

By Rebecca Fraser
SOME Noble Park residents have been given a glimpse into the housing of the future and have even touted some suitable locations for medium density homes.
At two recent Noble Park Activity Centre structure plan meetings residents were invited to comment on examples of medium density housing.
They also discussed the suburb’s future transport, business and open space needs as well as local environmental issues.
Asok Rao, project officer with the Department of Sustainability and Environment(DSE), discussed the key challenges facing metropolitan Melbourne and Greater Dandenong in the next 25 years through population growth.
He also discussed changes in living habits and the possible need for high density housing in Greater Dandenong as part of the State Governmentdesigned Melbourne 2030 plan.
Mr Rao said Melbourne’s population was estimated to increase by 1,067,000 and 626,000 more houses would be needed within the next three decades.
“More single people will be forming households as well as couples without children.
“Fifty years ago the majority of houses in Noble Park and the Greater Dandenong area were built for families with two kids and pets.
“Now, with the change in the makeup of the population, housing requirements are also going to change and more well located and affordable housing will be needed,” he said.
Mr Rao said the population growth would need to be consolidated within activity centres such as Noble Park, Dandenong and Springvale instead of using vacant agricultural land to build more homes.
“We have two choices we can ignore these challenges or plan to meet them head on.
“There will be more people, more houses and more cars to contend with in Melbourne and Greater Dandenong.
“Noble Park has good access to buses, trains, libraries and shops and now we just need a level of housing that will reflect the diversity in the population,” he said.
Some residents and local business owners at the meetings suggested the building of shoptop housing in Ian St, Noble Park, could be incorporated into a redevelopment and upgrade of the shopping strip.
Others said it might be a good idea to build units and townhouses or shop top housing within a one kilometre radius of central Noble Park.
Better public transport access, more frequent buses and trains and the need for manned and better lit stations were also discussed as well as the need for more recreational activities for Noble Park’s youth.
Another meeting to discuss the feedback and suggestions and to start to set a future vision for Noble Park was scheduled for last night (Wednesday) at the Noble Park Senior Citizens Centre.