“A complete rethink”: Calls for state government to return to E-Gate

With construction of the West Gate Tunnel Project nearing an end, calls are reemerging for the state government to revisit urban renewal in E-Gate to address critical shortfalls in housing, schools and open space.

E-Gate, a 20-hectare parcel of government-owned land just north of Docklands abutting Footscray Rd between Dudley St and Moonee Ponds Creek, has been long earmarked to house more than 10,000 new residents.

But in the words of RMIT University Emeritus Professor Environment and Planning, Michael Buxton, original visions for the precinct have been just about “torpedoed” by the West Gate Tunnel Project’s (WGTP) Wurundjeri Way extension into Docklands.

Speaking with Docklands News in February, Prof. Buxton said with the toll road project affecting around 30 per cent of land in E-Gate, the government had substantially reduced its attractiveness and viability as an urban renewal project.

However he also said that with growing pressures on housing, open space and education in the inner-city, the site presented the government with an opportunity to make up for past planning failures and give something back to the community.

In February, Docklands News reported that long-held hopes for a desperately needed secondary school to be established at the Costco building in Docklands had been dashed, with a pathology company understood to have purchased the site.

The government has also yet to allocate land in Arden for new schools despite opening new campuses for Docklands Primary School and University High in The District Docklands and a CBD office building, respectively.

Also in February, sibling publication North West City News reported on the debate surrounding the City of  Melbourne’s draft master plan for Royal Park, with sporting groups pushing for more playing space in the municipality.

Speaking at the February 4 Future Melbourne Committee meeting, a council officer said that according to the state’s sporting association ratios, the city was a long way behind in its provision of sports facilities.

Prof. Buxton said that given the impacts of the WGTP on E-Gate, the government should “completely reexamine the type of land uses” in the precinct so it could cater for more desperately needed community infrastructure.

“E-Gate needs a complete rethink,” Prof. Buxton told Docklands News.

“We need more open space for every use – both active and passive. E-Gate is an opportunity for the government to provide that and completely reexamine and reimagine its use.”

It could turn it into an advantage despite the fact that the road has had such an impact, but it’s going to take imagination.

Past visions for E-Gate have included maximising its potential for providing new open space connected to the Moonee Ponds Creek corridor, as well as “high-quality ecologically orientated residential development linked to public transport.”

Strategically, its activation has also largely been seen as a “critical connection” for Docklands and North and West Melbourne – potential Prof. Buxton said had been “severely reduced” by the Wurundjeri Way extension.

In its 2017 submission to the WGTP’s environmental effects statement, the City of Melbourne opposed the design of the extension due to its impact on Moonee Ponds Creek and the loss of connectivity between Docklands and West Melbourne.

A City of Melbourne spokesperson said as per its draft Municipal Planning Strategy, which was publicly exhibited last year, it still saw the potential for E-Gate to be “a world-leading sustainable and affordable mixed-use neighbourhood.”

The council is currently considering submissions made to its proposed strategy, which aims to support the potential long-term renewal of E-Gate with connections to Docklands, Arden, West Melbourne and Dynon.

Having fought against the WGTP, Victorian Greens leader and Melbourne MP Ellen Sandell said she was worried that an opportunity had been lost to develop E-Gate with sustainable, well-designed housing, with good facilities and open space.

“E-Gate is just one kilometre from the city. It should be used to build sustainable, good-quality housing for thousands of people. It's a complete waste to use this land for a zigzag of toll road on and off ramps,” Ms Sandell said.

I hope Labor will finally get some vision and put this back on the agenda but given Labor's record I'm not holding my breath!

Prof. Buxton is equally as pessimistic about E-Gate’s chances, but says it nevertheless presents an opportunity for the government to do something for the good of Melbourne by reengaging with what the community needs.

However, he believes the government must get over its “addiction” for “poorly planned growth” to achieve this.

“This is a government that specialises in substandard master plan precincts,” Prof. Buxton said. “The Arden model illustrates this, and it will probably be followed again at E-Gate.”

“What we don't need in Melbourne is another failed brownfield precinct where everything possible that the government can think of is crammed in.”

“Amenity is everything for these sites to work … Docklands perfectly illustrates that where too many people have been crammed in without the expected services and particularly open space.”

“That’s put immense pressure on existing services and highlights a lack of open space, so the government really has an opportunity to make up for that failure and provision of services with E-Gate.”

Docklands News contacted the state government for comment, but it was unable to respond by deadline.

But in its latest statewide housing targets, it has forecast more than 120,000 new homes to be built in the City of Melbourne  by 2051.

In its 2024 submission to the government’s Plan for Victoria, which will be released soon, the council said one of its “great comparative advantages” was “the enormous extent of brownfields development sites”.

These include Arden and Fishermans Bend, currently being developed, as well as E-Gate and Dynon, whereby the council noted “planning has not commenced, but which needs to balance housing delivery with employment and economic development.” •