OPPOSITION to a proposal to subdivide part of Cruden Farm for residential development is growing.
State Liberal MP Neale Burgess, whose Hastings electorate includes Cruden Farm in Langwarrin, attended a community meeting on Friday evening (21 April) to hear feedback about the plan.
The estate was the home of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch until her death in 2012 at the age of 103.
The estate’s trustees now want to sell 15.8 hectares of land at Cruden Farm — about a third of the total estate — so 116 homes can be built on the eastern and southern parts of the estate.
A planning application has been submitted to Frankston Council. Any rezoning of the land from its mainly Rural Conservation Zone status, prohibiting residential development, will need to ultimately be approved by the state government.
The change.org petition by the Friends of Langwarrin Outdoors and Waterways has attracted more than 3600 signatures so far and calls on council and Labor state Planning Minister Richard Wynne to reject the planning application.
The group says in its petition: “Dame Elisabeth wanted the property protected from any subdivision, and kept for the community to enjoy.”
Keith and Elisabeth Murdoch Trust chairman Ian Evans has said profits from the land sell-off would ensure Cruden Farm could remain open to the public “in perpetuity”.
Friends of Langwarrin spokeswoman Suzie Webster said more than 50 people attended Friday’s meeting organised by the group at the Langwarrin Community Centre.
“The trust have stated that they need to do this as they do not have the money to continue on with the upkeep of the farm, which is about $1 million per year,” Ms Webster said.
“All but one attendee were of the opinion that the biggest concerns were the impact on the wildlife corridor and the dangerous precedent it would set if the trust was able to have the Urban Growth Boundary moved.”
Cruden Farm is mostly zoned RCZ meaning any subdivision must be less than eight hectares and state approval is needed to build any more than one home on the land. The property is also subject to environmental and heritage overlays.
A thin strip of land is zoned residential among the 15.8 hectares of land, mostly zoned RCZ, earmarked for sale.
