🚧 Councillor calls for cap on development extensions

A Monash councillor has called for a cap on the amount of time extension developers can request, following a number of proposed developments now more than six years overdue.

🏛️ Three extensions approved in council meeting

During the Monash Council meeting on Tuesday, January 28, Warrigal Ward councillor Stuart James spoke to the broader issue of extensions after three separate two-year extension requests were brought to council:

• Two double-storey dwellings at 13 Tuhan Street in Chadstone;

• A double-storey dwelling at 2A Bletchley Road in Hughesdale; and

• Three double-storey dwellings on land at 23 Terrigal Street in Chadstone.

📅 Some projects over a decade old

In regards to the development at 13 Tuhan Street in Chadstone, Monash Council had approved a permit more than 10 years ago.

🔑 The need for urgency in addressing housing crisis

James said the number of requests for extensions the council has received recently was “not insignificant”, especially considering recent commentary around the housing crisis and the roles which councils play.

“We’re in the middle of a housing crisis and we’ve got the Minister for Housing and other state ministers and MPs and federal MPs all jumping in on council saying how council’s a roadblock,” he said.

“This just further highlights to me and perhaps to the community how the solution to the housing crisis we face is absolutely not solely on council.”

“On the whole, this is a whole-of-sector approach.”

🛑 Proposing a four-year cap on extensions

James said enforcing a four-year cap on all development would disincentivise developers from submitting a permit application if they were not certain they could complete the development within the timeframe.

“There’s no point in us approving things and having them sit on the books for eight, 10, 12 years while we’re waiting for these houses to be built,” he said.

“It is a common problem.

“If we’re serious about addressing the housing crisis, we should have limits on this.”