15 objections now needed for planning applications

PLANNING applications with 15 or more objections will be referred for a council decision instead of five as part of a review.

While applications costing less than $5M will be able to be determined by a council officer instead of $3M.

A review of instruments of delegation to council, which was adopted at Bass Coast shire’s May meeting, has included:

Increasing officer delegation condition to determine planning permit applications where the cost of works is less than $5 million (increased from $3 million); 

Increasing officer delegation condition to determine applications where 15 or more objections have been received (increased from 5 objections); and 

Affording officers delegation condition to negotiate outcomes through Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal processes where a decision was initially made by Council (currently these matters are presented back to Council for consideration).

According to shire documents, the purpose of the review was to ‘remove processes that do not contribute to improved decision making’ and ‘ensure that applications of significant community interest are dealt with by Council’.

For the 2022/23 YTD, the shire has received 230 planning applications, with 79 per cent determined within the 60-day statutory timeframe, with more than 600 received in the previous year.
Councillors will be notified of planning applications on a fortnightly basis, receiving a list of all new applications received.

This will include a brief description of the application and applications that generate significant community interest (15 or more objections). 
A monthly councillor briefing will also be provided to query an application. 

However, the review also states that ‘calls up’ should not be common practice, which is a when one or more councillors request in writing that a ‘delegate not exercise delegation’.

Speaking at the shire’s May meeting, Cr Bruce Kent stated it was an ‘operational decision’ and receives complaints from builders and developers that “we don’t move along fast enough”.

He added that councillors will still be able to call in different projects if contacted by the community and that the review was a great improvement to the planning department.