The dead-end road that’s blocking thousands of homes and jobs

Five years after the Victorian government confirmed farmland near Pakenham would become a new hub for jobs and housing, the fields of Officer South remain undisturbed by bulldozers.

The land on Melbourne’s south-eastern fringe has been set aside for a new industrial estate that was estimated to employ 22,000 people, in a part of the city where more than two out of three residents face long commutes to work. It will also include 5000 new homes.

City of Casey administrator Cameron Boardman at the dead end of Thompsons Road. Credit: Joe Armao

Now a local council pushing the project fears that it has stalled because the state government will not commit to building a new road into the area.

The City of Casey has told the Allan government that despite designating Officer South a “state significant employment precinct” years ago, its refusal to commit to extending Thompsons Road means the 22,000 jobs target “cannot be realised”.

“In 2019, the Victorian Planning Authority commenced preparing the Officer South Employment Precinct Structure Plan (PSP), which is expected to provide for approximately 22,000 jobs,” the City of Casey said in a submission to the state’s review of strategic planning. “Five years later, the PSP is yet to be gazetted.”

On top of the slow pace in the approval of that plan, rules prevent development of key parts of the employment precinct until the $800 million Thompsons Road extension is built.

The stalemate illustrates a wider trend of delayed planning approvals in Melbourne’s growth areas, which Casey, the state’s most-populous council, says “is increasing the cost of affordable housing and reducing choice”, and experts complain is an example of serious flaws in Victoria’s planning system.

Casey is also the most car-dependent municipality in Melbourne, with just 28.9 per cent of residents working locally. The Thompsons Road extension is ranked one of the most crucial projects for the city because of its potential to generate tens of thousands of jobs close to home.

It is one of the busiest arterials in Melbourne’s outer south-east, where it runs between Carrum and Cranbourne, but eventually peters out at a dead end in Clyde North.

The rural land earmarked for Officer South lies beyond the dead end, on the eastern side of Cardinia Creek, requiring the construction of an estimated $300 million bridge.

The proposed Officer South employment precinct lies beyond the dead end of Thompsons Road. Credit: Joe Armao

City of Casey administrator Cameron Boardman said the extension was “crucial for our expanding region”.

“It is well understood that Thompsons Road is underdeveloped and unfit for our growing population,” he said.

Tim Peggie, director planning at Ethos Urban, said Officer South was a “massive cul-de-sac” with one road in and out, restricting full development of the precinct.

Several developers have recently bought land in Officer South anticipating its transformation into an industrial precinct, including $21 billion super fund-backed developer ISPT, which bought 79 hectares of former rural land two years ago.

Current planning controls prevent ISPT from developing its land until the state government builds the Thompsons Road extension. The company declined to respond to The Age’s questions, but told a planning panel late last year that the restriction was “unacceptable and unfair”, given there was “no clear time frame on when [it] will be funded and delivered”.

Peggie said the extension of Thompsons Road was critical to enable large-scale development.

“Without the state signalling that it is a priority and committing to this infrastructure, you are left wondering when it is ever going to happen,” he said.

The council, which has been in administration since 2020 and is home to 410,000 people, has blamed the slow pace of planning for pushing up house prices in Melbourne’s growth areas.

“The reducing supply of existing zoned residential land in Melbourne’s growth areas and slow precinct structure plan rollout is increasing the cost of affordable housing and reducing choice,” it said.

Analysis commissioned in 2022 by the Casey and Cardinia councils found the Thompsons Road extension would cost $785 million to build over eight years, and ultimately deliver $90 billion in economic benefits over 30 years, in part by generating 86,000 jobs.

The extension would provide a new arterial road linking the boom suburbs around Cranbourne, with new suburbs in and around Pakenham.

In a joint submission, the two councils said the incomplete and congested road network created barriers to mobility, health, employment and education.

“Rapid population growth in the Casey-Cardinia corridor is leading to record car ownership and increased pressure on the local transport network, gridlocking traffic and affecting commuting through and within the region,” the councils said.

Like many Casey residents, Clyde North resident Ali Zohari commutes long distances for work.Credit: Joe Armao

Signwriter Ali Zohari lives just metres from the dead end of Thompsons Road, in a house he built in Clyde North that he moved into earlier this year.

Since making the move, he no longer has enough time to go to the gym or even complete daily chores. Instead, he spends about two hours a day commuting to and from Mordialloc.

“Traffic is crazy, even in the morning,” Zohari said. “I’m thinking of moving back to Mentone because it takes 50 minutes in the morning, and on the way back it is more than an hour.”

An upgrade to Thompsons Road “is going to be life-saving”, he said.

The Allan government did not respond to a request for comment.

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