Epping Development Plans

Epping

In 2015 it was estimated that 18,900 people were living in Epping. By 2035, the population is forecast to be nearly 24,000. This is an increase of 26.2%.

The median age of residents is expected to remain stable at 36 years.

Epping North

In 2015 it was estimated that 20,000 people were living in Epping North. By 2036, the population is forecast to be about 51,000. The median age of residents is expected to increase over the same period from 29 to 36 years.

There will also be more residents aged more than 60 years, with the demographic forecast to increase by 5,938 residents between 2015 and 2036.

Epping

In 2015, it was estimated that 295 children would be born. This is an average of almost six births per week. By 2035, this is expected to increase to 369 births per year; an average of about seven births per week.

Epping North

In 2015, there was an estimated 484 births, for an average of nine births per week. This figure is expected to almost double by 2036 to an average of 16 births per week. This would total about 868 births for the year.

Epping

The average household size of 2.7 people in 2015 is expected to remain the same by 2035.

There were approximately 6,770 dwellings in 2015. This figure is expected to increase to 8,800 dwellings by 2035.

About 15% are single parent households and the number of one person households is expected to increase by about 600 by 2035. This marks an increase of 51.3%.

Epping North

In 2015, there were approximately 6,600 dwellings. This is expected to increase to 17,700 dwellings by 2036.

Just over half of the households consist of couples with children.

Epping

About 40% of people speak a language other than English at home.

The most common languages spoken are Macedonian, Italian and Arabic. The most common countries of birth other than Australia are India, Republic of North Macedonia and Italy.

Epping has the second largest proportion of residents who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander compared with other areas in the municipality. Whittlesea township has the largest proportion.

Epping North

About 57% of Epping North residents speak a language other than English. The most common languages spoken other than English are Macedonian, Italian, Punjabi, and Arabic.

In 2015 the most common countries of birth other than Australia were India, Republic of North Macedonia and Sri Lanka. 

Epping

Manufacturing and retail trade are Epping's main source of employment.

There are more clerical and administrative workers in Epping than any other occupation (16.8%).

Similar numbers of Epping residents (15.7%) attend pre-school, primary and secondary school, as compared with Melbourne's broader population.

Epping North

Professionals (17%) and clerical/administrative workers (16%) are the dominant occupations among Epping North residents.

The biggest employers are the manufacturing industry (15%) and health care and social assistance (12%).

There are slightly more children attending kindergarten (2.2%) and primary school (9%) compared with the broader Melbourne population (1.7% and 7.6% respectively). Almost half of all Epping North residents have a tertiary or vocational qualification.

Epping

More than half of households have access to two or more motor vehicles and more than two in three residents drive a car to their place of work.

Epping North

In 2015 about 66% of households had access to two or more motor vehicles and 68% of residents drove a car to their wokplace.

The Epping Central Project will transform Epping into a thriving regional centre with a mixed range of new services, facilities and infrastructure from the City of Whittlesea, state government and the private sector.

This project is guided by our Epping Central Structure Plan that sets out the long-term vision for the Epping Central area. This includes where and how land will be used and developed over the next 20 years.

The plan sets out a vision for the area including:

• diverse and sustainable housing
• attracting new businesses that will provide jobs and entertainment
• infrastructure and services needed to support the area such as community centres and social infrastructure
• heritage and culture
• sustainable transport networks
• new and improved public open-spaces
• sustainable infrastructure
• environmental conservation.

Council and state government have invested more than $1 million in improving walking and cycling paths. The Cooper Street shared bike/walking path that runs between Epping Station and Edgars Road will be extended to connect with the Hume Freeway shared path network.

The plans below show the proposed development for a number of new housing estates in Epping. Development of these estates will generally follow the plans but is subject to change.

Download the Epping development plans

Central Park Oherns Road Extract Only

Cooper Street Employment Area Development Plan March 2018

Oherns Logistics Park Development Plan Endorsed 2022 Part 1

Oherns Logistics Park Development Plan Endorsed 2022 Part 2

Oherns Logistics Park Development Plan Endorsed 2022 Part 3

Oherns Logistics Park Development Plan Endorsed 2022 Part 4

You can also find out more about plans for the Cooper Street West Precinct. This is a position paper outlining key planning considerations for the future use and development of the land.

