DEVELOPERS and land owners who tipped thousands of dollars into Liberal Party coffers at the last state election are among the big winners from the Baillieu government's controversial opening of green wedge areas and farmland to development on Melbourne's fringe.

Less than two years after the Brumby government extended Melbourne's perimeter, Planning Minister Matthew Guy yesterday announced the Coalition's plan to release the equivalent of 3500 MCGs of green space in the municipalities of Casey, Whittlesea, Hume, Melton, Wyndham, and at Wallan in the Shire of Mitchell to Melbourne's north.

Illustration: Ron Tandberg

One of the single biggest beneficiaries of the so-called ''logical inclusions'' extension is Narre Warren-based developer Parklea.

The company was furious when overlooked by Labor in its 2009-2010 boundary review. But it was celebrating yesterday when Mr Guy announced that 350 hectares of farmland it owns at Pakenham would become metropolitan Melbourne's most south-eastern tip.