“Pasture Not Pavements”: Governmental Planning Failure and the Slow Death of Melbourne’s Green Belt

Extensive literature on peri-urban issues has paid only occasional attention to the details of spatial planning systems and their impacts on peri-urban natural resources. This paper investigates the relationships between a deregulated land use planning system and declining natural resource and agricultural values in the peri-urban area of Melbourne, in the state of Victoria, Australia. This paper uses a case study area consisting of Melbourne’s green belt and an outer peri-urban area northeast of Melbourne, concentrating on the effectiveness of an urban growth boundary and controls over land uses. A document analysis was undertaken on the provisions of the land use planning system, supporting documents, urban and peri-urban development, land ownership, land uses, and natural resources in the case study area. Threats from urban and rural–residential development, land fragmentation, and land development were identified, and the impacts of the planning system on current and future land uses were analysed. Particular reference was given to the debate on the concept of multi-functional land uses. This paper investigates the likely impacts of peri-urban development and the spatial planning framework on a range of sectors, particularly agricultural production, biodiversity, and landscapes, and highlights the failure of the spatial planning system to protect remnant peri-urban natural resources from increasing threats.