Glen Eira Debates

The State Government has released more documents outlining its latest vision for the so called ‘transport zones’. What needs to be called out here in the strongest terms is the dishonesty that is encapsulated in these images and the spin that surrounds them.

Why dishonest? For starters, residents should expect:

1. Legends for each map that outlines in detail the building heights, the setback requirements, the controls that will apply to heritage areas.

Here is the image that shows what is happening to Carnegie, Murrumbeena, and Hughesdale. None of the above mentioned categories are provided with this image.

If we then take a closer look at Murrumbeena, from another document, we find the following –

Whilst height limits are included this time, there is no reference to what is happening in the inner and outer catchment areas, nor for our heritage sites. Referring back to the first image above, we can see how the dark and light blue areas have dramatically expanded. But we should not have to try and piece together information from different maps and still get no clear summary in one spot. That is dishonest and illustrates the attempt to obfuscate and make things as nebulous and difficult for the community as possible.  This isn’t ‘information provision’ with the objective of truly informing communities. It is more of the same – spin designed to allay criticism and community revolt. Shame on this government and more shame on our council for not tackling these issues head on but resorting to simply regurgitating the government proposals with no summaries, no real criticism, and no attempt to truly inform residents.

One simple example of this compliance by Glen Eira is evident in the following image from Bayside. Nothing has been said by Glen Eira on this issue. Most people wouldn’t even know that this has occurred. Yet Bayside in its official publication (akin to our Glen Eira News) can address this issue directly and provide real information and criticism.

Compare the above in both tone and content to what Glen Eira habitually produces! No detail, no real comments apart from how wonderful their earlier structure planning and housing strategies are, and then the final insult – go the Engage Victoria for further information!!! Woeful!

Why, oh why, are residents in Glen Eira treated like mushrooms that have to continually be kept in the dark? Why can other councils publish their most recent communications with government/departments with no qualms and in Glen Eira residents are left with no idea as to what is really going on.

The latest example of this comes from Monash City Council, where we learn that in January this year, Kilkenny wrote to all councils informing them of a ‘tool’ that the government had developed in order to assess whether each council was meeting its dwelling targets. Even more interesting is the information that councils must undergo a full planning scheme review by late October 2026. Readers will remember that the last council review that incorporated full community consultation took place in 2016. That is literally a decade since the community has had any say as to how this planning scheme might work and/or what needs to be done. Since 2016, we have had ‘internal’ reviews that basically did nothing nor was any justification provided for some tiny changes.

As per usual questions abound –

1. Given that it is now nearly April, will council incorporate full community consultation on the mandated planning scheme review? If so, when will this start? If not, why not?
2. What preliminary conclusion has the state government made in regards to Glen Eira meeting its dwelling targets? Will council publish this information?
3. Will council publish the tool used to make this assessment and its rationale and methodology?
4. Will council commit to full and comprehensive reporting of its contacts with government and the department as other council do?
5. Are councillors provided with the hard copy communications between officers and government and/or department? If not, why not?

Below we publish the letter from Kilkenny that was sent to all councils. Please read carefully and consider the questions we have raised.

Moorabbin has been designated as a Major Activity Centre and encompasses Glen Eira, Kingston and also parts of Bayside. The Glen Eira area is north of South Road. Prior to early 2025, the zoning for this area was GRZ1 – ie mandatory 3 storey height limit. The areas further north were all NRZ – ie 2 storey height limit as shown in the following image.

The government then introduced HCT zonings which were defined as follows:

The result of these government amendments is an increase in height limits over a huge area. The GRZ zoning has now become RGZ (ie four storeys) and what was the NRZ zoning can now see three storeys on normal sites and four on large sites. This is shown in the image below.

The rationale for these changes is that catchment areas are supposed to be 800 metres from the core of the various activity centres. As the crow flies, this may be so. However, residents cannot fly and for them to walk to the core would be far more than 800 metres and certainly more than a 10 minute walk depending where they are coming from. This reminds us of council’s introduction of the residential zoning in 2013, when circles were simply drawn on the map with no consideration of which areas are heritage, which are in flood zones, and which are large sites. This is not planning. All it does it provide more and more land for overdevelopment and the destruction of residential amenity.

Council did submit their submission on the proposed introduction of the new zoning and Built Form Overlays in October 2025. It was a pretty dismal response to what was being mooted. Here are some quotes from this submission. Make up your own mind as to how well council represented resident views via such comments.

 Council’s experience with the deemed to comply approach in the Moorabbin and Chadstone activity centres, is that Council is limited in its ability to encourage increased development within the catchment areas, where appropriate. This is due to the changes which essentially switch off policy and zone purpose considerations for townhouse development. The intent of the catchments is therefore not being achieved in these existing locations and Council is likely to see a similar result in the Carnegie Cluster unless changes are made to the planning controls.

Directing housing into existing activity centres will reduce the impacts of significant growth on the environment in growth areas. Living more closely together can open opportunities for the sharing economy, increase local services and reduce the need for travel, and enable more people to live close to public transport

Over this last weekend, the State Government convened its Community Reference Groups ‘consultations’ over the proposed Stage 2 Activity Centre Program. As anticipated, this was nothing more than another ‘tick the box’ exercise in political gaslighting designed to evince ‘support’ for already made planning decisions.

For starters, attendees were told that they could NOT comment on anything to do with the CORE areas of the activity centres. Thus, proposed and contentious height limits were off the table. All that was open for ‘discussion’ were the nominated catchment areas. And even for these catchment areas, the focus was not on their extensive ‘upgrading’ or the evidence to support this.

