Media Coverage: Land for Livelihoods
Industrial devolution
Carrum Downs estate feels the squeeze of rejection
Brittany Goldsmith, Frankston Standard, Monday 11 November
A multimillion-dollar company is set to quit the Carrum Downs industrial estate for Dandenong, amid fears others will also leave.
The revelation comes after calls to investigate rezoning part of Frankston’s Green Wedge — near Thompsons Rd, Dandenong Valley Hwy, Boundary Rd and EastLink — for industrial use were rejected by Frankston Council. The Committee for Greater Frankston said that decision had left factories that need to expand with “nowhere to go”, forcing them to “pack up and leave”.
Chief executive Ginevra Hosking said it would cost jobs and threatened the district’s reputation as a “hi-tech manufacturing hub”. “Businesses need to know space is being put aside for them to grow — we have hi-tech industrial design and engineering export companies like Remedy Kombucha, Nutech Paint and Orgran Foods … if they can’t set up here, they are going to go somewhere else.”
The precinct has close to 9000 people and grows jobs 13 times faster than the regional average. Ms Hosking said Frankston’s chances of improving its employment rate of 28 jobs per 100 people through the industrial area had been ignored.
Mayor Michael O’Reilly voted for the rezoning but Cr Kris Bolam said the proposal did not balance environmental and economic concerns but said he would revisit the issue if there was an “ increase tree and plant canopy” in lieu of any commercial development. The relocating company, which Leader has not named because talks have not yet begun with employees – was contacted for comment.
Carrum Downs traders look to move out as industrial space runs dry
Space is running out in a buzzing Carrum Downs industrial estate, leaving many traders to look elsewhere for extra space. And one multimillion-dollar company is already set to move to Dandenong.
Brittany Goldsmith, Frankston Standard Leader November 13, 2019 12:00pm
A multimillion-dollar company is set to quit the Carrum Downs industrial estate for Dandenong, amid fears other big businesses will also leave. The revelation comes after calls to investigate rezoning part of Frankston’s Green Wedge — near Thompsons Rd, Dandenong Valley Hwy, Boundary Rd and EastLink — for industrial use were rejected by Frankston Council.
The Committee for Greater Frankston said that decision had left factories that need to expand with “nowhere to go”, forcing them to “pack up and leave”.
Nichols Crowder Real Estate Carrum Downs director Michael Crowder said 20 lots had been slashed off the market since July — leaving less than 20 — with those expected to be snapped up in less than six months.
CGF chief executive Ginevra Hosking said it would cost jobs and threatened the district’s reputation as a “hi-tech manufacturing hub”. “Businesses need to know space is being put aside for them for them to grow into for next five to 10 years,” she said. “We have hi-tech industrial design and engineering export companies like Remedy Kombucha, Nutech Paint and Orgran Foods … if they can’t set up here, they’re going to go somewhere else.” “If hi-tech manufacturing isn’t going to be Frankston’s ‘thing’, then what will be?”
The precinct, which has been labelled as southeast Melbourne’s most productive employment hub, engages close to 9000 people and grows jobs 13 times faster than the regional average.
Ms Hosking said Frankston’s chances of improving its employment rate of 28 jobs per 100 people through the industrial area had been ignored, and hoped the call would not mirror the “failure to plan” for the CBD — where one in five shopfronts and one in four office spaces remain empty. “There has been a failure to plan for the CBD’s success and now we have another planning failure in the making,” she said. “We need to leave the next generation with an internationally competitive industrial sector and local jobs they can be proud of. “A failure to plan is a plan for failure.”
Only Frankston mayor Cr Michael O’Reilly voted in favour of rezoning. Cr Kris Bolam said the resolution to “unlock” the wedge did not balance environmental and economic concerns. ”I would certainly entertain revisiting the matter provided controls are built-in to increase tree and plant canopy in lieu of any commercial and industrial based development in the precinct,” he said. “I don’t believe finding a happy medium on this matter is impossible.”