If you are unable to access the information in the plans above, please call 03 9217 2346

View the location of existing housing estates

The plans below show proposed developments for Epping North. Developments generally follow the plans but can be subject to change.

Download the Epping North development plans

• Brush Road
• Epping North East
• Epping North
• Harvest Home Road Development Plan
• Lyndarum

You can also find out more about the Aurora Development Plan. This covers the Aurora Estate in Epping North and provides a general outline of how land is intended to be developed in the area.

If you are unable to access the information in the plans above, please call 03 9217 2346

View the location of existing housing estates

Find out more about our various recreation reserve master plans

• Epping North East Regional Recreation Reserve Master Plan
• Epping North East Precinct 1 - Recreation Reserve Master Plan
• Epping North East Precinct 2 - Recreation Reserve Master Plan
• Koukoura Recreation Reserve Master Plan
• Epping Recreation Reserve Master Plan

We've created development plans for the Aurora estate in Epping North. This area is bound by O'Herns Road, Craigieburn Road and the Hume Freeway (Craigieburn Bypass) to the west.

The development plan is in two parts. We endorsed Part 1 in 2003.

The plans describe proposed housing areas, street layouts, community facilities and other main land uses.

The current Aurora Development Plan (Part 2) was approved in 2007, and amended in 2016. 

It includes plans to provide homes for around 25,000 people. Other facilities included:

• four supermarkets
• a discount department store
• two community centres
• a Town Centre library
• higher density housing
• future potential for a railway extension.

There are two Town Centres planned for the Aurora area. 

• The Northern Town Centre is the larger of the two and is located near the intersection of Harvest Home Road and Edgars Road. 
• A small town centre is planned for Aurora South, close to O'Herns Road and the future extension of Edgars Road.

Federal and state government funding is urgently needed to upgrade and widen Epping Road from Memorial Avenue (McDonalds Road), through to Craigieburn Road East. 

This is the main arterial road servicing the growth corridor of Epping North through to the future growth areas. The road is to be upgraded from a two-lane rural road to a four-lane divided road to Bridge Inn Road, to ease congestion and dramatically improve road safety.

Council is advocating for state and federal government funding to encourage projects in or around Epping Central to support the revitalisation of the metropolitan activity centre.

Council is seeking state government funding for an information, learning, and cultural hub. This hub would aim to deliver:

• education and community services, including lifelong learning and community development
• community infrastructure for the existing and growing community in Melbourne's north, to help build community resilience, and support community networking, employment, educational opportunities and economic development.

There is a critical need to expand the Northern Hospital to adequately service the growing population in the City of Whittlesea and Melbourne's north. The Northern is the only public hospital in the northern growth corridor.

Council is advocating for additional beds and Royal Children's Hospital paediatric services.

Council is seeking state government funding to improve bus services across the municipality.

Pacific Epping offers:

• 230 stores
• Reading Cinemas
• Urban Diner restaurant 
• entertainment precinct.

The centre employs around 2,600 people making it a substantial local employer. Expansion plans have been approved for this area. 

Development of the Epping Specialist Medical Centre is underway. A private hospital is proposed. Together with the Northern Hospital it will become a major medical hub for Melbourne's north.

Construction of stage one of the hospital's south tower development is currently underway and is visible from Cooper Street. This will provide 32 additional inpatient beds and two ‘shell’ floors slated to become a new intensive care ward and office space / back of house services in the future.

Melbourne Polytechnic's Epping campus offers some of Australia's best industrial training facilities in:

• agriculture
• aquaculture
• meat processing
• viticulture
• winemaking
• welding
• forklift driving.

A new student centre opened in 2012 and includes a bookshop, library and fitness centre, which is open to the public. 

Retailer Costco opened its third Victorian outlet in Epping. 

The site includes:

• petrol station
• tyre outlet
• bottle shop
• hearing centre
• optometrist
• car parking.

Costco will bring over 300 direct jobs and 200 indirect jobs to the area. 

The Cooper Street employment precinct is an employment area of state significance that is expected to generate more than 25,000 jobs. The precinct is serviced by excellent transport routes and is close to future residential growth areas, providing local employment opportunities for current and future residents.

It comprises various precincts which are at different stages of development implementation and will incorporate a diverse range of business, office, warehouse and industrial uses.

