Monash councillors have warned ratepayers must not be the ones to inherit the costs of cleaning up a former quarry and rubbish dump in Oakleigh South, after the Planning Minister moved to rezone the land for housing.
What happened? At a council meeting on Tuesday October 27, councillors endorsed a report outlining the council’s opposition to any future attempt to make it responsible for managing pollution impacts across the 18.8-hectare site.
The proposal: Previously, the site operated as a sand quarry and landfill from the 1950s to the 1990s, with proposals to rezone it for residential development dating back to 2014.
Sterling Global, the property developer behind the project, has proposed a residential community – dubbed Talbot Village – with between 860 and 1,100 dwellings at 1221-1249 Centre Road in Oakleigh South.
The development plan has outlined dwellings would range from two to six storeys, with 10 percent locked off as affordable housing.
Says who: Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny has approved a planning scheme amendment to rezone the site for development into a residential and mixed-use neighbourhood.
The decision essentially deferred plans for gas venting and other environmental management measures to later stages.
What they said: Monash councillor Brian Little said the council did not think it was appropriate to push works like gas venting to a later stage.
“Making it suitable for residential property is a massively big job,” he told the chamber. “We wanted to see the developer completely clean the site, make it tenable for residential before the site gets rezoned.”
What developers said: The Eastern Melburnian reached out to Sterling Global to address questions concerning the contamination risks, but the developers have refused to comment further than statements given earlier this year.
In October, Sterling Global CEO Neil Li told the Eastern Melburnian both geotechnical and environmental investigations had been underway since the company acquired the site, adding that under findings from an environmental audit, no site remediation was required.
However, the project's environmental management plans still outline measures to manage potential contamination risks, including landfill gas ventilation and capping.
What’s next? Further planning permits and approvals are required before construction can begin, but the new zoning is expected to make the project easier to progress.
A December 2025 report also recommended the site be remediated and gas ventilation systems installed before any residential development go ahead.
Thumbnail Image Credit: Dallas Goldburg