Glen Eira Debates

Melbourne Racing Club claims $195m Mount Scopus deal imperiled by council levy

By Lachlan Abbott

September 29, 2025 — 6.58pm

Melbourne Racing Club has vowed to press on with a debt-clearing deal to sell a $195 million slice of Caulfield Racecourse to a private school despite telling a tribunal that a council levy had put the plan at risk.

The MRC has taken Glen Eira City Council to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal challenging conditions on a subdivision permit required to sell land along Kambrook Road to Mount Scopus Memorial College.

It has asked the tribunal to scrap the estimated $3 million public open space contribution normally imposed on subdivisions, arguing it went against the levy’s purpose of promoting greenery alongside residential, industrial or commercial development.

“This is an extraordinary impost for a proposal that is no more than an internal boundary realignment,” the MRC said in its submission, obtained by The Age.

The racing club then suggested the entire Mount Scopus plan could be in jeopardy if the tribunal didn’t amend the approved planning permit.

“The alternative is to retain condition 11 in its current form and thereby to impose a substantial unwarranted burden on MRC that could imperil the proposal the condition is otherwise intended to allow.”

But when contacted by The Age on Monday, an MRC spokesman backed away from the club’s lawyers’ submission that the open space levy imperiled the land deal and was adamant the transaction would proceed.

“What we can confirm is that the Mount Scopus project is progressing and remains firmly on track. This is a routine VCAT process regarding conditions on an already approved permit, and any finding from VCAT will in no way impact the project. Both the MRC and Mount Scopus remain committed to completing the transaction.”

The MRC announced a 7.5-hectare land sale last December, but it is still not finalised as the school has two years to settle.

The deal would give Mount Scopus, a private Jewish school, a land tract which runs the length of the western area of Caulfield Racecourse – from Station Street along Kambrook and Booran roads to Glen Eira College – and allow it to consolidate three campuses into one in Melbourne’s Jewish heartland.

A subdivision was required before the sale as an existing northern parcel within the larger proposed development site included administration buildings and track access that the MRC needs to keep.

The larger slice of the subdivided block, which is mainly now a car park, is slated for Mount Scopus in a future completed sale.

The deal is crucial for the racing club and chairman John Kanga, who dramatically took control of the $1 billion MRC last year and soon announced the sale of old training facilities to Mount Scopus to help clear the club’s debt.

The MRC’s annual report released last week showed debt had increased to $178 million.

In its submissions to VCAT, the MRC conceded its request to not pay the open space levy was “novel and unusual” but argued the circumstances – in which part of the land “might one day be used for a school” – were unique as well.

The entity leading the Mount Scopus development, Project Generation Ltd, also joined the VCAT case to oppose a condition requiring the new owner of the subdivided parcel on Kambrook Road to enter into a covenant with the Heritage Council that blocked any new buildings.

PGL argued it could have a devastating impact on Mount Scopus’ transformative project and was unnecessary.

“This potentially renders the site too small for PGL’s purposes and threatens the commercial feasibility of the project,” the submission said.

But on Monday, Scopus Foundation president David Gold said Heritage Victoria had withdrawn its covenant condition.

Mount Scopus hopes to enrol the first students at its new campus in 2030.

“We’d been told it was no longer an issue,” he said.

A spokesman for Heritage Victoria said a heritage permit would still be required for any development proposal.

Acclaimed New York-based architect Daniel Libeskind has been brought in to design the new Mount Scopus campus, and more detailed development plans are expected to be finalised in November.

A spokeswoman for Glen Eira City Council declined to comment on the ongoing dispute with the MRC over the open space levy.

The VCAT decision on that matter is expected in the coming weeks after a hearing was held on September 8 and 9.

Source: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-racing-club-claims-195m-mount-scopus-deal-imperiled-by-council-levy-20250924-p5mxix.html

COMMENTS

It’s a bit rich for the MRC to complain about a potential $3M open space levy when over the years they have been granted extraordinary largesse from both government and Glen Eira council. Here are some facts that have garnered the MRC millions thanks to council and government:

1. land swap that facilitated the development of the Caulfield Village
2. The development plan accepted by council that imposed a rare gift – open space levies of only 4 and 5 percent.
3. The latest development plan included a ‘built to rent’ for over 400 new apartments. No open space levy paid on that!
4. Decades of subsidised council rate payments on the land
5. Increasing encroachment of crown land by the MRC – ie second race track, more events hence less public access, etc.
6. There is heaps more that could be added to the above!

With the end of the year fast approaching, we are still waiting for the State Gov to release the information on the 50 activity centres that will be earmarked for developments ranging from 3 to 20 storeys. If past history is any guide, then we suspect the publication of these centres will appear Christmas Eve or possibly New Year’s Eve!

