Program evolution and timeline

Program history

Plan for Victoria is a long-term plan that guides how Victoria will manage growth to 2050.

Developed following community consultation in 2024, it outlines how additional housing can be accommodated across Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Around 2.24 million additional homes are expected to be needed across Melbourne and Victoria's regional cities and towns over the next 30 years. Plan for Victoria identifies activity centres as locations that can accommodate a share of this growth.

Activity centres are generally located close to public transport, employment, shops, services and community facilities. The Train and Tram Zone Activity Centres Program provides a planning framework for additional housing in and around these locations.

As part of Plan for Victoria, planning controls in activity centres have been updated to support housing growth in identified locations.

Pilot to 60 centres

The Train and Tram Zone Activity Centres Program has evolved from a pilot program into a Melbourne-wide strategy focused on directing housing growth towards locations with strong access to public transport, jobs and services.

The program commenced in 2024 with a pilot of 10 major activity centres, developed through extensive community and stakeholder consultation, and intended to support around 60,000 additional homes.

Following the pilot, the program was expanded in 2025 to a further 50 train and tram zones, divided into Stage 1 (25 centres) and Stage 2 (23 centres), with two additional centres subsequently planned for Inner Melbourne (City of Melbourne and City of Yarra).

This expansion reflected feedback from the pilot consultation, which supported locating more housing around existing public transport infrastructure.

The program has expanded over time into a comprehensive planning framework covering 60 centres, and enabling more than 300,000 additional homes by 2051.

Planning controls have progressively been introduced across the program, with:

• 10 pilot centres finalised in April 2025
• 25 Stage 1 centres finalised in March 2026
• 23 Stage 2 centres finalised in July 2026, and
• two inner Melbourne centres finalised in August 2026.

Timeline

View the program timeline and key milestones, including consultation with community, stakeholders and implementation of new planning rules.

How centres may develop over time

It is expected that each centre will gradually change over the next few decades, providing the new homes we need between now and 2051.

Larger, unused blocks of land are likely to be developed first. They provide the best opportunities to deliver new homes sooner. Development in all areas is dependent on what the landowner wishes to do. Streets with existing homes on smaller blocks are likely to develop more slowly or may experience very little change at all.

Current and future views

The images below show you how a proposed train and tram zone activity centre may evolve up to 30 years into the future.

Use the then-and-now slider tool to see current and future views of potential:

• cores
• inner catchments
• outer catchments.

See the How we developed our plans section to find out more about core and catchment areas.

Note: the images below are examples only, and not based on specific locations.

Core street views

The images below show current and future views of three streets in core areas. Click on the tabs to view them:

Inner catchment street views

Outer catchment street views

What happens next

Planning controls have been introduced into local government Planning Schemes to give effect to each of the 60 Train and Tram Zone Activity Centres.

In addition to using the planning controls to assess applications for new development in the activity centres, councils can also work with the Department of Transport and Planning to introduce planning controls into other activity centres nominated in Plan for Victoria.

Guidance to support council activity centre planning can be found on the Council resources page.

Page last updated: 16/10/26