It needs to stop - we now have Phase 2 Train and Tram Zone Activity Centres
While we were all watching our brilliant Socceroos playing Paraguay, filling us with pride and joy, Jacinta Allen and her Government released Phase 2 Train and Tram Zone Activity Centres.
Can we expect another unwelcome surprise when our Socceroos play Egypt?
Phase 2 Train and Tram Zone Activity Centres
The following is directly from the ‘Engage Victoria’ website.
Program Commonly Asked Questions :
How do I know if my home is part of a train and tram zone activity centre?
We’re showing draft maps with proposed ‘core’ and ‘catchment’ boundaries for each centre.
If your home property is within these boundaries, your home may be rezoned or have overlay changes applied to it, which could allow for different heights to be built there in the future.
How will you ensure that housing is affordable?
Most new homes in activity centres will be built by private developers and landowners, not by the Victorian Government. The Train and Tram Zone Activity Centres Program will provide certainty to these developers about the types of homes that can be built and where.
How big will my activity centre be?
We’re now sharing proposed boundary maps for the core and catchment for these areas.
• Blackburn to Mitcham – Blackburn, Nunawading and Mitcham stations
• Caulfield to Bentleigh and Elsternwick – Caulfield, Glen Huntly, Ormond, Bentleigh and Elsternwick stations
• Hawksburn to Malvern and Toorak Village – Hawksburn, Toorak, Armadale and Malvern stations, and Toorak Village
• Mentone – Mentone station
• Riversdale to Willison and Ashburton – Riversdale, Willison and Ashburton stations
• South Yarra to Windsor – South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor stations
• Springvale to Dandenong – Springvale, Noble Park, Yarraman and Dandenong stations.
What are the new planning tools for train and tram zone activity centres?
We have created two new planning tools to allow the delivery of more homes in train and tram zone activity centres.
1. A new Built Form Overlay (BFO) has been developed to make planning controls in ‘cores’ clearer and more consistent across Melbourne. The overlay sets out building heights and design rules, and introduces a new streamlined planning pathway to allow more homes to be built faster. If an application is ‘deemed’ to comply’ with the BFO standards, it cannot be refused a permit on the basis of those standards.
2. The new Housing Choice and Transport Zone (HCTZ) has been developed to enable a diversity of housing in the catchments, and other well-serviced locations with convenient access to jobs, public transport and services. The HCTZ only applies to residential zoned land.
What are the 'deemed to comply' standards?
Proposals within the Built Form Overlay (BFO) that meet the building height, street wall height, and setback requirements will be assessed against a ‘deemed to comply’ planning application pathway.
Under this pathway, if an application meets the deemed to comply standards, then that planning application cannot be refused on the basis of those standards.
‘Deemed to comply’ standards also exist in other planning initiatives, for example the Townhouse and Low-Rise Code and the new Mid-Rise Code.
Can you explain the planning application process for train and tram zone activity centres?
Under this new approach, applications for new developments within the BFO would not be subject to a public notice period. This means council would not notify nearby landowners and occupiers about the planning application, nor provide 14 days to lodge an objection.
Will I still be able to object or appeal an application?
In the core, if the Built Form Overlay (BFO) is applied, it is likely that there will be no third-party notice and review related to matters such as heights and setbacks.
What are you doing to manage car parking issues that will come from higher density housing?
Recently announced car parking reforms adopt a new approach to car parking that generally reduces car parking rates proportionate to existing public transport access… and will reduce traffic congestion by encouraging fewer cars to come and go in busy areas.
The cost to provide parking within apartment and townhouse development can increase the cost to build by more than 10%, and add 15% to rental prices. So, reducing carparking requirements will reduce the cost to deliver homes proposed train and tram zone activity centres.
WE ALL DESERVE access to the home we want in the neighbourhood we want. We are never going to get that with Jacinta Allen.
NO JACINTA ALLEN : No to
· No notice period + No advertising
· Planning Permit Applications posted without the details of proposed towers height and mass
· No community notification or consultation
· Mega visual blocks – towers that are too high, too much, too overwhelmingly too imposing.
· Blocks sunlight to homes
· Not in keeping with the character or history of the neighbourhood
· Overlooking from every angle
· Overshadowing – plunging local streets & homes into darkness
· Noise intrusion
· Visual intrusion - reflected glare from the sun and the building materials
· A mega block of artificial lights from all views
· “sham’ affordable housing ( $1M+ apartments )
· Every dwelling does not have a car park - where are all residents and shoppers going to park ?