This is the most advanced area within the Cooper Street employment precinct in terms of development. 

Key developments within this precinct include:

• McMullin Group's Northpoint Business Park
• MAB Corporation's Alliance Business Park.

The Melbourne Wholesale Markets relocated to Epping and officially opened 31 August 2015.

The markets are home to 3,000 businesses employing 7,500 workers.

The entire site covers 130ha, with 70ha comprising the core market area and associated warehousing. 

The remaining 60ha adjacent to the core market area provides for potential expansion opportunities for related uses.

Development in this precinct has recently commenced as part of the Biodiversity Business Park. This will provide for industrial, warehouse and office uses. The area also includes the Alex Fraser Group's recycling facility. 

The southern section of this precinct, which extends south into Lalor, will be accessed from Cooper Street and developed for employment uses in the future.

The Cooper Street West employment area contains former and current quarrying and landfill operations, and environmentally sensitive areas. 

The precinct is currently under investigation in this context to determine its development potential for employment uses.

Epping recreation reserve includes:

• two Australian Football League / cricket ovals
• sports pavilion
• tennis club
• public use tennis courts
• play space.

Location
863 High Street
Epping

Phone: 03 9217 2170
Email: info@whittlesea.vic.gov.au 

As the largest public hall in the City of Whittlesea, the Epping Memorial Community Hall is ideal for formal functions.

There are a variety of spaces for hire within the hall.

• Main hall: seats up to 300 people
• Function room: seats up to 200 people
• Meeting room: seats up to 20 people

For enquiries contact Council on 03 9494 8843 or hallbookings@whittlesea.vic.gov.au

Find out more about Epping Memorial Community Hall

Epping Soccer Stadium is a professional soccer facility based in Epping. It has regularly been used by local, national and international football teams as a training and match venue.

The stadium includes one natural turf soccer pitch with stadium seating.

Find out more about Epping soccer stadium

Council is currently planning for the redevelopment of the Epping Renewal site at 215 Cooper Street.

This land is the former Epping Quarry site and was previously used for quarrying and landfill activities. These activities ended almost 20 years ago.

The site is subject to Amendment C213 to the Whittlesea Planning Scheme. This amendment will provide new planning controls to guide the future development of the land for mixed use development comprising:

• employment
• health services
• housing
• open space.

Find out more about the Epping Renewal site

This estate is expected to be home to some 25,000 people and will include two town centres, Aurora North and Aurora South. Council is advocating for a railway extension to provide train stations at each of the town centres.

This town centre will be built towards the middle of Aurora estate. 

The centre is planned to provide:

• main street based supermarkets
• shops 
• services including community and medical facilities.

Basic infrastructure for Aurora North has been built.

The Galada Community Centre is in the southern part of this centre.

Galada Community Centre is at the heart of the Aurora precinct in Epping North.

The building design was inspired by Aboriginal inhabitants of the local Galada creek.

The Centre provides residents with a modern facility that offers an extended range of services for the local community.

Find out more about Galada Community Centre

The recreation reserve will be located opposite the four existing soccer pitches on Harvest Home Road.

Location
Corner of Epping Road and Harvest Home Road, Wollert.

This state government primary school is expected to be completed and opened at the commencement of Term 1 in 2017. 

As well as providing primary school teaching areas, this school site will also include a not for profit long day child care centre owned and operated by YMCA. 

This site will also include a shared junior school oval and multipurpose community activity space. This will be used by school students during school hours and by local residents outside normal school hours.

Creeds Farm Living and Learning Centre provides opportunities for people of all ages to participate in a variety of social and recreational activities, courses and workshops.

This centre showcases low energy and water use features, technologies and appliances that can be used in homes.

Find out more about Creeds Farms Living and Learning Centre

Lyndarum town centre incorporates Epping Views Family and Community Centre. 

Epping Views is a vibrant and modern facility that provides a range of integrated services for the local community, It is also available for hire.

Find out more about Epping Views Family and Community Centre

This soccer facility includes:

• two natural turf soccer pitches
• one synthetic soccer pitch

Find out more about Harvest Home Community Pavilion

This site has been planned to include:

• state government primary school
• state government secondary school
• sports ovals 
• sport pavilion
• community centre.