Land use Planning

Built Environment

Built Environment Latest News

MAV | VicUrban Business Breakfast Series
CEOs from across the State have joined MAV and VicUrban staff and government colleagues at the first business breakfast for 2007 to explore the quality thinking behind the (re)making of Australian towns and suburbs and models for effective community engagement and agency collaboration. Participants heard from: Steve Thorne, Design Urban (Making Tullimbar); Gilbert Rochecouste, Village Well (Inventing a New Place: Rouse Hill); and Simon Knott, BKK Architects (Remaking Dandenong).

Topics planned for the remainder of the year are:

The ins and outs of retail and the rise of the big box
Urban Australia – who cares?
Money: how projects are funded

The program provides a professional development and networking opportunity for local government CEOs, with a focus on strengthening networks and knowledge around place making and project delivery. Contact Liz Johnstone, ljohnstone@mav.asn.au

New Heritage Overlay guidelines
Together with Heritage Victoria, the Heritage Council of Victoria has published a new set of guidelines for those working with the Heritage Overlay. The Heritage Overlay: Guidelines for Assessing Planning Permit Applications is a practical resource, to assist in the retention of the cultural significance of heritage places and allowing adaptation and fostering excellence in contemporary design. The new guidelines supersede the draft guidelines published by Heritage Victoria in 2000 and incorporate the feedback gathered during their lifespan.

They are primarily a tool for local councils to assist in the permit assessment process. The guidelines will also provide insight for owners, architects and developers preparing permit applications for heritage properties. The guidelines do not replace local heritage policies produced by councils nor have a statutory effect, unless they are formally adopted as part of a council’s planning scheme. They can be used to supplement or revise existing policies or provide guidance where local policy is yet to be developed.

The guidelines are available at www.heritage.vic.gov.au. They will be reviewed over the next 12 months as they are used.

Protocols for Heritage Council hearings
As the statutory authority responsible for Victoria’s heritage, the Heritage Council has amended its own hearings protocols to allow direct questioning of expert witnesses. The revised protocols enhance the procedures for Registration and Permits Committee hearings and bring them more in line with the practices of other statutory bodies, such as Planning Panels Victoria and VCAT.

Written submissions and submissions in reply are still required in advance of hearings. The Council will now allow parties to directly question expert witnesses who provide evidence to its Committees. As is current practice, advocates making submissions but not identifying themselves as ‘expert witnesses’ (such as National Trust representatives) will only be subject to questioning by the Committee.

The new hearings guidelines can be found at www.heritage.vic.gov.au and will be provided to all parties to any hearing. Since January 2006, all Committee decisions are also published on the website. A dedicated hearings officer now supports the Council. Contact email: heritage.council@dse.vic.gov.au, phone: 9637 9297.

Built Environment Overview

Council planning and building decisions, public works and the policy and programs that councils support all contribute towards the quality of communities, both our environment and the nature, or character of a place.

Outcomes are improved when a council takes a long-term view and integrates land use planning with planning and service delivery across transport, infrastructure, social, economic and environment concerns.

Positive change can be realised for a place, neighbourhood, city or shire over time.

Initiatives

Building

While not all use and development requires planning approval, most works require building approval. There are private and municipal building surveyors with distinct roles and functions. Every council has responsibilities allocated under the Building Act 1993.

Find out more about Building>

Sustainibility in the Built Environment - ESD

Increased concerns about global warming, resource depletion and the need to work towards a sustainable future has led to improved awareness and practices in the siting, design, materials and construction methods used in the building and renovations process. The MAV convenes an Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) advocacy group to share information on leading council practice and advocate for a regulatory framework that reduces the environmental impacts associated with development.

Find out more about Sustainability in the Built Environment - ESD>

Place Making and Urban Design

A key outcome of council activities is to create or sustain vibrant, safe, diverse and valued places where communities come together. Place making is underpinned by well established principles of urban design and is informed by how people live, work and travel.

Find out more about Place Making and Urban Design>

Heritage and Neighbourhood Character

Victoria has a long established and well developed system to identify, assess and, where appropriate, protect heritage assets on both public and private land. The most common tool for heritage protection is the use of a Heritage Overlay in the planning scheme. Additionally, the Heritage Council of Victoria, a ten-member statutory body appointed by the Governor-in-Council, decides which places and objects are added to the Victorian Heritage Register.

Heritage Victoria is the Victorian Government’s principal cultural heritage agency and is part of the Department of Sustainabilty and Environment. Heritage Victoria administers the Heritage Act 1995 and maintains the Victorian Heritage Register.

Significant difference in neighbourhoods and towns across Victoria. These differences are celebrated and should inform the nature and scale of development in an area. Planning decisions can transform the character of an area over time and councils need to understand the aspects, such as scale, setback, materials, landscape character and other design elements that contribute to a cohesive neighbourhood character, which is an important element of place-making.

Find out more about Heritage and Neighbourhood Character>