Bayside Council joins push to scrap Suburban Rail Loop

A Victorian council that represents the community around a Suburban Rail Loop station precinct is calling for Premier Jacinta Allan to put an “immediate stop” to the $34.5bn project.

A Victorian council that represents the community around a Suburban Rail Loop station precinct has called for Premier Jacinta Allan to put an “immediate stop” to the project.

Bayside Council, which includes suburbs such as Brighton, Hampton, Beaumaris and Highett, voted on Tuesday to formally oppose the $34.5bn rail line being built between Cheltenham and Box Hill.

The decision came after consideration of a precinct structure plan published by the SRL Authority, which paves the way for 18-storey developments around a new station and medium rise developments in streets that are within its borders.

The motion voted for by councillors calls for Bayside to oppose the Suburban Rail Loop project “in its entirety” and write to the Premier “seeking an immediate stop to the program”.

Jacinta Allan continues to back the SRL. Picture: Wayne Taylor

It formalises the council’s opposition to the SRL and the way it has steamrolled local government planning to create a new precinct with an extra 11,400 people.

Councillor Geoff Leigh, who was a state Liberal MP between 1983 and 2002 but ran as an independent at the past local government election, put forward the motion.

He told the Herald Sun the SRL was part of a suite of actions by a “dictatorial” government that cut out local voices from planning decisions.

He also took aim at population targets, and plans for new activity centres with high rises near existing rail stations, saying the size of the municipality wasn’t designed to cater to a huge influx of people.

A render of the proposed Cheltenham station precinct.

“We are going to be Collingwood by the sea,” he said.

“We have no say in it, they have taken control of everything and it’s an order by decree.”

The motion adopted by the council notes the draft Suburban Rail Loop Precinct Structure Plan and supporting technical reports compiled by the Suburban Rail Loop Authority.

That precinct structure plan forecasts population in Cheltenham to go from 9400 in 2021 to 20,800 by 2041, and jobs to soar by 12,000 by the same year.

A spokeswoman for the SRL Authority said community feedback had shaped a decision to reduce heights of buildings around the new Cheltenham station and parts of Highett, and that further feedback would be “carefully reviewed” to plan for the future of the area.

She said the 26km SRL East would deliver 70,000 new homes.close to transport, jobs and essential services.

An Allan government spokesman took a swipe at “Liberal councillors” and said tunnel boring for the project would kick off next year.