• Residential Growth Zone;
• General Residential Zone; and a
• Neighbourhood Residential Zone.
“The new Neighbourhood Residential Zone will be an instrument that can be adopted by
councils to protect existing amenity of suburbs and towns.
“It will give many areas the protection they deserve and will be the strongest residential
protection zone ever offered in the Victorian planning system,” Mr Guy said.
This zone will include a number of features including mandatory height controls, stricter
regulations around subdivision and the consideration of minimum lot sizes. The
Neighbourhood Residential Zone will also be able to protect existing streetscapes and
amenity with clear guidelines on what can be supported by a planning permit application
Farming communities to benefit from rural planning zone reforms
Proposed reforms will promote the growth of agricultural activity and give councils much needed
flexibility to adapt planning requirements to local circumstances.
“Victoria has a productive and competitive agricultural sector. The planning system should
assist farmers and rural communities. Unfortunately, planning rules have been a hindrance
for too long and need to be reformed,” Mr Guy said.
“The Coalition Government’s proposed reforms will make it much easier for farmers to
operate.
“Councils need a much greater level of autonomy in managing their rural areas after a decade
of top down state government direction on the operation of rural zones,” Mr Guy said.
The reforms respond to many issues raised by peak bodies such as the Victorian Farmers
Federation and Rural Councils Victoria
Proposed reforms will promote the growth of agricultural activity and give councils muchneeded
flexibility to adapt planning requirements to local circumstances.
“Victoria has a productive and competitive agricultural sector. The planning system should
assist farmers and rural communities. Unfortunately, planning rules have been a hindrance
for too long and need to be reformed,” Mr Guy said.
“The Coalition Government’s proposed reforms will make it much easier for farmers to
operate.
“Councils need a much greater level of autonomy in managing their rural areas after a decade
of top down state government direction on the operation of rural zones,” Mr Guy said.
The reforms respond to many issues raised by peak bodies such as the Victorian Farmers
Federation and Rural Councils Victoria
Planning zone reform to boost productivity, jobs andincrease liveability
Sweeping reforms to Victoria’s residential, commercial, industrial and rural planning zones
have been released by the Victorian Coalition Government.
Key features of the proposed zoning reforms include:
• The introduction of a new Neighbourhood Residential Zone;
• A new General Residential Zone and Residential Growth Zone;
• Improvements to the existing Mixed Use Zone, Comprehensive Development Zone and
Activity Centre Zone;
• New and more flexible Commercial 1 and Commercial 2 Zones to replace five existing
Business zones;
• Zone reform to support tourism activities in Farming Zone, the Rural Conservation Zone
and the Green Wedge Zones; and
• Significant reforms to rural zones to promote the growth of agricultural activity.
Planning Minister Matthew Guy said the package of reforms will provide greater certainty in
Victoria’s planning system and fulfil the Coalition Government’s election commitment to
reform Victoria’s planning zones.
“The Coalition Government is committed to planning zone reform to improve productivity and
jobs in our commercial and industrial sectors while providing greater certainty in our
residential areas,” Mr Guy said.
“The proposed Neighbourhood Residential Zone will restrict housing growth in areas
identified for preservation of the existing urban amenity, and fulfils a key election commitment
to protect neighbourhoods from inappropriate development.
“In addition, the new General Residential Zone and Residential Growth Zone will enable
Council’s to work with the local communities to determine the most appropriate locations for
built form change to occur.”
Commercial zones will also be reformed by the Coalition Government cutting red-tape and
providing more flexibility for the business community.
“The Coalition Government proposes to create two new commercial zones to replace the five
existing business zones currently hampering productivity in the business sector,” Mr Guy
said.
…/
COMMENT: EXCITING TIMES AHEAD
4 comments:
Exciting times ahead indeed, however the following statement is of grave concern IMO when the Greenies and the former Hamer Liberal Govt Greenies may still have a big say in how councils decide on planning and not to forget Building issues as determined by the BCA ....Proposed reforms will promote the growth of agricultural activity and give councils muchneeded
flexibility to adapt planning requirements to local circumstances.
I doubt that we will have certainty if Council Planners continue to dictate and rule the roost...Gillys Wedge, Yarra Glen
I urge all property owners to take an active role to support the positive aspects being proposed by Matthew Guy the Planning Minister loudly with your local members but don't keep quiet and let the Greens movement take over the topic by squashing any of the positive reforms by using the Greens councils administrators to do their bidding.....
It will cost us all dearly if we let the loony leftist greens take over the direction of the suggested reforms and they will try every trick in the book. IMO most of the lefty greens are not as busy in operating businesses as landowners farmers tend to be and they have far more time to dedicate to opposing and lobbying council planners and other opposing political movements. I have listed and put in bold a small number of opposing individuals and Council officers who are strongly opposed to any change in use of Green Wedge or Rural Land as they don't want to have reduced powers to force land owners to plant this grass or that plant on our landholdings.
Why do I need a permit to spend money on a new barn when i want to buy a tractor? Why do i have to wait several months on some long winded council planning permit system before i can even order a tractor during a recession. It took one farmer in Wandin two years before he could get a permit to build a carport due to the quirky planning regulations. We should not need a permit to spend money anytime and certainly not during a recession.
