Housing Strategy and Neighbourhood Character Study

Our latest consultation on Planning Scheme Amendment C203 is active at: www.yourkingstonyoursay.com.au/c203

Melbourne is set to grow to 7.9 million people by 2051. All Councils will have to absorb their fair share of growth and the Victorian Government’s Plan Melbourne sets out how we can do this in a planned and manageable way, without losing the features we love about our neighbourhoods.

Kingston Council has advocated for population growth in our municipality to be centred around our activity centres - areas close to public transport, shops, work and services. This helps us protect neighbourhood character and preserve our quieter residential streets.

We want smart growth in places that can support a thriving and connected Kingston. So we asked the community to help us, by developing a Housing Strategy and Neighbourhood Character Study.

• The Housing Strategy is a twenty-year plan to manage housing growth and change across all residential areas in Kingston. It also provides the foundation to review our current residential zones.
• The Neighbourhood Character Study is a detailed assessment of the special features of neighbourhoods in Kingston and provides design guidelines to influence what new buildings should look like.

The Landscape Character Assessment & Guidelines adopted by Council have also helped inform our proposed new residential zones.

Where are we now?

Council has worked with the community since 2017. With your feedback we developed the Housing Strategy and Neighbourhood Character Study, which was adopted in 2021. Right now, we are waiting for the Victorian Government to give Council permission to begin a formal Planning Scheme Amendment that will take the recommendations of the Housing Strategy and Neighbourhood Character Study and turn them into new residential zones.

Further consultation will be undertaken when this Amendment starts, with letters to be sent to residents later in 2022.

The planning process is long and can be hard to keep track of, so we've put together this graphic to explain each stage.