Melbourne residents ordered to move after government breaks parkland promise

The Victorian government has been labelled "disgraceful" by residents who have been asked to relocate from their homes for up to three months.

Locals in the Melbourne suburb of Heatherton have been asked to make way for the construction of a Railyard over their back fence.

Two weeks ago, Bronwyn Davies says she received a letter in the mail from the Suburban Rail Loop Authority.

The letter suggested that her family consider "temporary relocation" and gave her two weeks' notice.

"There's no way they haven't known about this for months," she said.

"There are construction workers, equipment, and planning.

"Their lack of communication with us just shows they don't really care about the residents here."

The family of five has been offered a serviced apartment down the road from their property.

"To pack up your whole family, your whole life, it's not something you can do at the drop of a hat," Davies said.

The Allan government describes the Suburban Rail Loop as "the largest infrastructure project in Victoria's history".

The project aims to add 90 kilometres of rail to the network.

But the residents of Heatherton say they feel like they've been "lied" to.

In 2018, then-premier Daniel Andrews promised a "chain of parks" for the area.

In late 2020, plans changed and the idea for the railyard was floated.

"They want this rubbish. Put it behind your backyard, not our backyard," Heatherton resident Victor Spano said.

"It's disappointing. It's disgraceful. It's absolutely disgraceful."

Full Suburban Rail Loop Authority statement

"We're minimising disruptions while we build the first stage of the Suburban Rail Loop and are working with residents in Heatherton to offer support during construction, including options for respite and complimentary relocation.

"The Australian Open Golf Tournament is an international event attracting up to 90,000 attendees and supporting the state's economy - and we have scheduled our works to avoid impacting the tournament.

"To deliver a turn-up-and-go train service - like the new Sydney Metro – we need to have train stabling near the start of the line and this location was identified as being the best location.

"The area was previously used as a landfill site and our experts believed using this space would ensure the lowest impacts to the local community."