Victorian Political News		www.robertclark.net

OLD RULES CONTINUE AS DELAYS HIT NEW PLANNING CODE

News Release Wednesday 7th June 2000

Labor's proposed new residential code is now running up to six months late, and in the meantime existing planning laws continue to apply to most medium density developments, even though both Labor and the Coalition proposed major changes during last year's State election.

The proposed new code was the centrepiece of the Government's State Planning Agenda announced last December, and is intended to replace the Good Design Guide and VicCode1.

When announced, the new Code was due to be prepared by mid-2000, but on the latest timetable published by the Government:

· preparation of the code has slipped to between September and December 2000, · public consultative workshops promised for February were not completed until mid-April, and · draft Practice Notes on neighbourhood character promised by early 2000 have only been released today.

Shadow Planning Minister Robert Clark said the delay in implementing the new Code is made particularly serious by the fact that the Government has not introduced any interim measures on issues such as setbacks, overshadowing and visual bulk, which can apply while the new code is being developed.

"With the delay in the new Code, more and more planning applications continue to be decided under the old rules, even though both sides of politics proposed substantial changes at the election last year, and as early as 10 November last year I drew the Minister's attention in Parliament to the need for interim controls on these issues.

"The Minister would have bipartisan support, as well as strong community support, if he were to introduce such controls even at this late stage.

"Yet not only has the Minister failed to do so, but in trying to juggle two major portfolios as well as his role as Deputy Premier, he has lost track of the timetable for the new code which his own actions have made urgent."

Mr Clark said the devil would be in the detail of the new Code.

He said it was important that the Code be scrutinised carefully by all involved with residential planning to ensure that it achieved fair and reasonable outcomes and provided adequate certainty without creating unnecessary red tape.