Toolern Activity Centre
Toolern represents Melbourne’s best opportunity to develop a fully integrated, transport orientated, mixed use town centre development. The Toolern Growth Area will create a new community of approximately 60,000 people and is expected to bring the future population of Melton Township to 120,000 people. To put this in perspective, Ballarat has approximately 88,000 residents, Greater Shepparton has approximately 59,000 residents and Mildura has approximately 51,000 residents.
Melbourne’s West
The Shire of Melton is one of the fastest growing suburbs in Australia. This trend has triggered new infrastructure investment in the region including the recently completed Deer Park Bypass. During 2009, the Victorian Government released multiple reports and strategies that all point to future growth for Melbourne’s western region. These include Melbourne @ 5 Million , the Victorian Transport Plan and Delivering Melbourne’s Newest Sustainable Communities .
In June 2009, the VIctorian Government released their proposed Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) which significantly expands the Melton - Carlline Springs Growth area to connect the Melton Township with Metropolitain Melbourne.
The Victorian Transport Strategy identifies further new infrastructure for Melton and the western region to service future growth. The completion of the new Regional Rail Link and the electrification of the line to Sunbury will provide more trains and allow services to Melton to be doubled. The Melton line upgrade will include new train stations, duplication and electrification of the line, providing increased services.
The Outer Metropolitan Ring Transport Corridor will connect Avalon Airport with the Tullamarine Airport and the Port of Geelong. The future alignment of this corridor will run north south through the Shire of Melton acting as a further catalyst for development.
The new infrastructure identified for the region and extensive areas of new residential land will support the continuing trend of high population growth in the western suburbs. The Toolern Activity Centre will be centrally located within the new growth corridor, further enhancing its role within Melbourne’s West.
Toolern Growth Area
The Toolern Growth Area is located in the Melton – Caroline Springs Growth Corridor, one of the 5 Growth Areas of Melbourne. The Toolern Growth Area is being implemented through the Toolern Precinct Structure Plan which was odopted by the Shire of Melton in October 2008.
The Growth Areas Authority, the state government body responsible for the creation and implantation of PSP’s, is currently preparing the final documentation required for incorporating the document into the Melton Planning Scheme. It is expected that this will be completed by late 2009.
Covering approximately 2500 hectares in the Shire of Melton, the Toolern Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) is the largest PSP prepared for any of the Melbourne Growth Areas. The plan will deliver approximately 24,000 new dwellings for 60,000 new residents and facilitate more than 30,000 local jobs over the next 20 years.
The PSP includes 5 activity centres, including 1 Major Activity Centre (MAC). The MAC is strategically concentrated on both sides of the rail corridor and will include a new railway station in order to deliver a transport orientated development. The Toolern PSP identifies the future population of the Toolern and surrounding areas will create demand for 70,000sqm of retail floorspace and 10,000sqm of bulky goods retail floorspace within the MAC.
The MAC includes a number of sub-precincts which are all ‘mixed use’ in character but with an identified primary use. The primary location for retail floorspace is within the ‘Mixed Use Retail Core’ which the Toolern PSP identifies as being located on 201 Ferris Road, Melton South. This property has frontage to Ferris Road, which will be the gateway to the new community.
The Mixed Use Retail Core will include:
a. Up to 4 supermarkets at 3-4000sqm each.
b. Up to 3 discount department stores to a total of 15,000sqm
c. Small scale department store of 8-10,000sqm
d. Specialty shops including mini-major retail stores forming approximately 30,000sqm.
In addition to retail development the Mixed Use Retail Core will have a mix of other uses such as office, residential, entertainment and multi storey car parking above ground level to contribute to the urban character of the MAC.
These uses will be mixed through 4-6 storey development throughout the site and concentrated along a Town Centre Main Street. This is consistent with the most progressive planning occurring throughout Australia and internationally. Examples of this in Australia include Rouse Hill in NSW, and the Waterfront City Development in Docklands, Melbourne.
Download more information on the Toolern Vale Development Centre (4.9MB PDF)
