Model
Officer
Report
Better Decisions Faster – Initiative E5
March 2005
Model
Officer
Report
Better Decisions Faster – Initiative E5
March 2005
Published by the Victorian Government’s Department of
Sustainability and Environment
Melbourne, March 2005
Also published on www.dse.vic.gov.au/planning
© The State of Victoria Department of Sustainability and
Environment 2005
ISBN 1 74152 075
This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by
any process except in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright Act 1968.
Authorised by the Victorian Government, 8 Nicholson Street,
East Melbourne.
Printed by Classic Colour Copying, 540 Elizabeth Street,
Melbourne
Foreword
I am pleased to provide the
Model Officer Report for use
by all councils in Victoria.
The report and associated
checklists and assessment
tables have been produced
as part of the Better
Decisions Faster program of
improvements to the
Victorian planning system.
The report and associated documents provide a
consistent approach to report format for reporting
planning applications. By clarifying the relevant
policy considerations the model report ensures a
focused and efficient assessment of applications.
Through the range of assessment templates
provided, the Model Officer Report package can
be adopted for the different types of applications
expected.
The model report has been developed with the
assistance of council planners and the MAV. I
encourage councils to adopt the model officer
reports to help streamline the planning process for
assessing applications.
Rob Hulls MP
Minister for Planning
On behalf of Victorian local
government, the MAV
welcomes this initiative as
part of the Better Decisions
Faster program.
Councils are committed to
improving their planning
processes and practices, and
the Model Officer Report
will be a useful tool in
prompting Council officers to consider the
relevant matters to an application. In addition, the
Model Officer Report will provide for a more
consistent approach in writing reports both within
and between Councils. This will improve the
transparency of the planning system.
On-going feedback from Councils on the Model
Officer Report will be useful in order to identify
further improvements to the document.
I am confident that with continued cooperation
between Councils and the Department of
Sustainability and Environment that on-going
improvements will be made to the planning
system, which is important not only to the
practitioners but to the community as a whole.
Geoff Lake
MAV President
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Model Officer Report Guidelines
Overview
The Model Officer Report templates have been prepared for councils as a set of standard documents to
assist with the process of considering a planning permit from pre-lodgement through to decision-making.
The report, checklists and assessment tables have been provided as Microsoft Word documents on CD,
allowing councils to modify the documents if they require tailoring for their particular needs. Part 2 of
these Guidelines provides tips for using the documents with Microsoft Word.
The Model Officer Report templates comprise:
• Pre-application Meeting File Note
• Checklists :
1. Construction and/or extension of a single dwelling or multi dwellings on a lot
2. Applications for Industrial Planning Permits
3. Applications for Business Planning Permits
4. Applications for a Planning Permit for Advertising Signage
5. Applications for a Planning Permit for Waiver of Car Parking
6. Applications for a Subdivision Planning Permit
• Application checklist for internal use
• Planning Assessment Report
• Assessment tables for:
1. One dwelling (Clause 54)
2. Two or more dwellings (Clause 55)
The report, checklists and assessment tables are also available at www.dse.vic.gov.au/planning.
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Part 1
Using the Reports and Templates
Pre-application meeting file note
The pre-application meeting file note provides a
standard template for recording the details of the
meeting and prompting the planner to cover all
relevant considerations at the meeting. Each
council should tailor the Relevant council
policies/guidelines section to address their
planning scheme policies and guidelines.
Checklists
Six checklists have been prepared for the most
common types of applications dealt with by
councils. These allow planners to check that all
the required information has been provided. It is
also suggested that the checklists be provided to
applicants in pre-application meetings or be made
available at the front counter. If required, councils
may vary these checklists to meet their particular
requirements or prepare additional ones.
Application Checklist – for Internal
Use
A general checklist has been provided to assist
with internal administrative matters which include
allocation and site inspection notes, advertising
and referrals.
Planning Assessment Report
The Planning Assessment Report Template has
been provided as a consistent report format for
the use of all councils. The generic format of the
report has been designed for considering all
application types, identifying the relevant strategic
issues and focusing only on the critical detail
necessary to make a balanced decision. The level
of detail and discussion required may vary
depending on the application type. Where more
discussion is required, this should be provided in
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the Summary of Key Issues section of the report.
However, information should not be duplicated
and discussion should remain focused on the main
considerations for assessment and balanced
decision-making.
Modifications to the template may be necessary
depending on application type and particular
Council requirements. For tips on using the
documents with Microsoft Word, refer to Part 2 of
these Guidelines for more information.
Proposal
In the Proposal section of the report the planner is
prompted to use Victoria Planning Provisions (VPP)
terms where possible to describe the proposal
together with relevant details which may include:
• Setbacks from boundaries
• Layout of development eg. Car parking, private
open space
• Vegetation retention/loss
• Proposed materials
• Units/storeys proposed
• Fencing height and/or type etc.
Subject site and locality
The Subject site and locality section of the report
prompts a summary to be provided of the relevant
details recorded when carrying out an inspection
of the site and checking any site analysis/context
plan or description that may be required with the
application.
Permit/Site History
The Permit/Site history section should only be used
when relevant to the application. If the site has no
previous relevant permit/site history then this
section should be deleted.
Part 1
Public Notification
Recommendation
The Public Notification section provides all the
relevant options. The appropriate option is to be
selected and the others deleted.
Under Recommendation, the responsible authority
can choose to issue a:
• permit
• notice of decision to grant a permit
• refusal to grant a planning permit
Consultation
This section allows details of any consultation to
be recorded.
Referrals
The Referrals section provides a useful summary
table to record referral advice and importantly
distinguishes Section 55 referrals from Section 52
notices.
