For Immediate Release

22 July 2026

Activity Centre Gazettal Marks the end of Melbourne as the Most Liveable City

Liveable Victoria says the gazettal of the 23 Activity Centre maps marks the completion of a program that will permanently diminish the liveability of Melbourne’s suburbs. Together with the 35 Activity Centres already gazetted, SRL East housing precincts, and the possible announcement of another 150 Activity Centres, a radically-reshaped Melbourne has been planned by the Government. 

Liveable Victoria’s President Jane Oldham said:

“Victoria needs more housing. But Victorians do not need to choose between more housing and liveability. Good planning will deliver both.”

Gazettal represents a final step in the authoritarian planning of an unrecognisable city. Towers soaring above 16 storeys in Blackburn and Toorak Village, 20 storeys in Caulfield, and 3-6 storey apartments in ‘catchments’ up to 1km around them, will create suburbs of apartments with few trees, little private outdoor space, less privacy, less sunlight and inadequate infrastructure.

“These maps are about accommodating more buildings, not creating liveable communities where people want to live and work. We need to plan for growth in a way that ensures that what makes neighbourhoods liveable today, such as tree canopy, open space, heritage, community facilities, infrastructure, climate resilience and neighbourhood character, are retained.”

The statewide alliance said the Government continues to promise that Activity Centres will deliver housing affordability for those locked-out today. Yet councils, a parliamentary inquiry, independent experts and even developers have acknowledged affordability will not be delivered.

“The uncomfortable truth is that simply rezoning land does not deliver housing supply nor affordability,” Ms Oldham said.

The organisation said that the Activity Centre Program had failed to collaborate with local councils and meaningfully consider their existing alternatives plans for housing growth. Ms Oldham continued:

“Strategic, council-led localised planning, developed with communities rather than imposed on them, leads to much better outcomes.

“Our message is simple. We can increase housing supply while preserving the liveability that makes Melbourne one of the world’s great cities.”

The organisation also renewed its call for governments to significantly expand public housing, describing it as the most effective way to improve affordability for those most in need.

For more information contact:

Jane Oldham, President, Liveable Victoria, 0416 299 776, [email protected]

Ian Morgans, Secretary, Liveable Victoria, 0400 872 193, [email protected]

WHAT LIVEABLE VICTORIA SUPPORTERS HAVE SAID

Anne Kilpatrick, Glen Eira Historical Society:

“Vast swathes of Glen Eira (between 60-70% estimated) are covered by the Activity Centres including much of the residential areas anywhere near the vicinity of railway lines.  Glen Eira will be forever changed, not to mention the impact on infrastructure and the environment.

Extensive Inner and Outer catchments across a number of Activity Centres where some of the boundaries are well over a 8-10 minute walk to train station or tram stop eg Elsternwick and Murrumbeena.

Many of Council’s Heritage Reviews submitted to the Minister for Planning have not been actioned, leading to growing doubts that those proposed heritage places are going to be protected in Activity Centres. two have been with the Minister for Planning since May 2023 and March 2024. We have concerns that the Structure Plan will be disregarded.”

Nick Talbot, Boroondara Community group

“The inclusion of Riversdale and Willison as Activity Centres is impossible to justify.  They have little ‘activity’ beyond their train stations, yet this decision opens the door to 4-6 storey apartments in the surrounding area made up of predominantly single-storey homes.

Ashburton residents are dismayed the Government ignored calls to limit High Street to six storeys. They also question how a single-track railway line to Alamein, with limited connections to other transport routes, qualifies as an Activity Centre.

Considerable lack of certainty exists regarding the actual heights that will be built when heights in Activity Centre maps are discretionary rather than mandatory.  Boroondara has already experienced the Minister for Planning approving heights exceeding those in the maps under the Development Facilitation Program.”

David Morrison, Combined Residents of Whitehorse Action Group:

“The phase 2 Activity Centre plans include modest improvements, with slightly reduced heights near Blackburn’s Significant Landscape Overlays (SLO) area, minor changes in Nunawading, and little change in Mitcham. Encroachment of SLO proposed in phase 1 were removed after strong campaigning by organised community groups, Council, and individuals. However, CROWAG members believe these limited gains came through a flawed process, with the community largely unheard, no independent review of the plans’ rationale or assumptions, and future residents losing third-party rights to influence Activity Centre planning outcomes.”

Liveable Moonee Valley:

“Despite engaging with Essendon and Niddrie MPs, LMV remains disappointed by the lack of clarity in response to community concerns about the impact of these reforms and the North Essendon and Niddrie Activity Centres. We are extremely concerned that decisions will proceed without transparency, genuine community and council consultation, or the infrastructure investment needed to support growth.”

END