New planning initiatives

The Minister for Planning and Local Government, Mr Robert Maclellan, has outlined five initiatives for inclusion into the Victorian planning system.

The initiatives address five specific areas of concern: site analysis, management of landscape, capacity for individuals to take action, effective use of the Good Design Guide and the impact of single dwelling developments on neighbouring properties.

Local councils will:

• Be required to certify site analyses to improve the quality of development applications, to ensure that site analyses comply with the Good Design Guide and meet the requirements of good development.
• Be encouraged to develop two levels of landscape protection to control removal of trees with a specified girth or of local significance, and protect other significant landscapes.
• Be encouraged to make application to a newly formed Standing Advisory Committee for the consideration of local variations to the Good Design Guide.

Councils will be required to seek local residents' views on local variations to the Guide. The Advisory Committee will assess community submissions through this process and provide independent advice to the Minister on consequential refinements of the Guide.

However Mr Maclellan said a local variation to the Guide should not be interpreted as a substitute for good planning by each municipality or as an opportunity to impose a blanket ban over medium-density housing developments.

"It is and it will continue to be the role of councils to develop housing strategies which will show how they will meet changing demographic demands, identify and develop policies to enhance neighbourhood character and protect heritage buildings or areas and local vegetation," he said.

The two other initiatives are

• providing standard form agreements to allow  individual property owners and councils to restrict development to one storey or one dwelling.
• collection of data to determine whether performance measures recommended in the Good Design Guide and Vic Code 1 are being met in relation to overlooking, overshadowing, amenity and privacy

The Department of Infrastructure will prepare a standard form of agreement for individuals and councils and advertise its availability. It will be councils' role to monitor such agreements.

A toll-free 1-800 number will be set up to ensure greater input by individuals and community groups and a new brochure Your suburb - Your say will be produced, outlining planning regulations regarding developments and ways in which individual residents can have an input into the planning process.

"The initiatives announced today give local councils, design professionals, developers, individuals and governments greater involvement in the process," Mr Maclellan said.

"It is a fact that established suburbs in close proximity to amenities and infrastructure are the focal points in the shift of Melbourne's population growth.

"Customer demand dictates where building activity occurs. Market forces are being shaped by changes in lifestyles."

(News Release, Minister for Planning, 25 February 1998)