Planning Developments In Outer Melbourne

New zone to deliver 90,000 new homes in the growth areas

MELBOURNE’s newest suburbs will be planned better and delivered sooner, according to the body charged with realising the State Government’s vision for sustainable, thriving and affordable new communities.

The Growth Areas Authority is a small statutory body overseeing the planning of Melbourne’s growth areas – in Casey, Cardinia, Hume, Whittlesea, Wyndham and Melton.

An analysis by the GAA of the current planning process found it typically takes around 5 years to bring land to market and a million-dollars-plus.

The process involves an average 400 meetings, more than 2,000 phone calls and 1,500 pieces of correspondence.

The Victorian Government’s response is to set out a single approach designed for urban growth areas – creating a single zone – the new ‘Urban Growth Zone’ – for future growth area developments.

The reforms introduce a new planning regime in the outer growth suburbs to speed up land for 90,000 new homes across the six growth area councils.

Premier John Brumby has announced the improved system will save 12 months off the time it takes to get land to market and save up to $10,000 on the price of a new house block.

The key elements of the package are:

• An improved approval process for land development that will shave more than 12 months off the time it takes to rezone land for new communities to meet strong demand for new housing;
• A new ‘Urban Growth Zone’ for all broad-acre areas inside the Urban Growth Boundary within the growth areas that will significantly simplify the planning process
• The UGZ will merge the strategic planning (Precinct Structure Plan) and land rezoning approval processes into one step
• The zone will help bring forward basic community services so families have access to key services a lot earlier than currently the case.

Growth Areas Authority CEO Peter Seamer said the reforms would mean less holding costs for developers helping to keep downward pressure on house prices and a significant reduction in red tape for councils and developers.

“Every month we can cut out of the planning process means savings and this will cut about 12 months from the time it takes to rezone paddocks for housing,” Mr Seamer said.

“This package will allow developers to bring more projects to market sooner, with the extra supply easing demand pressures that drive up new housing prices,” he said.

The GAA also examined the task of coordinating infrastructure planning, finding the task “difficult”, with councils working from different concept plans, municipal strategic statements, local policy clauses, strategy documents, local structure plans, structure plans, cell plans, outline development plans, development plans, developer contribution agreements and subdivision master-plans.

The Authority also reviewed the standard suite of planning permit conditions used by councils and referral authorities and found a range of different wording to deal with common issues.

The GAA is preparing to release a strengthened set of guidelines for the development of Precinct Structure Plans (PSPs), the ‘master-plans’ for new communities.

Under the reforms, the PSP process and the rezoning of land to residential will be collapsed into a single process, enabling savings of thousands of dollars on the price of a house block.

The GAA is currently playing a significant leadership role in the coordination of 37 PSPs across the growth areas and has set up a new group specialising in infrastructure coordination, working with councils, authorities, developers and recommending priorities to government.

“These measures will make for a fairer, more consistent and transparent system of developing land, with greater support for councils to do the strategic planning that is needed so we know what people may need in 10 years and 20 years from now,” Mr Seamer said.

Scott Waterhouse, Senior Developer,
Development Facilitation

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