Cheltenham is growing, and we need to plan now to cater for this growth in the decades ahead, actively delivering more homes and jobs where people want to live. As Australia’s largest housing project, Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) will not only connect our suburbs and slash travel times, it will ensure our city grows in the right places, supporting the delivery of more housing choice on the doorstep of world-class public transport, services, jobs, schools, parks and cafés.

The Vision for Cheltenham sets out the long-term aspiration for the precinct to cater for anticipated growth. It sets the strategic direction for future planning and will inform the Cheltenham Structure Plan. Together, these will guide planning, investment and development initiatives in the precinct.

Keep an eye out for the Draft Structure Plan in early 2025 – this will detail proposed land use and building height changes for further consultation.

The Vision for Cheltenham includes a vision statement and a Conceptual Precinct Plan.

The Vision for Cheltenham

A true transit-oriented community where increased connectivity leads to more housing choices, new jobs and lifestyle experiences for everyone.

Cheltenham will be a place of increased creative energy and economic opportunity, with expanded retail, dining, recreation and entertainment options. The new station will become a hub of activity that connects to the enhanced Sir William Fry Reserve – creating a green heart for the precinct that supports local wellbeing and togetherness.

This will be an active and healthy community in the future, where you do not need to use a car for every trip. New and enhanced green corridors and shadier, more activated streets will connect the mosaic of open spaces and natural habitats – making it safer and more enjoyable for people to walk and cycle. Cheltenham will become a southern gateway, connecting Melbourne’s middle suburbs in the east with the south of Melbourne and the Bay.

More high quality homes will support a diverse community and ensure that Cheltenham builds on its enduring inclusivity as it welcomes more people into the area. Apartments, in places well supported by local amenity and public space, will provide increased housing diversity and lifestyle choice.

Cheltenham will be a vibrant economic hub. The intensified Moorabbin Industrial Area and Bayside Business District will be home to the next generation of makers, creators and specialist manufacturers – bringing future jobs and boosting the local economy.

Conceptual Precinct Plan

The Conceptual Precinct Plan for Cheltenham is a spatial representation of the Vision.

The plan identifies where longer-term change is expected to occur into the 2050s as Cheltenham grows.

From time to time the plan may be refined by SRLA, in response to community needs and the detailed technical studies that will support the planning implementation through structure plans and planning scheme amendments.

How your feedback has directly shaped the Vision for Cheltenham

Ideas, issues and opportunities from several years of community and stakeholder consultation have been essential to forming a long-term vision for Cheltenham that reflects the community’s needs and expectations, as well as addressing the requirements of a growing population.

Feedback from community and stakeholders has shaped the Vision for Cheltenham, with the following updates made since we consulted on the Draft Precinct Vision in 2023/24:

Enriching Community

• Prioritises improved accessibility to key community facilities and spaces
• Expands areas for development of diverse and inclusive housing to include areas around Cheltenham and Highett
• Encourages a more intensified mix of uses around the SRL East station, creating better opportunities to meet diverse housing needs and support activity that can promote social interaction and wellbeing
• Captures the intent for high quality design and public amenity to support local liveability

Boosting the Economy

• Retains and enhances the employment focus of the Bayside Business District including identifying areas of substantial employment change along Bay Road
• Includes more locations for diversified employment uses along Nepean Highway and Chesterville Road, providing more opportunities for residents to support local businesses
• Captures significant change areas around the SRL East station and Southland Prioritises mixed use employment, including more flexible office uses, around the SRL East station and Southland to support jobs growth closer to where people live

Enhancing Place

• Prioritises natural amenity and open space and gives greater emphasis to an upgraded Sir William Fry Reserve
• Encourages more active and diversified uses along Chesterville and Bay roads to support local living and contribute to Cheltenham’s existing character
• Better represents significant change in and around Southland and the SRL East station to create a high quality, integrated hub of activity and support urban experiences

Better Connections

• Prioritises pedestrians in dense areas of activity, particularly around the new SRL East station and Southland
• Provides for a more open and people-focused environment
• Show additional cross-precinct connections between Southland, Highett Reserve, Highett Activity Centre, Cheltenham Activity Centre, and Bayside Business District, emphasising the importance of supporting cross-precinct connections, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists

Delivering the Vision for Cheltenham

SRLA is responsible for preparing and applying the required planning controls that will help to realise the Vision, commencing with the preparation of the Cheltenham Structure Plan.

The draft structure plans for each SRL precinct and associated technical studies, along with draft planning scheme amendments, will be publicly released for consultation in early 2025. During this time people will have the opportunity to provide further feedback via a formal submission.

Following exhibition, the Minister for Planning may refer public submissions to an independent Advisory Committee which will consider the draft planning scheme amendments. If approved, the planning scheme amendments will be gazetted in 2026, meaning they will come into effect.

You can stay up to date with the structure planning process and opportunities to have your say by subscribing to our enews.

The engagement timeline for the SRL East structure plans and planning scheme amendments: