Yarra’s economy has undergone enormous change over the last half century and it continues to evolve. Identifying and capitalising on Yarra’s economic strengths is a key function of the planning scheme in order to maintain and grow employment opportunities locally.

This theme implements the 6 directions in Yarra Council’s Spatial Economic and Employment Strategy (SEES).

Strategy 1: Support employment growth in activity centres.

Strategy 2: Retain and grow Yarra’s major employment precincts (Cremorne / Church St and Gipps St Major Employment Precincts).

Strategy 3: Identify preferred locations for housing growth to reduce pressures or conversion of employment land for housing.

Strategy 4: Support the expansion of Yarra’s health related employment and services in Yarra’s health precincts.

Strategy 5: Retain other Commercial 2zoned land to support the diversity of business and employment opportunities.

Strategy 6: Plan for the transition of Yarra’s remaining industrial areas (longer term these areas will need investigating for their future development, land use and economic opportunities).

This theme has three local policies:

Employment

The Employment policy includes strategies to provide for high quality amenity for workers, affordable workspaces, and opportunities for activities that contribute to the day and night time economies.

It also seeks to maintain and grow the major employment precincts, of Cremorne and Gipps Street employment areas.

Retail

The Retail policy support high quality retail development to ensure our activity centres are sustainable, vibrant and attractive to visitors.

Tourism

The Tourism, Arts and Culture policy promotes Yarra as a pre-eminent tourism, arts and cultural destination in metropolitan Melbourne.

This policy includes strategies to promote a diversity of arts and cultural uses, including live music venues, performance spaces, galleries and artist studios. It also supports proposals for visitor accommodation (including hotels and serviced apartments) where they contribute to the area’s economic role or tourism offer, have good access to public transport, and are designed to avoid amenity impacts on residents within the same building or surrounding area.

Learn more about the economic development policies

The video below explains the economic development policies in Amendment C269 in more detail.