After years of simmering tension, the planning clash between Casey’s green wedge community and religious organisations reached a breaking point in 2025, as two temple proposals were rejected by the state tribunal and a mega temple precinct was proposed.
According to the State Government, green wedge zones serve important functions, including agricultural uses, forestry and land-based aquaculture, and renewable and non-renewable resources.
Over the past few years, the green wedge community down in Casey South has seen a few planning applications for temples and accompanying religious events at their doorsteps. Locals have formed several community groups to oppose the applications in front of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).
The planning conflict dated back to late 2021, when non-profit multilingual Hindu organisation Melbourne Ayyappa Seva Sangam (MASS) sought approval for a $4.5 million place of worship on green wedge land in rural Pearcedale. Locals formed Peninsula Green Wedge Protection Group and fought hard, raising concerns about traffic, noise, vegetation loss and the intensification of rural land use.
The Mornington Peninsula Shire ultimately refused the application, but the dispute escalated to VCAT because the shire did not make the decision within the legal timeframe.
The case lingered for years before a final decision was handed down in August 2025. The ruling rejected the proposal, with the tribunal finding the development was inconsistent with green wedge objectives.
During the long wait for the Pearcedale temple judgment, another Hindu temple proposal surfaced in Cranbourne South’s green wedge in March 2024. Shri Ram Janaki Charitable Trust Melbourne proposed to change the use of its land at 104 Browns Road from a residential lot to a Hindu temple and meditation centre. Casey Council issued a permit in September 2024, but neighbouring residents challenged the move, also claiming that the place of worship was incompatible with agricultural or conservation uses and did not protect the amenity of the existing dwellings. The application was then brought to the VCAT.
Two months after the Pearcedale judgement, VCAT overturned Casey Council’s decision. The main argument was that the Browns Road site lacked the locational attributes for a place of worship. Tribunal member Cassandra Rea noted the property outside the urban growth boundary, was isolated from public transport and lay within a semi-rural landscape largely defined by equestrian and hobby farming uses. The temple applicant told Star News that they were not comfortable with the judgment on a point-by-point basis.
While the back-to-back rulings were celebrated by the green wedge community, community commentators argued the controversy exposed not just planning tensions, but deeper social divides, suggesting that resistance to temples and other places of worship in green wedge zones sometimes blended environmental concerns with discomfort about cultural change, and called for more balanced dialogue and cultural understanding in planning decisions.
As the number of temple applications grew, opposition became more organised. In mid-2025, residents formed the Western Port Green Wedge Protection Group, arguing that repeated applications for temples and large cultural facilities revealed a systemic weakening of green wedge protections.
The group said its focus was land use rather than religion, warning that once large institutional developments were permitted, it would be difficult to prevent further urban-style encroachment into areas set aside for agriculture, biodiversity and rural character.
Just when the green wedge community believed the dust had begun to settle, the conflict escalated once more. In the period leading up to Christmas, a $250 million Hindu temple precinct proposed for Cranbourne South by BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha Australia was referred to the Federal Government under national environmental law, due to its scale and potential impacts on native vegetation and threatened species habitat. A decision is now pending on whether the project requires Commonwealth approval under national environmental law.
Spanning about 44 hectares across 1390-1450 Western Port Highway, the proposal dwarfs earlier applications and has reignited community concern.
The applicant’s Federal referral suggested that the application would be considered under the State’s Development Facilitation Program (DFP) pathway, as confirmed by the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP), which means the planning power lies in the state, instead of the local council.
