The City of Melbourne is aware that the State Government elected on 29 November 2014 is currently reviewing the East West Link project. On Friday 12 December 2014, the Victorian Government announced the suspension of works on East West Link (Eastern Section).

The City of Melbourne is awaiting further information from the new State Government regarding the future of the project.

The below information highlights the process undertaken by the previous government and the City of Melbourne's response and involvement in the planning process to date.

On 30 June 2014, the Minister for Planning approved the East West Link (Eastern Section) and in September 2014 the contract was awarded to the East West Connect consortium. Work was expected to commence by the end of 2014 with the project due to open in 2019.

The Linking Melbourne Authority (LMA) was delivering the project on the previous state government's behalf. LMA has now disbanded.

Prior to the former Minister’s approval of the project, the City of Melbourne made a submission to the planning and approval process, presenting its submission at public hearings held by the East West Link Project Assessment Committee in March and April 2014. Community feedback gathered by the City of Melbourne helped inform this submission.

The City of Melbourne called expert witnesses in support of its submission in the following fields: open space, cultural heritage, economics and urban development, acoustics, road design, traffic-modelling, urban design, recreation and water, vegetation and biodiversity. The submission can be accessed in the document library.

A number of Council resolutions have been made regarding this project.

More information about the Minister’s decision, the Assessment Committee’s report and the public hearings is available at the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure website(External link).