Whether this state government actually listens to what was said (although unasked for) remains to be seen. But we certainly are not holding our breath for any major changes that accord with community and even council views.

As for Glen Eira, we are still awaiting its submission and its recommendations. Boroondara has published their version in a comprehensive and critical analyses. One of their main points is that a ‘one size fits all’ approach to the activity centres, as adopted by the government, is sheer folly. This point was also raised in the Glen Eira CRG over the weekend. How can you adequately plan for such diverse areas as Caulfield versus Bentleigh in terms of open space, infrastructure, sunlight in east west streets, versus north south running strips, when a one size fits all approach is adopted?

Below we feature some direct quotes from the Boroondara submission. We have included topic headings but the submission(s) also feature plenty more that we have omitted. Available at:

https://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/media/117461/download?inline

One Size Fits All

Council remains concerned and opposed to the continued use of generic precinct typologies to determine future development outcomes and for the structuring of the BFO (Built Form Overlay) schedule in the commercial core in Ashburton.

As noted in Council’s Phase 2 submission for Stage 1 Centres, Council considers the typology approach is flawed. It misses opportunities to deliver viable, localised urban outcomes – something the Victorian Government should strive for. It is a backward looking methodology which emphasises simplification at the expense of future oriented planning to deliver a positive vision of change.

Key concerns with this approach that remain unaddressed include:

• Future character being linked to existing character rather than consideration of what role a place can play in creating a successful and highly liveable activity centre

• Multiple different future character types (land-use/programming, site response, and building envelope) being tied to or derived from and single existing typology.

• Application of precinct typologies to a single site or very small area that is not a “precinct”.

Affordable housing

The affordable housing obligation must be within the height limits proposed. Council understands that the built form controls and HCTZ are being developed as the appropriate urban design outcome to maximise capacity in these areas.

It would be disingenuous and unacceptable to use affordable housing as a pretext for further increasing controls above what has been proposed as the appropriate outcome.

While affordable housing could be integrated through lower discretionary heights with an uplift for provision of affordable housing, the risks of this are significant. The recent example of developer Assemble seeking to renege on its agreement with State Government to deliver affordability in exchange for uplift illustrates this risk. A better approach is for a mandatory affordability contribution within maximum building heights

Heritage

Consistent with Council’s previous submissions and the recommendations of the Standing Advisory Committee during the ACP Pilot, Council opposes the inclusion of heritage places within the HCTZ (both Inner and Outer Catchment). It results in tension between competing planning controls that is confusing for the community and planners, and does not provide the certainty for developers that the State Government is seeking.

Deemed to comply

Council in principle supports the concept of a simple compliance pathway for high- quality design and development but has significant concerns about how it is proposed to be implemented through the BFO.

While deemed-to-comply standards can be appropriate where they establish an acceptable base level for development outcomes the market is willing to deliver, the draft BFO schedule does not achieve this.

Council submits that several proposed standards would lock in poor and unacceptable development outcomes that Council could not regulate due to their deemed-to-comply nature.

Identified unintended outcomes demonstrate the need for rigorous, place-based testing to inform well-developed and considered deemed-to-comply standards and planning controls.

Consultation

Council notes the online survey has been improved, compared to the Stage 1 consultation, with more questions, more free text opportunities and increased character limit. However, the survey still has significant shortcomings.

Community members have highlighted the closed and leading nature of the questions. The most pertinent example of this is the question “What range of heights do you think are suitable for the core of your area?

The response options for this question, presented as height ranges with the minimum being 6-8 storeys, does not allow the community to express an opinion for anything less than 8 storeys.

For Ashburton where DTP has proposed 8 storeys, all responses can be construed as supporting the proposed heights, even if the respondent would prefer something lower.

It also does not allow respondents to express that different heights are suitable in different parts of the centre.

DTP must not use data from this question or other similarly distorting questions to ‘prove’ there is community support for the proposed planning changes. This would be deceptive and against the principles of open engagement.

Council also notes that the CRG is not a substitute for having an independent expert advisory committee review the proposed plans. It must not be misused to legitimise the process and plans while constraining the members’ ability to provide feedback and have meaningful opportunity to influence outcomes

Featured below is an image detailing the potential outcomes of what this government is planning for our suburbs. Most of the changes impact directly on our quiet residential areas and not necessarily on the commercial zoned sites.

In order to demonstrate the extent of these proposed changes, we’ve produced an image which is based on the current state of play as per our planning scheme. Added to this image, we’ve outlined in red the areas that are now considered for ‘upgrading’ by this government.

Please note carefully:

1. The size of the new ‘borders’ that include countless properties that are zoned NRZ1 – ie height limit of 2 storeys. They will now ALL be available for 3 storeys and if on large sites, the height limit becomes 4 storeys.
2. Many of these sites also are heritage listed, or under a Neighbourhood Character Overlay. Our previous post commented on the lack of clarity as to how heritage sites will be protected under the proposals.
3. Government has now removed the need for visitor car parking. Hence, the possibility of three storey apartment blocks everywhere, with no adequate onsite parking, turns our streets into parking alleys where residents and visitors will battle for parking spots.

The changes impact on probably a thousand sites in just this one activity centre. When this is combined with what is happening throughout the municipality, then it is probably quite feasible to envisage a future where well over 70-80% of our municipality is earmarked for much greater density comprising not townhouses but apartment blocks.

As has been said previously by us and commentators, no thought has been given to sustainability, infrastructure, open space, traffic, and overall quality of life.

If this future frightens you, then please make your concerns known to this council. Insist on some real fight, and full transparency in everything they are doing. Silence is consent after all!