General Planning

Along with the Planning Act Review and other recent changes to the planning regime (allegedly in the short-term economic interest), the draft changes to the state planning rules will weaken urban planning controls. This is despite the fact that current crises like peak oil and climate change demand MORE prescriptive regulation, not less, to actively focus development and new infrastructure on creating a more functional, sustainable city.

On 2nd February 2010, SOS lodged a critical submission with the Department of Planning on the Review of the State Planning Policy Framework.

To download the submission, click on the attachment below:

What’s missing is any future vision for the sustainable development of Melbourne. And in the words of the Municipal Association of Victoria, “the draft fails to acknowledge and strengthen local government’s roles in planning, creates risk and uncertainty for local government...”
SOS submission concludes that:-

The philosophical approach to this Draft has clearly been to “streamline” (deregulate) planning processes under the Act.

These three submissions are on the SOS Policies and Submissions page.

The detailed SOS submission to the current review of VCAT deals with the reform of existing operations at the Planning List of VCAT, as well as recommendations for more major changes to the way the Tribunal functions to improve planning outcomes in Victoria.

When Premier Brumby announced two months ago that several thousand development applications would be reviewed to remove "roadblocks" (like council planning schemes and VCAT hearings!), the reason was supposed to be for more construction jobs to provide much-needed housing.

Of course we need jobs and more certainty and more housing, but there are better ways to do that than by removing democratic oversight and legitimate planning controls. This just hands windfall profits to developers to create projects that may not integrate properly with local infrastructure and planning policies (including environmentally-sustainable design to improve water and energy conservation).

As well as the recent call-ins of “strategic” sites by the Minister, in February the government unilaterally adopted Amendment VC53 to all Victorian planning schemes, which amends Clause 62.02-1 to include a planning permit exemption for ANY council building works costing less than $1 million.

The amendment was snuck in with no consultation at all under cover of the bushfire recovery amendments. It was adopted by the Minister on Feb.18 and gazetted on Feb.23, just 16 days after the tragic inferno of Feb.7. [http-//www.dse.vic.gov.au/planningschemes/aavpp/62.pdf]