Plans to reinvigorate many of Melbourne’s drowsy middle suburban centres with more people, employment, services and economic activity have firmed up with new guidelines released this week.
At the core of these denser, lively communities will be active transport facilities to get people to public transport, downtown precincts and local attractions.
Final outlines for the first ten pilot centres have been completed, fundamentally the same as previously announced, but slightly reduced in scale and ambition.
Developed with the realisation that Melbourne can’t afford to keep sprawling into the never-never, 50 of these centres are now on the drawing board. The centres will be positioned around dense, compact residential communities with intensified economic activity.
According to the government, the centres could break the planning and development chokehold that currently restricts housing supply, providing the space and opportunity for 300,000 additional residences.
The first ten pilot activity centres are in Broadmeadows, Camberwell Junction, Chadstone, Epping, Frankston, Moorabbin, Niddrie, North Essendon, Preston (High Street), and Ringwood.
Plans for these Pilot Activity Centres have been updated following two rounds of extensive community consultation and will take effect next month.
Each has been modified, in most cases reducing some building heights and preserving more of suburbia, something local communities wanted.
Activity centres still contain a ‘core’ (the busy, commercial precinct where taller buildings are suitable) and a walkable ‘catchment’ in the streets surrounding (where gentler, low-rise development is preferred).
There is a risk, though, that trimming back density in this way will consequently reduce the population to less than the threshold required to support the sustainable growth of new jobs and services in each centre.
Other changes include new rules to support tree planting on larger sites and stronger controls to protect sunlight and prevent overshadowing of parks and open spaces.
To ensure these areas continue to have the local infrastructure they need as they grow, developers building new homes in the pilot activity centres will be required to make a contribution from 1 January 2027.
Contributions will go towards works like road and path upgrades, parks and open space, community facilities and more.
The government is expected to have more to say soon about the 50 public-transport-centred development zones – including locations and when consultation will begin on the program.
“The status quo won’t cut it. There is only one way out of the housing crisis – build our way out,” Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said.
“We want more homes for young people and workers close to jobs, transport, and services – so they can live where they want, near the things they need and the people they love.”
More details about the plans in each of the ten centres can be found here: https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/strategies-and-initiatives/activity-centres-program
Also this week, the state government finalised housing targets for every local government area. https://engage.vic.gov.au/project/developing-a-new-plan-for-Victoria/page/housing-targets-2051
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