The high-rise towers planned for this bayside suburb will shock most people, residents say

Towers up to 18 storeys tall will one day soar above what is now parkland in the bayside suburb of Cheltenham.

The state government says the plan, alongside its high-rise intentions for the five other suburbs set to host Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) stations, will address housing shortages and take the pressure off Melbourne’s growing outer suburbs.

Rosemary West, Janina Wierzbicki and Doug Klein are concerned about proposed planning changes. Credit: Jason South

But some residents say the raft of planning changes needed to encourage higher-density living will alter the suburb for the worse.

“The idea that you would have 18 storeys in Cheltenham would really shock most people,” Kingston Residents Association vice president Rosemary West said.

“It’s absolutely totally at odds with the character of Cheltenham and way beyond what anyone would have expected when they moved in.

“People tell me, ‘This is not St Kilda, and if I wanted to live somewhere like that I would have moved there’, but they like the character here.”

The draft structure plan map for Cheltenham.

Premier Jacinta Allan on Monday revealed draft structure plans for Cheltenham, Clayton, Glen Waverley, Burwood, Monash and Box Hill, showing that some of the proposed heights for high-rise apartment and office towers have been slightly scaled back since last year.

In Cheltenham, the plan will allow for towers of up to 18 storeys above the proposed new SRL station. Height limits along Bay Road – a residential area that includes one and two-storey homes – have been set at eight storeys.

Highett resident Doug Klein, who lives on a street where height limits will be raised, said he was concerned there was no clear plan to replace lost green space.

“Affordable housing is meant to be the reason for this, but we’re going to build a lot of expensive apartments – do people really want to live there?” he said.

“I think for a lot of people, the appeal of the area is decentralisation, the leafy streets and the parks – that appeal will be reduced.

“People are very worried at the moment; they can’t see where it’s going to end up.”

Bayside Mayor Hanna El Mouallem said that despite the reduction in planned building heights in some areas, there were significant concerns about the SRL project and flagged potential traffic chaos along Bay Road.

“We are particularly concerned with the lack of detail on any increases in open space, transport infrastructure, community services and facilities to service the additional population,” he said.

But Jonathan O’Brien, for the pro-development advocacy group YIMBY Melbourne, said the new precincts reflected the housing growth the city needed.

The draft structure plan map for Box Hill.

“The reality is that in order for our city to continue to be one of the engines of our nation’s economy, it needs to be able to grow and change,” he said.

“Yes, suburbs do change, but we what we know is that once things are built people are usually pretty content with it,” he said.

Maps for Box Hill show the preferred maximum building heights near the stations would be 133 metres – or up to 40 storeys – while areas adjacent to the station would have a maximum height of 85 metres.

In Burwood, buildings up to 69 metres – 20 storeys – would be allowed near the new SRL station, but limits in surrounding areas have been pared back to between 25 and 41 metres.

The draft structure plan map for Monash.

The documents reveal building heights in Clayton would also be up to 20 storeys, while towers above Glen Waverley station are expected to reach 25 storeys (84 metres).

In Monash, buildings would also be up to 84 metres near the proposed new station along Normanby Road, while heights in surrounding areas have been reduced to 69 metres.

A new round of community consultation is being carried out with public hearings expected later this year. The government expects the proposed planning scheme amendments to be finalised in 2026.

Allan said the planning changes would allow more homes to be built near transport and jobs to take the pressure off the outer suburbs.

The draft structure plan map for Burwood.

“Building world-class public transport and building affordable homes around it – it just makes sense,” she said. “This is the vision that the Suburban Rail Loop delivers.”

The $35 billion SRL East project is in its early stages. Major tunnelling contracts have been signed, and is expected that digging will begin in 2026.

Questions remain over how a large part of the project will be funded. The state is expecting a third of its cost to be paid by the Commonwealth and another third to be raised by charges around the precincts, known as value capture.

The government says up to 70,000 new homes are planned to be built around the Suburban Rail Loop activity centres.

The draft structure plan map for Clayton.

SRL Minister Harriet Shing said the government would keep working with communities and taking local feedback “every step of the way”.

“As construction at six brand new Suburban Rail Loop station sites continues, we are planning for the services, open spaces and connections that locals have told us are important to them, closer to home,” she said.

Opposition housing spokesman Richard Riordan said the changes would mean people living in high-rise towers without the amenity and services needed.

“The Allan government isn’t listening, instead they’ve come out every day for the last 10 days telling Victorians that building towners on train stations on top of train stations is a solution for the housing crisis. It simply isn’t,” he said.

The draft structure plan map for Glen Waverley.