A rail line to Doncaster

The Victorian Government's proposed underground rail link will connect suburbs from Cheltenham to Werribee.

The Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) includes a Doncaster Station. However construction may be over ten years away.

Manningham is the only municipality without a tram or train line.

Car ownership per household is considerably high and daily public transport use for employment purposes is below the metropolitan average.

What’s next?

We will continue to work with the Suburban Rail Loop Authority and the Department of Transport to advocate for improved public transport services to Manningham.

Victoria is poised for transformative change with the State Government’s release of several proposed planning reforms. 

These changes will have significant and lasting impacts, which could drastically alter the character and liveability of our neighbourhoods. 

While we acknowledge the need for more housing, we’re concerned that these reforms have progressed without transparent consultation and adequate consideration of their potential impact.

We’re urging the State to consult with us, as we work closely with our communities to ensure any reforms align with their needs. 

In September 2023, the State Government released its Housing Statement (2024- 2034), which seeks to address housing supply and affordability. 

A range of significant planning reforms were proposed to increase housing delivery:

• Replacing the metropolitan strategy, Plan Melbourne 2017-50, with the Plan for Victoria to include regional areas and housing targets for each Local Government Area.
• Increasing development across 10 activity centres in Metropolitan Melbourne to deliver 60,000 additional homes. None of these locations are within the City of Manningham, with the nearest locations being Ringwood, Preston and Camberwell Junction. 
• Reducing red tape and streamlining the planning process when assessing planning permit applications for residential development and making it easier to subdivide land into two lots.
• Removing or reducing third party appeal rights, which will ultimately limit a resident’s ability for a Council decision to be reviewed at Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
   

Further proposed changes

Since these changes were released, the State Government has announced further reforms, including:

• An expansion of the State Government’s Activity Centre Program, with 25 centres announced on 20 October 2024. These centres are intended to support medium and high-density housing in well serviced areas of Melbourne’s inner suburbs. An additional 25 ‘train and tram zone’ activity centres will be announced by the end of 2024. No centres within Manningham have been identified however, there is potential for the State Government to further expand the program in the future.
• A broader statewide reform of developer contributions is commencing with the 10 identified activity centres, subject to a ‘simple developer contribution pilot’ that will come into effect from 1 January 2027.
• The release of huge plots of land for thousands of new homes in Melbourne's outer north, west and southeast for 27 new greenfield areas in coming years.
• Changes to the rules around subdivision of residential land – removing the need for an approved planning permit and making it easier to subdivide and develop land for residential development.  
   

In response, Manningham has provided submissions to the reforms as outlined below.

Plan for Victoria

This draft plan sought feedback on key policy directions including housing, transport, liveability and sustainability. 

It proposes a draft target of 39,000 new dwellings in Manningham by 2051, representing a 76 per cent increase over the next 26 years or around 1,500 dwellings per year. 

This target significantly exceeds the rate of growth that currently informs the preparation of our Residential Strategy.  

Our submission reinforces that:

• the settlement pattern of Manningham results in restricted development opportunities in the eastern parts of the municipality. The suburbs to the west of the Mullum Mullum Creek have accommodated most of the housing growth in the municipality to date 
• we are concerned that accommodating 39,000 new dwellings will result in further concentrated change in the western part of the municipality, due to constraints in the east  
• the Plan for Victoria must seek to improve Manningham’s public transport system and prioritise bus network improvements, to enable our local economy to expand and prosper as the population grows
• any housing target needs to achieve an appropriate balance between increasing growth in areas serviced by infrastructure and protecting areas of environmental and visual significance
• increased housing density needs to be supported by infrastructure, including public open space, roads, footpaths and community facilities any additional infrastructure should be sustainably funded through appropriate mechanisms at the local and state level.  

Changes to the way apartments and townhouses will be considered and approved

These reforms represent an overhaul of ResCode, which is the planning rule for single or multiple dwelling developments that require a planning permit (including lots under 300 square metres and apartment developments up to a height of four storeys).

Proposed changes include the removal of neighbourhood character considerations, which we anticipate could have a significant impact on the look and feel of our suburbs.

It also includes a proposal to remove third-party appeal rights. This means that an objector to a multi-unit application cannot appeal Council’s decision if all relevant standards are met.

While we acknowledge that there are opportunities to improve Victoria’s existing planning controls and processes, better planning outcomes are achieved by considering neighbourhood character and involving the communities in the planning process.  

Activity Centres Program

We provided a submission on the designation and draft structure plans for the 10 metropolitan and major activity centres, with specific comments on the plans for the Ringwood activity centre which affects land abutting Manningham.

This forms part of the State Government’s Activity Centre Pilot Program.

A key focus of these structure plans is the designation of ‘walkable catchments’ within an 800m radius of the activity centre, where increased residential development (heights and density) will be encouraged.

Our submission focused on the significant implications of this work on all activity centres across metropolitan Melbourne.  

It’s essential that a range of funding and delivery mechanisms are established by the State Government to ensure the continued delivery of vital open space, services and infrastructure to support a rapidly growing population and vibrant and functional activity centres.  

You can advise the Victorian Government on whether you support or oppose these changes.

Provide your feedback to the Victorian Government:

• on Plan for Victoria, including the housing targets, by emailing planforvictoria@transport.vic.gov.au*
• on all other proposed planning changes, by emailing the Minister for Planning at sonya.kilkenny@parliament.vic.gov.au.

*Submissions closed on 30 August 2024, but we still encourage you to provide feedback.

We advocate for you

Advocacy is an important way for us to provide a voice for the community on issues that matter. This is an essential role of local government.

We are advocating to influence state and federal governments to fund important priority projects around planning, transport, infrastructure and services.

Other advocacy issues

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