Burns Road Industrial Estate
The Burns Road Industrial Estate is located between the State Baseball Softball Centre, Harcourt Road and Merton Street in Altona. It has 505 lots owned by multiple property owners. The estate was subdivided in the 1920s. No roads, drains or other services have ever physically been created. See Figure 1 below.
Figure 1. Burns Road Industrial Estate aerial view December 2025
Development constraints
The estate has remained undeveloped for almost 100 years due to a range of complex issues, including lot size and configuration, native vegetation and the complexities of the multiple ownerships. Achieving a realistic planning outcome for the estate is not straightforward. There are many issues facing owners and the overall estate that require resolution.
Even though the subdivision pattern is reflective of a residential development, residential use of the estate will not be permitted in the future. The estate is located in an area identified in the Hobsons Bay Industrial Land Management Strategy 2008 as core industrial. Core Industrial Areas are relatively unconstrained by residential or other sensitive uses and are designated to protect and provide opportunities for new growth and expansion of existing industries.
Rezoning that allows non-industrial protrusions into the precinct will not be supported, as it would undermine the long-term strategic role of the area and affect surrounding industrial and employment functions.
The Burns Road Industrial Estate is identified under the Victorian Government's Melbourne Industrial and Commercial Land Use Plan (MICLUP) as part of a State-Significant Industrial Precinct. MICLUP (2020) and its implementation via Amendment VC215 (2023) to the Hobsons Bay Planning Scheme strengthen policy to protect industrial land for employment-generating uses, support the transition of legacy industries, and unlock underutilised land for future industrial and commercial development.
The purpose of the precinct is to ensure there is sufficient strategically located land available for major industrial development linked to the principal freight network and transport gateways. The precinct will be protected from inappropriate development to allow continual growth in freight, logistics and manufacturing investment.
State-Led Rezoning (Special Use Zone Update)
On 17 February 2026, the state government updated the Special Use Zones (Schedules 3 and 4) in Altona and Altona North (which includes the Burns Road Industrial Estate) via Amendment C146hbay to the Hobsons Bay Planning Scheme. The intent of this amendment was to unlock industrial land for different types of development and transition away from petrochemical uses. Council advocated for the outcomes of the draft ILMS and IDG to be included within this state-led amendment. Details of this advocacy work can be found in the Council reports from 1 July 2025 and18 November 2025 respectively. These resolutions reaffirmed Council’s conditional support for the state-led rezoning, subject to the application of appropriate local planning controls, particularly the Environmental Significance Overlay (ESO) and Design and Development Overlay (DDO).
The Hobsons Bay Planning Scheme has now been updated to include a revised Special Use Zone - Schedule 3 (SUZ3) and Special Use Zone - Schedule 4 (SUZ4), and an Environmental Audit Overlay (EAO) applied to the entirety of these zones.
Despite advocacy work, an ESO and DDO did not form part of the final amendment. Council officers will now need to consider this as part of the Mapping our Native Grassland project and the implementation of the draft ILMS and IDG.
Native vegetation
The Burns Road Industrial Estate supports nationally significant native grassland. These native grasslands are listed as endangered under state legislation and critically endangered under federal legislation.
The removal of native vegetation is administered at both a state and federal level; federally by the Department of Environment (DoE) and in Victoria by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA). Click on the Burns Road Estate FAQ’s below for further information.
Council has recently completed detailed ecological mapping through its Mapping of Native Grasslands project, which identifies areas of nationally significant grassland across the estate. View the Mapping our Native Grasslands project website.
The way forward
Landowner agreement and cooperation is critical to resolving issues affecting the estate, and this has historically been one of the main impediments to development. Council will continue to outline relevant planning requirements as part of its statutory role, however, decisions around land consolidation and coordination of development are matters for landowners and proponents to manage.
In addition to the state-led rezoning, Council has prepared the draft Industrial Land Management Strategy (ILMS) and draft Industrial Design Guidelines (IDG), which outline long-term planning on industrial land to 2040, as well as, design and environmental objectives for Hobsons Bay’s industrial areas, including Burns Road. View the draft ILMS and draft IDG website.
Council’s position remains consistent: supporting appropriate industrial development while protecting significant environmental values and ensuring any future planning controls reflect both state policy and local strategic work.