If by some miracle they come earlier, we can be sure they will again be bereft of detail, strategic justification, or accompanied by any important data such as traffic analyses, overshadowning data, etc. We anticipate that several of our activity centres will be added to the list following the recent inclusion of Moorabbin as one activity centre.

It’s perfect timing for the State Gov, with the festive season in full swing and holidays to occupy people’s minds.

CLICK THE ABOVE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Our reaction to the above is basically unease and a questioning of how appropriate such actions are from a sitting Glen Eira councillor.  Athanasopolous’ record at Glen Eira is highlighted by his far too frequent absences from both council meetings and assembly meetings as well as his unabashed and consistent support for development and more development.  To now spend all this time in campaigning for another council whilst still being paid by Glen Eira residents does not sit well with us.

Athanasopolous is clearly a ‘political animal’ following in his brother’s footsteps at Kingston and its large Greek community. Nothing wrong with this, except for the timing and his current role as a Glen Eira councillor. Perhaps the 40 or so nominated hours of campaigning could be better spent attending to his Glen Eira duties?!!!!!!

What do you think?

The government has gazetted the changes to council wards for numerous municipalities today. Glen Eira will now have 9 wards and one councillor for each ward. What this means for future candidates is the $64 question.

Below is the map which outlines the new wards and their boundaries. CLICK TO ENLARGE!

For Glen Eira it doesn’t seem to matter that over 7000 individuals signed an online petition to keep the early learning centres open, or that a hard copy petition of over 2000 was recently tabled at council meetings. Further, that 94% of participants in the online surveys also were of this viewpoint, plus letters from MP’s and other organisations. The recommendation remains that these centres be closed.

The only compromise was that instead of a December 2023 closure, this be delayed until March 2024! How magnanimous!!!!!

The report highlights again and again ‘financial viability’ and that maintaining the centres will amount to a cost to council of nearly $600,000 per annum. With a 94% of responses in favour of keeping the centres open, council still finds it appropriate to state:

Whilst acknowledging the views and feedback expressed by directly impacted staff, families and the community, additional information has not come to light which materially alters the assessment that the combination of factors surrounding Council’s service provision still present unresolvable challenges for Council to continue deliver a contemporary, financially viable ELC service.

Council has also rejected the option of building a new hub, stating:

Initial estimates of the capital investment that would be required to construct a child and family hub on the Murrumbeena ELC site was conservatively estimated at $9.5M if the infrastructure project was built in 2024, rising to $10.04M if it was built in 2025. However, this could be higher depending on construction industry pricing escalation trends.

Consequently, the costs associated with building a new centre would have significant impact on Council’s budget and would reduce the capacity of Council to meet its current infrastructure commitments, including investment to unlock more open space, infrastructure improvements in Glen Eira’s parks and the ability to effectively maintain existing assets such as roads, footpaths, and community facilities.

Even with the potential for a $4.5M government grant the conclusion is – Council’s adopted Long Term Financial Plan has no budget provision for major building investments relating to the three ELCs.

What this final sentence does not acknowledge of course is that councils are free to amend their long term financial plans as they see fit and has been done repeatedly in the past.

As far as the consultation feedback report goes, we again have been denied the raw data, all the comments and emails. The employee consultation is deemed ‘confidential’ so all we get is a very short ‘summary’!!!!!!

If the only option to cut costs is seen as removing services, then we are in deep trouble. Yes, there are financial constraints on all councils, and yes, costs are rising. But how hard has this council tried to either increase their revenue, or cut costs in other areas? Staff numbers keep rising; consultant costs keep rising; and imposing levies on developers for car parking waivers, and community infrastructure both remain in the land of never-never.  Council’s simple solution is to withdraw services from the most vulnerable (aged care) and child care. Surely it should be up to communities to determine which services they believe should be subsidised and not a bunch of bureaucrats who earn over $200,000 per annum and a CEO who is rumoured to be on about $450,000 per year! Whilst other councils include statements about ‘savings’ in their budgets and annual reports, we can find nothing of this ilk in anything Glen Eira publishes.

What has also occurred here is the cart before the horse scenario. Our priorities consultation is yet to be published so that this decision is made BEFORE the community response is available – this assumes of course that the ‘consultation’ asked relevant questions!!!! Similar things occurred with structure planning and land use frameworks prior to the endorsement of the Housing Strategy. It would seem that this orchestrated approach is there to ensure that predetermined decisions are cemented despite what the community might think and want.

It is now over to councillors to make their decision. We can only hope that their primary objective is to represent the thousands of constituents who want this service to remain.