Whilst all these proposals are all looking to be very good, there is no certainty that this government wont submit to the constant niggling by otherwise unemployed Greenies with the help of left leaning council resources who will have more time to try stopping most of these positive proposals, so I urge all landowners to MYOB by putting some time aside and real effort to research the topic of what YOUR land will be worth with more of the freedoms being proposed against what it will be worth if the Greenies get their way.
Contact and support your local members who support these progressive changes and write letters of support or suggest fine tuning for the benefit of your businesses.
Gilbert Boffa
GREEN WEDGE LAND OWNER
Yarra Glen
0407855224
LIST OF ANTI CHANGES PEOPLE:
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The Property Council's Victorian executive director, Jennifer Cunich, said the new strategy must emphasise job opportunities with new housing. And she said the community had to be involved.
Opposition planning spokesman Brian Tee said the problem with declaring Melbourne 2030 dead was it left a vacuum where ''anything goes'' until the new strategy was in place.
RMIT planning expert Michael Buxton said the process for developing the new strategy was flawed -
Mary Drost from Planning Backlash said community groups should be able to help draw up the plan.
Municipal Association of Victoria president Bill McArthur said it required a ''genuine state-local g'
==================================
The Victorian National Parks Association also criticised the government's decision to scrap plans to create corridors for the endangered bandicoot.
The Department of Sustainability and Environment briefed environment groups. The association's executive director Matt Ruchel
THE Green Wedges Coalition co-ordinator Rosemary West.
Mr Dance has also been a belligerent campaigner to keep the gullies and hills around his Sunbury home part of Melbourne's ''green wedges'' - land put aside in 1971 by premier Rupert Hamer for farming and open space.
Dandenong Ranges branch of the National Trust and Yarra Ranges Shire were among the 47 objectors. The Save the Glenfern Green Wedge Group also submitted a 1100-signature petition. Green wedge group member David Mutch said he was relieved at VCAT's ."Knox Council's director of city development Angelo Kourambas welcomed the decision
HANDS off! That was the message from Mornington Peninsula Shire in response to a state government
ACCOMMODATION & BROTHELS are both regarded as Prohibited Uses on GWZ Land which is still an illogical comparison for Accommodation use to be placed at the same level of prohibition and giving council more flexibility makes no sense either when recently the Yarra Ranges Building Compliance dept recently sent an Order to another GWZ land owner claiming they could not house any fruit pickers, just the farmers family, otherwise they would have to change the home to a Class 1b building under BCA guidelines by getting another building permit and new occupancy permit for their already established home of 40 years..
This capricious interpretation of current laws & with then giving extra flexibility to Councils can only continue to have serious long term consequences for farmers when touring fruit pickers need to sleep in their cars or pitch tents on crown land because of the beauracratic interpretations of both building and Planning laws which puts Accommodation use in the same prohibited category as brothels.
PROHIBITION AGAINST FRUIT PICKERS ?...The Yarra Ranges building compliance department are of the opinion that a Class 1b is the only suitable residential building to house fruit pickers instead of a Class 1 a which is a dwelling where only the owners can reside and that a bedroom in a house is regarded as an attached room, which when rented out to a seasonal fruit picker would be regarded as a separate tenant in a dwelling is a sole-occupancy-unit [SOU as defined in the BCA]..How many houses with bungalows are renting rooms legally then?
Unfortunately this implies that a seasonal fruit picker is to be regarded as a resident which they are not, but unfortunately for fruit pickers it is uneconomical for both farmers or investors to change to a Class 1b building for the sake of renting a room for 3 months of a year and so strawberry pickers who needs to bend down cannot get to sleep on a comfortable and economical bed but have to continue to sleep in their cars or a tent stretcher which I’m sure wont encourage many pickers to tell their friends a positive story on their Yarra Valley experiences.
Unfortunately the compliance officers who see themselves as the Sheriff of Nottingham making sure the law of prohibiting accommodation has the same level of distaste as brothels which they believe needs to be stamped out in a GWZ /rural area and have no qualms in creating legal battles to ensure the law is complied with. The Sheriff has no interest in the efforts of the Shire Economic or Agri-business departments who are trying to work out a solution to this sorry Planning and Building regulations mess. Obviously the Sheriff’s men have never picked fruit or vegies before to know why a tent stretcher is no good at the end of a busy day of picking strawberries or cutting asparagus.
So I say that unless the Planning Minister can resolve this issue sensibly then the hand picking produce farming practice will go the way of the horse and cart.
This type of capricious interpretation of current laws & not permitting economic bedroom accommodation for fruit pickers and then by giving extra flexibility to Councils can only continue to have serious long term consequences for farmers when touring fruit pickers need to sleep in their cars or pitch tents on crown land because of the beauracratic interpretations of both building and Planning laws which puts Accommodation use in the same prohibited category as brothels. How silly is that?
Gilbert Boffa
Spokesperson
Green Wedge Land Owners Group
Eltham Road,
YARRA GLEN VIC 3775
0407855224
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