Epping Activity Centre

Activity centres are community hubs where people shop, work, meet, relax and often live. They range in size, from local neighbourhood shopping strips to centres with universities and major shopping malls. They are places with lots of job options, services and housing, and good transport connections.

Find out more about activity centres on the Department of Transport and Planning website.

The catchment is the area around the activity centre. It is home to the locals who use the activity centre on a regular basis to shop, work and connect with family and friends. Because the catchment is close to the jobs, services, and transport of the activity centre, it can also accommodate more new homes.

The Victorian Government is introducing clear new rules to deliver 60,000 more homes in and around an initial 10 activity centres across Melbourne: Broadmeadows, Camberwell Junction, Chadstone, Epping, Frankston, Moorabbin, Niddrie (Keilor Road), North Essendon, Preston (High Street) and Ringwood.

This is part of Victoria’s Housing Statement, a plan to improve housing affordability by tackling the root of the problem: not enough housing choice.

The 10 activity centres in the Activity Centres Program are a mix of neighbourhoods in the middle and outer suburbs of Melbourne. The Victorian Government chose them because they are great locations for more housing, have good transport connections and will benefit from State Government involvement to create clearer rules to increase housing choice.

Once in place, our clear new rules will allow more high-quality homes to be built within walking distance of the jobs, services and transport connections your neighbourhood has to offer.

This change won’t all happen at once. New homes will be built over the next two to 25 years as people choose to sell or develop their land.

This project will also guide investment in the things a growing community needs like improved streets, parks and community infrastructure.

This project will build on the City of Whittlesea’s Epping Central Structure Plan. We will look at what the council learnt about Epping from the community to guide our clear new rules.

Our clear new rules will balance the urgent need for more housing with the need to protect areas of heritage significance. The plans will draw from state and local rules about heritage, creating more housing choice while being sensitive to heritage.

We know the Epping community has been consulted extensively over the past few years about the future of your area.

The City of Whittlesea has already consulted with the Epping community and developed a plan for the future of Epping, the Epping Central Structure Plan. This project will build on the council’s work.

Insights from the council’s recent community consultation, as well as input from the council, will inform the development of clear new rules for the area.

We want to ensure we hear a broad range of views from the community while planning for the future of Epping.

We have established a Community Reference Group (CRG) where community representatives can discuss and provide their input. We will hold two Community Reference Group meetings in Epping during 2024.

Applications to join our Epping Community Reference Group have closed. We will report on the findings from the group’s meetings throughout 2024.

The local council will consider planning applications and assess them according to the new rules.

Some applications may be eligible for Victoria’s Development Facilitation Program if they are considered to be significant developments. The program offers faster planning approvals where the Minister for Planning is the decision maker. Decisions made under the Development Facilitation Program are made in consultation with the community, councils and other key stakeholders.

Find out more about Victoria’s Development Facilitation Program at planning.vic.gov.au/planning-approvals/development-facilitation-program

In September 2023, the Victorian Government released Victoria’s Housing Statement: The decade ahead 2024-2034, setting a target to build 800,000 homes in Victoria over the next decade. It’s a simple proposition: build more homes, and they’ll be more affordable.

Find out more about Victoria’s Housing Statement at vic.gov.au/housing-statement.

The Victorian Government is updating Plan Melbourne – the Victorian Government’s current city strategy spanning 2017-2050 – and expanding it to cover the whole state. A new plan for Victoria will set into action what our state will look like over the coming decades. It will focus on delivering more homes near transport, job opportunities and essential services in vibrant, liveable, and sustainable neighbourhoods.

And as part of that work, it’s important that as many Victorians as possible can have their say on how our state grows in the years to come. There will be opportunities to have your say on a new plan for Victoria in 2024. Find out more at engage.vic.gov.au/developing-a-new-plan-for-victoria