These Melburnians dreamed of a ‘communal approach’ to housing. The local council had other ideas

‘The idea of living in a community really appealed to me,’ says Magnus Irvine, one of the initial founders of Brougham Street Cohousing Collective in Eltham, Victoria. Photograph: Nadir Kinani/The Guardian

When a group of Melburnians banded together with a plan to build their dream homes, they did not envision the barriers they would face from local council.

The proposed development of 21 townhouses overlooking a creek in Eltham, on Melbourne’s fringe, promised environmentally-conscious design, plenty of shared space and respect for heritage and the local neighbourhood.