The formal town planning process for the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) station precincts is underway and documents reveal exciting prospects for the future of active travel.
Structure plans for each of the precincts are now on public exhibition to comment on.
Later this year there will be public hearings before plans are finalised, planning amendments approved, gazetted, and applied to the precincts next year.
The first stage of this multi-decade project, SRL East, establishes new underground stations at Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill.
With planning changes to encourage higher densities, these struggling suburban outposts will be re-shaped and re-vitalised, supporting an additional 70,000 households and thriving local economies.
As people cluster more densely around public transport and take advantage of compact neighbourhoods for services and family needs, private cars lose their attraction.
And as bike riding and walking become the preferred mode of travel, local streets and public places, no longer choked with cars, transform into attractive places for hanging out and children’s play.
It is important to note that the SRL planning is to some extent a forerunner of the changes that will be necessary at all of the 60 activity centres the Victorian Government envisages around Melbourne, as it responds to the desperate need for a new model of housing provision.
If strong active transport provisions can be firmly embedded into planning for the SRL, it may influence plans for the rest of metropolitan Melbourne
This is why it is important that riders comment positively on structure plans that are on exhibition until 22 April 2025.https://engage.vic.gov.au/srl-east-structure-planning
You can take surveys, attend information sessions, and pick up printed copies of the documents. There is guidance on how to interpret and comment on the plans.
There is an extensive amount of material available, but you don’t need to read all of it. There is the structure plan itself, and the various background and technical reports, including a more technical transport report with detailed recommendations. But there are also important documents on urban design and climate response issues.
The transport issues are discussed under a Better Connection heading through the various documents. Read and absorb those and you are set to go.
There is further background material on the overall project available at the Big Build website. https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au/projects/suburban-rail-loop
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