REASONS FOR DECISION TO EXERCISE POWER OF
INTERVENTION
UNDER SECTION 20(4) OF THE PLANNING AND
ENVIRONMENT ACT 1987
CORANGAMITE PLANNING SCHEME
GLENELG PLANNING SCHEME
AMENDMENT GC10
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.
No request for intervention has been received from the Corangamite Shire Council.
However, it has provided written advice confirming that it would expect that the
Minister for Planning will directly translate all land zoned Residential 1 Zone land to
the General Residential Zone by way of amendment, with an exemption from notice.
2.
No request for intervention has been received from the Glenelg Shire Council.
However, it has provided written advice confirming that it would be appropriate that
the reformed residential zones are introduced in the Glenelg Planning Scheme by
converting all existing Residential 1 Zone land to the General Residential Zone.
WHAT POWER OF INTERVENTION IS BEING USED?
3.
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 GC10
to the Corangamite Planning Scheme and Glenelg Planning Scheme.
4.
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.
5.
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
6.
The Victorian State Government (the government) has a well documented reform
agenda which is has made clear will be implemented by 1 July 2014.
7.
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 governments response to these recommendations
and was published in March 2013. Publication of this agenda and timeframe 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.
8.
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.
9.
The Residential 1 Zone will be removed from the Victoria Planning Provisions after 1
July 2014 necessitating planning scheme amendment/s to apply an alternative zone
to land prior to this.
10. On 13 March 2014 the Planning Manager of the Corangamite Shire Council wrote to
the Regional Development Victoria confirming council’s expectation that the Minister
for Planning will prepare, adopt and approve an amendment, without public notice, to
translate land in the Residential 1 Zone to the General Residential Zone on or before
30 June 2014.
11. On 2 April 2014 the Planning Manager of the Glenelg Shire Council wrote to Regional
Development Victoria advising that, in view of the need to introduce the reformed
residential zones into the Glenelg Planning Scheme by 1 July 2014, straight
conversion from the Residential 1 Zone to the General Residential Zone is
appropriate.
12. It is appropriate that as part of this amendment, the notations for commercial zones
on the planning scheme maps are updated to align with the reformed commercial
zones that were introduced into the Victorian Planning Provisions by Amendment
VC100 gazetted on 15 July 2013.
BENEFITS OF EXEMPTION
13. The main benefit of the exemption is that it will enable a prompt decision to be made
on the adoption and approval of the amendment. Exempting Amendment GC10 from
the usual public notification and consultation processes will enable the immediate
rezoning of the land to an appropriate reformed residential zone.
14. The exemption will avoid duplication of the consultation carried out by the Victorian
State Government during its review of Victoria’s planning zones. The focus of the
review was to ensure zones 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. Various government departments and
agencies were also consulted about the reformed zones. An advisory committee
reviewed the submissions and provided recommendations on the content and
implementation of the new zones.
EFFECTS OF EXEMPTION ON THIRD PARTIES
15. The effects of exemption of the amendment from notice requirements is that third
parties will not have an opportunity to be formally notified of the amendments to
make submissions and to have their submissions considered by a Panel.
16. However changes resulting from the rezoning of land from Residential 1 Zone to
General Residential 1 Zone are relatively modest, so people's rights to use and
develop their land will not be significantly different.
17. The update to the planning scheme maps to reflect the reformed commercial zones
does not change the zone of the land but provides clarity by accurately showing the
zoning changes introduced via Amendment VC100.
ASSESSMENT AS TO WHETHER BENEFITS OF EXEMPTIONS OUTWEIGH
EFFECTS ON THIRD PARTIES
18. I consider that any effect of my decision to exempt myself from giving notice of the
amendments is outweighed by the benefits of the exemption.
19. Substantial consultation occurred during the review of Victoria’s planning zones,
which included draft residential zones.
20. The reformed zones for Victoria have been approved to better respond to presentday requirements and will give greater clarity about the type of development that can
be expected in any residential area.
21. Replacement of the Residential 1 Zone in the Corangamite and Glenelg Planning
Schemes with the General Residential Zone Schedule 1 provides the most equivalent
translation to a reformed zone.
22. The is a need for urgency as the Residential 1 Zone will be removed from the
Victorian Planning Provisions from 1 July 2014.
23. The update to the planning scheme maps to reflect the reformed commercial zones
does not change the zone of the land but provides clarity by accurately showing the
zoning changes introduced via Amendment VC100
24. Accordingly I consider that the benefits of exempting myself from sections 17, 18 and
19 of the Act outweigh any effects of the exemption on third parties.
DECISION
25. 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 GC10
to the Corangamite and Glenelg Planning Schemes.
REASONS FOR INTERVENTION
26. I provide the following reasons for my decision to exercise my power under section
20(4) of the Act.
27. 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 changes resulting from the rezoning of land from Residential 1 Zone to
General Residential Zone Schedule 1 are relatively modest, so people's rights
to use and develop their land will not be significantly different.

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 implements the reforms in the
Corangamite and Glenelg Planning Schemes.

The update to the planning scheme maps to reflect the reformed commercial
zones does not change the zone of the land but provides clarity by accurately
showing the zoning changes introduced via Amendment VC100.

Placing the amendment on public exhibition, with a potential panel hearing, is
not likely to give rise to a different outcome than proposed by this
amendment.
Signed by the Minister
MATTHEW GUY MLC
Minister for Planning
Date: 21 May 2014