Earlier plans for a 40-dwelling development on the Paine St site were rejected by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in April, but VCAT member Dalia Cook left the door open for an amended proposal, saying the development was “high-quality”, of “appropriate scale and form” and would not detract from the heritage value of the area.

Ms Cook did not object to the density, but wanted the facades “reworked”. Peter Cahill of Domain Hill Property Group now hopes the changed plans – which include 43-dwellings – will be approved by the council, but a local residents’ group is still opposed to the plan.

Protect Newport spokesman Anthony Simmons said the new proposal did not appear to be much different from the original and had actually increased its possible maximum occupancy.

“It’s disappointing because there was the opportunity for the developer to take on the feedback from VCAT and we don’t believe he’s done that,” Mr Simmons said.

“The development has not been scaled down as much as we would have expected.

“The whole building is now housing more people than before.”

But Mr Cahill said he had taken VCAT’s suggestions on board. “We have done our best to redesign, to address the concerns addressed by VCAT,” Mr Cahill said.

“The result is a group of townhouses which is more conservative in its design and more domestic in its appearance.”

Mr Cahill said the development “moved away from more box form to a design which reads like a group of town houses than a block building”.

A spokeswoman for Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Bernie Finn said Mr Finn had last month written to Planning Minister Matthew Guy regarding residents’ concerns over the proposed development.