The council took the issue to VCAT in December and the next hearing is scheduled later this year.

The Stephen St address, which the developers want to build on, is within the 300m safety buffer zone of the nearby Mobil fuel terminal.

The council’s general manager of sustainable development, John Luppino, said this was one of the reasons for the VCAT battle, as well as a range of planning reasons.

However, he was unable to confirm how large the proposed development was. Maribyrnong Cr Martin Zakharov said he thought it was about 50 units.

Alan Bailey from Mobil said although the company was not part of the VCAT appeal, they supported the council’s position, as did the EPA.

He said although there were some residences located within the buffer zone, the proposed development was too high-density.

“We want to avoid adding significant re-development close to the area. There are residences already there, but circumstances change over time and what was considered appropriate 30-50 years ago, may not be now.”

He said residents who lived within the buffer zone had no cause for alarm, as Mobil had a safety plan to minimise risk in the case of an emergency.

Fulcrum Town Planning, which made the application, was not available for comment.