The Victorian Legislative Assembly Environment and Planning Committee is conducting an inquiry into the current and future arrangements to secure environmental infrastructure, particularly parks and open space, for a growing population in Melbourne and across regional centres.

The Committee has invited Master Builders Victoria to provide a submission to this inquiry.

The Committee has noted examples of environmental infrastructure of particular interest to include parks and open space, sporting fields, forest and bushland, wildlife corridors and waterways. The Committee is primarily interested in environmental infrastructure that is within or close to urbanised areas.

Below are the Terms of Reference of the inquiry:

• the benefits of accessing and using different types of environmental infrastructure
• the impact of population growth in Melbourne and regional centres on the provision and preservation of environmental infrastructure
• differences in the availability of environmental infrastructure between different suburbs and between different regional centres
• the effectiveness of current legislation and planning provisions in securing environmental infrastructure
• existing delays or obstacles to securing environmental infrastructure
• the impact of COVID-19 on the importance, use and design of environmental infrastructure
• examples of best practice and innovative approaches to securing environmental infrastructure in other jurisdictions.

Master Builders Victoria understands the importance of environmental infrastructure in improving a community’s livelihood and wellbeing. However, we also believe that understanding how we secure environmental infrastructure in a way that does not worsen housing affordability for a growing population is of key importance.

We encourage members to provide any feedback on the Terms of Reference to Master Builders Victoria at [email protected]. Any feedback will greatly aid in our response to the Inquiry.