Assessment
The Assessment section, provides for the relevant
VPP requirements for the application such as the
zoning of the land. The responsible authority
must list the appropriate clauses that relate to the
application and where appropriate include detail
as to whether the application meets the
requirements of the relevant clause/policy/strategy
etc.
If a particular section is not relevant to the
application then it should be deleted.
Summary of Key Issues
It is important that this section focuses only on
key issues. For example in the instance where a
proposal requires a departure from policy,
discussion on this issue should be made in this
section. Generally this discussion providing
strategic justification for a departure(s) from policy
should only be provided where the responsible
authority believes the departure is reasonable.
The decisions not relevant should be deleted.
In drafting conditions, Councils are encouraged to
use the standard conditions provided in the
Writing Planning Permits manual prepared by
DSE/MAV. The manual is available at
www.dse.vic.gov.au/planning.
Assessment Tables
The assessment tables have been prepared to
assist in checking compliance with Clause 54 (One
dwelling on a lot) and Clause 55 (Two or more
dwellings on a lot and residential buildings) of the
planning scheme. These tables have been
developed to be used as attachments to the main
report.
The tables are to be used to identify if the
application complies, does not comply or a
variation is considered appropriate to the
objectives and standards. Discussion is only
necessary where a variation is considered
appropriate and comments can be made in the
third column of the tables. In the instance where
the particular standard and objective is not
applicable to the application then N/A should be
retained as the appropriate option.
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Part 2
Document features
(tips for using the documents with Microsoft Word)
Standard formatting and features
Specific features
The Model Officer Report and associated
assessment tables and checklists have been
developed based on a customised Microsoft Word
document template. The template has a range of
features aimed at standardising the presentation
and formatting of the documents, facilitating
efficient and simple use, and promoting sound file
management.
The documents include customised:
• paragraph, bullet, numbering and heading
styles with specified fonts and line spacing
• page margins
• instructions (text fields, hidden text)
• check boxes
• file name autotext
• page numbering.
Some of the documents have been developed and
formatted to be filled in by hand and others
online.
Key features are illustrated and described below
and on the following pages.
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Part 2
Customised paragraph styles
Customised paragraph styles have been developed.
Authors should use these to format text instead of
manually formatting ‘Normal’ text. The styles used
to format text in the documents include:
Head 1 manual
Head 1 manual
Head 2 manual
Head 3 manual
Head 4 manual
Head 2 manual
Head 5 manual
Head
Para
0
3 manual
Para
0 bullet
Head
4 manual
Para
0 dash
Head
5 manual
Para
Para00letter
Para 0 number
Para 0 bullet
–
Para 0 dash
Para 1
Para 1 bullet
a) 1Para
Para
dash0 letter
1) 1Para
0 number
Para
letter
1
Para 1Para
number
Para 2
Para 1 bullet
Para 2 bullet
–
Note: A standard way of describing ‘Normal’ and
indented paragraphs is used in all of the
documents. The paragraph style includes a
reference to its level of indentation, for example:
• The 0 in the middle of the style ‘a) Para 0 letter’
indicates that the style has no indentation; it is
aligned with the left page margin.
• The 1 in the middle of the style ‘a) Para 1 letter’
indicates that the style is indented (it will line
up under the text in the 0 indented style).
Using the styles to format the text should take
care of most formatting requirements, however it
may be necessary to:
• format some text, for example to bold words in
the middle of a sentence
• change the spacing before or after a paragraph,
for example as has been done in some tables to
provide more space for hand writing, or after
the last bullet point in a list. To do this either:
• select from the standard word menu bar:
Format > Paragraph, and then alter the spacing
above or below as required
Or
• right mouse click on the paragraph you want to
change, choose Paragraph, and then alter the
spacing above or below as required.
There is a range of other styles available such as
numbered headings, however these have not been
used in formatting the current documents.
Para 1 dash
Para 2 dash
a)
Para 1 letter
Para 2 letter
1) Para 1 number
Para 2 number
TableFont
Para 2
TableFont bulletPara 2 bullet
TableFont –
number
Para 2 dash
TableFontH
a)
Para 2 letter
1)
Para 2 number
TableFont
TableFont bullet
1.
TableFont number
TableFontH
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Part 2
Accessing the customised paragraph styles
Access the customised paragraph styles via the
drop-down list in the Microsoft Word formatting
tool bar.
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Part 2
Instructions, examples, tips for council officers
Instructions, examples or tips for council officers
are provided in many of the documents either as
hidden text or text fields to assist in customising
or completing the documents correctly.
• Hidden text: presented in blue, does not print
• Text fields: click mouse on the field and type
Notes
• All instructions, examples and tips should be
deleted from a final document. They should be
replaced with ‘real content’.
• To ensure you can see hidden text and text
fields, click in the Microsoft Word menu bar:
Tools > Options > on the View tab, Hidden text
and Always in the Field shading drop down.
Check boxes
Many of the documents include check boxes. You
can choose to print the document and then fill in
the check boxes, or they can be ticked online by
double clicking the checkbox and then clicking
Checked.
.
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Part 2
Footer – document name and page number
Help & feedback
The footer on most of the documents includes the
file name and a page number. These have been
created using Microsoft Word autotext fields.
For assistance in using the Model Officer Report
and associated assessment tables and checklists
please email: planning.systems@dse.vic.gov.au.
• The file name field will update automatically
when you save, close and re-open a document.
Feedback about the documents should also be
directed to: planning.systems@dse.vic.gov.au.
• The page number will update automatically as
you work on a document.
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Model
Officer Report
templates
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