What you need to know
In October 2013 the Victorian Racing Club (VRC) and Greenland announced their plan to develop two parcels of land at Flemington Racecourse.
Update 17 February 2017 – Minister for Planning's decision on Advisory Committee report
The Minister for Planning has today released the Flemington Hill and Epsom Road Advisory Committee report and his decision regarding the Victoria Racing Club's (VRC) proposal to rezone and develop two parcels of Flemington Racecourse land.
In summary, the Minister has approved the rezoning of the land to Comprehensive Development Zone. However he has approved substantially reduced scale in terms of building height and density. New Comprehensive Development Plans must be submitted by the VRC and approved by the Minister allowing for:
- Epsom Road site: a single tower of no more than 300 dwellings at a maximum height of 15 storeys.
- Flemington Green site: three towers with a maximum of 520 dwellings and no more than 10 storeys.
The Minister has decided that he will remain the Responsible Authority for approval of the new Comprehensive Development Plans. Once these are approved he will hand back the status of Responsible Authority to Council for consideration of the requisite planning applications in the future.
The Minister has not made any recommendations in relation to the realignment of the municipal boundary between the City of Moonee Valley and the City of Melbourne.
View Questions and Answers from State Government giving more detail about the Minister's decision and what happens next. You can also view the Advisory Committee report.
Our response
On initial reading, we are pleased the Minister for Planning has listened to the advice of the Advisory Committee and to community concerns.
We are particularly pleased the height and density of any future development at both the Flemington Green and Epsom Road sites have been substantially reduced.
We support the Minister's decision regarding the amount of open space and affordable housing required within any future development, as well as developer contributions to fund local community facilities and upgrades.
While more analysis will need to be done through an Integrated Transport Study before a decision on final development outcomes is made by the Minister, we will continue to seek a resolution regarding the impacts on traffic, parking and transport.
It will be important that key traffic bottlenecks are addressed, particularly at the Racecourse and Epsom Roads roundabout, and that public transport needs are considered, in conjunction with Public Transport Victoria and VicRoads.
In addition we welcome the Minister's decision to ultimately hand back the status of Responsible Authority to Council for consideration of planning permit applications in the future.
Our focus will continue to be working with all stakeholders to ensure the best possible outcome for the local community, and on keeping the community fully informed throughout the process.