· “Fake Traffic Assessment”
· “Fake Activity Centre” definition
· Local infrastructure and services pressure chaos
· Car parking and traffic management pressure chaos
· AND a traffic assessment to be done by the developer 6 months post build
REJECT Jacinta Allen and her forcing on us, housing towers and Activity Centres in 210 locations across Victoria.
RETURN our democratic rights to participate in our lawful Planning Scheme process for all Victorians.
They all need to go- we cannot leave people in decision making positions that are not standing up for and protecting us, the voting public.
Reject the State Government Overreach + Reject Local Council for not objecting to it
What we have done :
- Letter of Objection for: Department of Planning and Transport
- Change Org Petition commenced April 6th, 2026
- Letter of Objection: Presentation to Council Urban Planning Meeting (April 20th, 2026 )
- Letter of Objection / Complaint : Victorian Ombudsman ( May 26th , 2026 )
- Letter of Complaint : IBAC ( May 27th , 2026 )
- Flyers ( publicly distributed in my community ) + Maildrops in my neighbourhood
- Participated in the Victorian State Parliament Liberal Opposition presenting a “disallowance motion” to get rid of the Jacinta Allen State Government mega Activity Centre developments continuing across all of Victoria.
What has our Local Council done :
April 20th, 2026 Urban Planning Delegated Committee Meeting - Boroondara Council decision :
· CR SOPHIE TORNEY put forth the motion that the development proceeds with the Council Town Planners’ suggestions : “ Motion Carried “ for Kew Village
· Our Council did not ‘battle for its residents’.
· Our Council made a ‘submission’ to the State Government; they did not OBJECT.
Do not be distracted or listen to political spin, listen for yourselves :
Urban Planning Delegated Committee Meeting - 20 April 2026 starts at 2 hours and 23 minutes in.
Boroondara Council Meeting : April 20th – It is available on YouTube, I was there, I participated and I heard our Councillors debate ‘the fine wording of their submission to State Government’.
Our Council did not push back on this State Government in any way or object in any meaningful way – “they have concerns” – such a woeful, inadequate and worthless stance.
For all of us in Boroondara, be clear and intentional. CR SOPHIE TORNEY championed the 18 storey tower / mega development we are going to be forever subjected to. CR TORNEY can do nothing for us in Victoria.
This is our home and our neighbourhoods are life foundations.
Do not waste your vote, we can make a change – a difference.
Check what your local Council has done for you.
There are Councils that actually listen and care about their residents and their local community : “Bayside Council has done what every ratepayer secretly dreams of : marched into court and said, ‘Show us the documents’.
Bayside has gone to the Supreme Court seeking the ministerial briefs and advice behind the decision to reshape suburbs like Brighton, Hampton and Brighton East. And fair enough. If the State Government wants to bulldoze local planning controls, the public deserves to know what homework was actually done.
This is not anti-housing. It is pro-transparency.
Big reforms need big disclosure. If the plans are so brilliant, release the evidence. If the public has nothing to fear, the government should have nothing to hide./ Council Watch Victoria Inc.
Council Watch Victoria Inc : planning scheme changes = more properties = valuer general measures = council rate them and collect the taxes = the State can tax or capture it.
Participate / have a say in the Phase 2 Tram Zone Activity Centres consultation sessions if they are happening.
Send Jacinta Allen down the highway on Election Day - November Saturday November 28th, 2026.
WE ARE ALL TAKING THE EXIT OFF.
WE ALL DESERVE access to the home we want in the neighbourhood we want. We are never going to get that with Jacinta Allen.
Activity Centres are a ‘sham’ housing strategy : more corruption and more of our money to them to keep them in power.
Who is building these fast-tracked Activity Centre towers – private developers and Jacinta’s builder mates?
It is NOW OUR TURN to exercise those rights and stand up for ourselves and our community.
MAKE YOU VOTE COUNT. Elections have consequences, we need to elect a Premier who has decision making power with a team around them.
Our little narrow, one-way Brougham Street residents that will be subjected to all the construction traffic and then permanent traffic off our Kew Village mega development, met with Jess Wilson, to ask her if she could help us. ( I will add the photos to social media).
As Premier, Jess Wilson will Reject Activity Centres, ‘tear up’ Jacinta Allen’s mandatory ‘activity centre’ planning reforms. and restore our democratic rights.
Jess Wilson has posted her housing plan online:
1. Scrap stamp duty for first home buyers up to $1M.
2. More home in suburbs close to the CBD, including Collingwood, Fitzroy and North Melbourne.
3. Unlock up to 50,000 new homes across regional Victoria.
4. Fast-track new suburbs and release more land for housing.
5. Back council-led housing plans and restore the voice of residents in local planning decisions.
6. Spend growth area infrastructure funding on roads, schools and services in the communities where it is collected.