In short:
Council has backed plans to redevelop a Morris Road service station with more bowsers, a café, and redesigned access to cut traffic queues. The matter remains before VCAT, but the Planning Committee has confirmed it would have approved the project if no appeal had been lodged.
Café, more bowsers, and modern design planned
Wyndham’s Planning Committee has formally backed the redevelopment of the APCO service station at 176–178 Morris Road, Hoppers Crossing, and will inform the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) of its position.
The committee resolved that if the applicant had not already lodged an appeal to VCAT for failure to determine, it would have issued a Notice of Decision to Grant a Planning Permit for the project, subject to specific clauses and conditions. This means Council will now support the proposal during the VCAT process rather than oppose it.
The redevelopment involves demolishing all existing buildings and infrastructure to construct a modern 276sqm service station building with a convenience store, café, kitchen, seating for 16 patrons, and customer amenities. A 643sqm canopy will cover four double-sided fuel bowsers, doubling the site’s refuelling capacity from four to eight bays. Ten car parking spaces, including one accessible bay, will be provided, along with a dedicated loading bay.
Design elements include a pitched and flat roof mix, precast concrete walls with anti-graffiti coating, timber louvres, climbing plants, landscaped planter boxes, and Colourbond finishes. A 3-metre-high acoustic fence will be built along the eastern boundary to reduce noise impacts on nearby homes. Landscaping and upgraded building materials will soften the presentation of the site and improve its fit within the surrounding residential area.
The redevelopment will remove one Morris Road crossover, modify the second to serve as a shared entry/exit, and widen the Reserve Road crossover to allow more on-site queuing. The layout is intended to improve traffic circulation, reduce vehicle queues spilling onto nearby streets, and address long-standing congestion and safety issues at the Reserve Road–Morris Road intersection.
The site has operated as a 24/7 service station since 1986 and has received at least 20 traffic-related complaints in the past five years. Council’s traffic engineers and an independent expert panel both concluded that the redesign would improve safety, efficiency, and queuing capacity.
The application was advertised in April, attracting five objections and a petition with 51 signatures, most citing traffic, noise, and amenity concerns. Planning officers found the revised site design addressed many of these issues through improved internal circulation, acoustic treatments, and landscaping.
While Council’s position is now clear, the project remains before VCAT. A compulsory conference is scheduled for 5 September 2025, with a two-day hearing on 1 and 2 December 2025.
FOLLOW US
