Democracy under threat: Amendment to the Victorian Planning Provisions (Amendment VC56) and its impacts

On Friday 22 May 2009, the Minister for Planning approved amendment VC56 to the Victorian Planning Provisions and all planning schemes in Victoria. Included in the amendment were the following changes:

• Introduction of Clause 52.40 Government Funded Education Facilities which exempts the need for a planning permit for buildings and works funded under the Building the Education Revolution Program (BER);
• Introduction of Clause 52.41 Government Funded Social Housing that exempts a planning application from the notice and review requirements of the Planning and Environment Act 1987;
• Establishment of the Minister for Planning as the responsible approving authority for buildings and works in education centres that are recommended for funding under the BER program and for the use and development of land for accommodation that is recommended for funding under the Social Housing Initiative.

These amendments to the Victorian Planning Provisions came into operation when published in the Government Gazette. As legislative changes were not required, the amendments were not debated and approved by Parliament, but could be introduced by the Minister for Planning outside of the usual public process.

Fast-tracking of social housing and the removal of these projects from the social realm where public participation and comments are part of the approval process is concerning on a number of levels:

• To qualify for the “social housing” exemption, there is no need to provide a minimum percentage of social housing. Thus, a 200-unit commercial residential development could fall under the umbrella of “social housing development” if just a token number of social housing units are included in the mix.

• Given that the social housing units are merely a component, and possibly a small component, of a mixed-housing development, the real impact of these changes will far exceed the target of 5,000 units in Victoria to be built under the Federal Government funded social housing development initiative. If social housing comprised 2% of the overall number of units in a mixed development, the total number of units likely to fall under the umbrella of the social housing development initiative would be 50 times the number announced as the government’s target for Victoria (ie. 5000 x 50 = 250,000).

• Under Amendment VC56, councils and the community are effectively excluded from having a say on large developments in their local area that fall within the catchall definition of “social housing development”.

• Safeguards against undue developer influence in the planning process are being removed, leaving the planning process open to abuse and corruption.

• The government’s selection criteria for social housing developments are ill-defined, meaning that it will be difficult to hold the government accountable for anything other than whether the numeric targets for social housing numbers are met.

Distributed by Planning Backlash. See www.marvellousmelbourne.com.au