by Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Dingley Village protest group and Kngston ward councillor are fearful of a developer’s scaled-up plan for a purported 900 dwellings on the former Kingswood Golf Course.
Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny is set to decide on the development plan for the 54-hectare flood-prone site after feedback from Kingston Council.
The plan received by Kingston on 17 January has not yet been released publicly.
For more than a decade, residents and Kingston have fiercely opposed the potential loss of open space and biodiversity as well as warned of flood risks on-site and downstream.
Last week, the council publicly appealed to the State Government for a time extension beyond 14 February after being given less than a month to respond to developer Satterley Property Group’s plans.
Kingston mayor Georgina Oxley called for “meaningful community engagement before anything is set in stone” – noting 8000 objections to a previous 800-unit housing plan on the site.
The proposal would increase Dingley Village’s population by 20-25 per cent, she said.
Caruana Ward independent councillor Caroline White said the Government had since informed the council it would get more time to respond.
The Government also indicated the community would be consulted from later this month, she said.
She questioned how an increased 900 units would fit on the course.
“The only way is if (the units) were approximately four metres wide.
“To put this in perspective, the old workers’ cottages in Port Melbourne or Balaclava are six metres wide.”
Save Kingswood residents group president Kevin Poulter said there had been a “sneaky” lack of consultation so far.
He feared any feedback by residents will be “filed by Sonya Kilkenny in the bin”, just “like all my messages on flooding”.
“The site is on a flood plain with flood control measures to be destroyed by the developers.
“My research, assisted by a former Kingswood club captain and others, shows there is half a billion litres of flood water not accounted for in the development.
“Yet plans have gone from an impossible 800 units to 900 units.”
Kingston Council and residents fiercely opposed the previous 800-unit plan from then-proponents AustralianSuper, who bought the site for a purported $125 million in 2014.
Last year, AustralianSuper divested the site to Satterley.
The estate would include lower-priced townhouses for first home buyers and larger housing on smaller blocks for younger families with “immaculately landscaped open spaces”, chief executive Nigel Satterley said at the time.
Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny – who approved the site’s rezoning for housing in 2023 – and Satterley did not comment to Star Journal by last week’s deadline.
Clarinda MP Meng Heang Tak and Isaacs MP Mark Dreyfus were also contacted for comment.
