REASONS FOR DECISION TO EXERCISE POWER OF
INTERVENTION
UNDER SECTION 20(4) OF THE PLANNING AND
ENVIRONMENT ACT 1987
EAST GIPPSLAND PLANNING SCHEME AMENDMENT C118
The Planning and Environment Act 1987 (the Act), the Heritage Act 1995 and the
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 provide for the intervention of the
Minister for Planning in planning and heritage processes.
In exercising my powers of intervention, I have agreed to:

Make publicly available written reasons for each decision; and

Provide a report to Parliament at least every twelve months detailing the nature of
each intervention.
REQUEST FOR INTERVENTION
1.
East Gippsland Shire Council has requested my intervention under section 20(4) of
the Planning and Environment Act 1987 in respect of Amendment C118 to the East
Gippsland Planning Scheme.
WHAT POWER OF INTERVENTION IS BEING USED?
2.
I have decided to exercise my powers to exempt myself from all the requirements of
sections 17, 18 and 19 of the Act and the regulations in respect to Amendment C118
to the East Gippsland Planning Scheme.
3.
Section 20(4) of the Act enables the Minister for Planning to exempt an amendment
which the Minister prepares from any of the requirements of sections 17, 18 and 19
of the Act or the regulations.
4.
In seeking to exercise this power, section 20(4) of the Act requires that the Minister
must consider that compliance with any of those requirements is not warranted or
that the interests of Victoria or any part of Victoria make such an exemption
appropriate.
BACKGROUND
Reformed residential zones
5.
The Victorian State Government (the government) has a well-documented reform
agenda which it has made clear will be implemented by 1 July 2014.
6.
Following significant public consultation from 17 July 2012 – to 28 September 2012,
the Reformed Zones Ministerial Advisory Committee considered the views of the
relevant agencies in formulating its recommendations on the form and content of the
reformed residential zones. The government’s response to these recommendations
was published in March 2013. Publication of this agenda and timeframes for
implementation has been made available through multiple sources including media
releases, publications on the Department of Transport, Planning and Local
Infrastructure website, and particularly through the implementation of Amendment
V8.
7.
Amendment V8 was gazetted on 1 July 2013 and introduced the Residential Growth
Zone, General Residential Zone and Neighbourhood Residential Zone into the Victoria
Planning Provisions. The residential zones have been reformed to give greater clarity
about the type of development that can be expected in a residential area, to simplify
requirements, to allow a broader range of activities to be considered and to better
manage housing growth. In particular, the General Residential Zone seeks to respect
and preserve neighbourhood character while allowing housing growth and diversity.
8.
Councils have until July 2014 to initiate amendments to convert residential land in
their municipalities to the new reformed residential zones. Where Councils have not
finalised an amendment to implement the new residential zones by 1 July 2014, the
General Residential Zone will be implemented to replace all land in the Residential 1,
2 and 3 zones.
9.
East Gippsland Shire Council has decided to translate to the new General Residential
Zone earlier rather than wait until 1 July 2014 given that it does not have the
strategic work to justify implementing the complete suite of new zones.
10. New commercial zones were introduced into the Victoria Planning Provisions on 15
July 2013 by Amendment VC100. Amendment VC100 translated the business zones
to commercial zones and deleted the former business zones from the Victoria
Planning Provisions. This amendment corrects the planning scheme map annotations
in relation to commercial zones.
BENEFITS OF EXEMPTION
11. The main benefit of exemption of the amendment under section 20(4) of the Act is
that it will enable a prompt decision to be made on the adoption and approval of the
amendment and implementation of the new reformed General Residential Zone and
updated mapping to the East Gippsland Planning Scheme.
12. The exemption also avoids duplication of the consultation that has already taken
place during the review of Victoria’s planning zones.
EFFECTS OF EXEMPTION ON THIRD PARTIES
13. The effects of exemption of the amendment from notice requirements is that third
parties do not have an opportunity to be formally notified of the amendment to make
submissions and to have submissions considered by a Panel.
14. The State government conducted a review of Victoria’s planning zones, including the
existing residential zones, to ensure that they were functioning correctly and their
schedules were still relevant. The review included a 10 week consultation period on
the draft residential zones, which attracted over 900 submissions. Government
departments and agencies were also consulted. An advisory committee reviewed the
submissions and provided recommendations on the content and implementation of
the new zones.
15. The map annotation correction is technical in nature and does not affect third party
interests.
16. East Gippsland Shire Council has requested and support the amendment.
ASSESSMENT AS TO WHETHER BENEFITS OF EXEMPTIONS OUTWEIGH
EFFECTS ON THIRD PARTIES
17. I consider that any effect of my decision to exempt myself from giving notice of the
amendment is outweighed by the benefit of the exemption.
18. Substantial consultation occurred during the review of the zones, which included the
draft residential zones. The amendment gives effect to the government commitment
to introduce the reformed residential zones in local planning schemes by 1 July 2014
and updates the planning scheme maps to reflect the reformed commercial zones.
19. Accordingly I consider that the benefits of exemption from sections 17, 18 and 19 of
the Act outweigh any effects of the exemption on third parties.
DECISION
20. I have decided to exercise my power to exempt myself from all the requirements of
sections 17, 18 and 19 of the Act and the regulations in respect of Amendment C118
to the East Gippsland Planning Scheme.
REASONS FOR INTERVENTION
21. I provide the following reasons for my decision to exercise my power under section
20(4) of the Act.
22. I am satisfied that Compliance with any of the requirements of sections 17, 18 and 19 of the Act and the
regulations is not warranted because:

The government has a clear agenda to reform residential zones across all
planning schemes as evidenced by the introduction of Amendment V8
gazetted on 1 July 2013 and this Amendment C118 implements the reforms
in the East Gippsland Planning Scheme; and

The map annotation correction is technical in nature and does not affect
third party interests.

Placing the amendment on public exhibition, with a potential panel hearing,
is not likely to give rise to a different outcome.
Signed by the Minister
MATTHEW GUY MLC
Minister for Planning
Date: 21 May 2014