Council opposes Infrastructure Victoria’s push for Macaulay Rd tram extension

The City of Melbourne has maintained Macaulay Rd isn’t a suitable alignment for a tram extension into Kensington in its response to Infrastructure Victoria’s draft 30-year strategy.

Councillors considered council management’s submission to the draft strategy at its May 6 Future Melbourne Committee meeting, where an amended motion was ultimately supported by a majority of councillors.

Infrastructure Victoria released its strategy for public consultation in March this year, which makes 43 recommendations and seven future options relating to a range of areas, including housing, public transport and community infrastructure.

With the state government forecasting around 120,000 new homes in the City of Melbourne by 2051 – more than double the current number – Lord Mayor Nick Reece said Melbourne must be considered a “growth area” in a planning context.

Chief among Infrastructure Victoria’s major transport recommendations affecting the City of Melbourne include delivery of the new Metro 2 train service between Mernda and Newport via Fishermans Bend.

The strategy also makes several recommendations under its push to extend tram lines across the city, including to Fishermans Bend and Arden, where maps display two extensions along Macaulay Rd into Kensington and another to Flemington Bridge Station.

In its submission, the council said that neither its Transport Strategy 2030 nor the Macaulay Structure Plan identified Macaulay Rd as being a “suitable alignment for a tram extension”.

“Alignment at Macaulay Rd would require significant works, including widening of the road bridge over Moonee Ponds Creek,” the council’s submission stated.

However, the council added that the “north-south” high-capacity public transport corridor between Arden St and Flemington Bridge was consistent with its Macaulay and Arden Structure Plans.

For the City of Melbourne to reach the state government’s housing targets, extending public transport to the city’s remaining urban renewal zones in Fishermans Bend, E-Gate, Arden and Macaulay is considered crucial.

Deputy Lord Mayor and the council’s chair of planning Roshena Campbell said while it was “heartening to see a continued focus on delivering critical infrastructure” in the city, she didn’t support the government’s current review of developer contributions.

“I understand the Victorian Government is currently reviewing developer contributions across the state as a means to support delivery of major infrastructure. Now my firm belief is that developer contributions must be returned to deliver infrastructure in the local government area in which they are collected. That just makes sense,” Cr Campbell said.

“It’s clearly the intent of infrastructure contributions. It's fair to the local community, and particularly a community like what we see in the City of Melbourne that is set to grow at a pace, with intensified development and drastic increases in the number of residents," she said.

“Also to support the desires of the developers themselves who want to see investment returned locally in the areas in which they are constructing dwellings.” •