Plan to move 2500 residents onto former dump and quarry full of unstable ‘slime'
A developer is pushing for the third time to build 1100 new homes on a toxic former quarry and rubbish tip in Melbourne's south-east, even though the site is filled with pits of decaying and solid waste piles, and enormous slurry-like 'slimes' that plunge up to 20 metres beneath the surface.
Developer Sterling Global has bypassed the local council and sought state government approval to build on the former sand mine in Oakleigh South, described by a resident group as a 'Frankenstein site'.
Planning documents show contaminants detected at the site include methane, asbestos, naphthalene, arsenic, heavy metals and 'forever chemical' PFAS.
The unstable nature of the slimes – a byproduct of sand mining – threatens the long-term settlement of buildings and other infrastructure, the documents say.
Since 2016, Sterling Global has tried to push through its plans to house about 2500 people on the sprawling 19-hectare site, which was mined for four decades until the '90s and also hosted a landfill in the 1970s.
Monash Council abandoned the 2016 request to rezone the site to develop townhouses and apartments, requiring a thorough addressing of soil contamination and geotechnical issues. The developer undertook further work and made a second attempt in 2022, which the council did not progress.
Then, in 2023, Sterling Global bypassed the council by taking its plan – dubbed 'Talbot Village' – directly to Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny. She has now released for consultation a draft planning scheme amendment to rezone the site as requested by the developer.
Kilkenny asked a standing advisory committee to investigate whether there was sufficient technical information to proceed to the next planning stage. It published a report in September last year supporting the developer's level of investigation to date.
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