REASONS FOR DECISION TO EXERCISE POWER OF
INTERVENTION
UNDER SECTION 20(4) OF THE PLANNING AND
ENVIRONMENT ACT 1987
GREATER SHEPPARTON PLANNING SCHEME AMENDMENT
C160
The Planning and Environment Act 1987, 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 the Minister’s powers of intervention, including action taken under delegation
from the Minister for Planning, the Minister has 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. On 20 March 2012, Greater Shepparton City Council requested the Minister for
Planning to utilise his powers under section 20(4) of the Planning and Environment
Act 1987 to exempt himself from the notice requirements and prepare, adopt and
approve Amendment C160 to the Greater Shepparton Planning Scheme, to correct a
number of anomalies within the Scheme relating to the Mooroopna West Growth
Corridor.
WHAT POWER OF INTERVENTION IS BEING USED?
2.
Under delegated authority from the Minister for Planning I have decided to exercise
the power to exempt the Minister from all the requirements of sections 17, 18 and 19
of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the regulations in respect to
Amendment C160 to the Greater Shepparton Planning Scheme.
3.
Section 20(4) of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 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
5.
The Mooroopna West Growth Corridor Structure Plan, July 2009 and Mooroopna
West Growth Corridor Development Contribution Plan, July 2009 were introduced
into the Greater Shepparton Planning Scheme on 8 July 2010 by Amendment C75.
The DCPO3, PAO10, PAO11, PAO14, PAO15 and PAO16 were also applied to land
in the Mooroopna West Growth Corridor by Amendment C75.
6.
This amendment seeks to correct a number of errors and anomalies within the zones
and overlays within the Mooroopna West Growth Corridor, as well as the Mooroopna
West Growth Corridor Structure Plan and Mooroopna West Growth Corridor
Development Contribution Plan applying to the corridor.
7.
Land no longer required for flood mitigation purposes is being rezoned from Urban
Floodway Zone to Residential 1 Zone and the Land Subject to Inundation Overlay is
being applied.
8.
A number of minor parcels of land are being removed from the Public Acquisition
Overlay 10 where it has been demonstrated flood mitigation measures are no longer
required. The Public Acquisition Overlay 11 is being realigned to achieve better
transport movements through the corridor’s north-south link, with the landowners
support.
9.
The Mooroopna West Growth Corridor Structure Plan July 2009 at Clause 21.09 is
corrected to reflect average lot sizes within Table 2 of the Development Contribution
Plan.
10. The Mooroopna West Growth Corridor Development Contribution Plan 2009 at
Clause 81.01 is amended to reduce the development contributions outlined within the
plan to reflect the reduction in public acquisition costs for PAO10 and related
infrastructure items.
11. The Schedule to Clause 45.06 Mooroopna West Development Contributions Plan is
replaced with a new Schedule to reflect the changes required to development
contributions within the Scheme.
12. In June 2012 Greater Shepparton City Council was awarded $5,432,000 for
construction of flood mitigation infrastructure within the corridor through the Federal
Government’s Building Better Regional Cities Program.
BENEFITS OF EXEMPTION
13. The grant of the exemption is that it will enable a prompt decision to be made on the
adoption and approval of the amendment.
14. The amendment will contribute to the fair and orderly development of land in
accordance with section 4 of the Act by ensuring that appropriate planning controls
apply to the land.
15. The amendment will prescribe a fair and equitable arrangement for cost
apportionment of shared infrastructure required within the corridor, enabling the flood
mitigation works to proceed prior to the development of residential land needed to
address the shortage of developable residential land in the corridor.
16. The timely processing of this amendment will assist the Council meeting the
timeframes set by the Federal Government Building Better Regional Cities Program
funding agreement.
EFFECTS OF EXEMPTION ON THIRD PARTIES
17. The effects of the exemption are that third parties will not have the opportunity to
make a submission or be heard by a planning panel in relation to this amendment.
18. The outcome of the amendment would be the same if it goes through a Panel
process.
ASSESSMENT AS TO WHETHER BENEFITS OF EXEMPTIONS OUTWEIGH EFFECTS
ON THIRD PARTIES
19. The amendment addresses the requirements outlined within the Ministerial Powers of
Intervention in Planning and Heritage Matters general practice note and is consistent
with Cutting Red Tape in Planning Action 7: Remove unnecessary matters, which
recommends the removal of redundant provisions through a fast track procedure.
20. Community and stakeholders had opportunity to comment on the Mooroopna West
Growth Corridor Development Contribution Plan, Mooroopna West Growth Corridor
Structure Plan and strategic justification for application of zones and overlays when
Amendment C75 was exhibited. Those comments were taken into consideration by
an independent panel prior to the adoption and approval of the amendment.
21. The landowner of the parcel of land where the Public Acquisition Overlay is being
modified has provided a letter of support for the amendment.
22. Accordingly I, acting under delegation from the Minister, 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
23. Under delegated authority from the Minister for Planning I have decided to exercise
the power to exempt the Minister from all the requirements of sections 17, 18 and 19
of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the regulations in respect of
Amendment C160 to the Greater Shepparton Planning Scheme.
REASONS FOR INTERVENTION
24. I provide the following reasons for my decision under delegated authority to exercise
the power under section 20(4) of the Planning and Environment Act 1987.
25. I, acting under delegation from the Minister, 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 amendment has no detrimental effect on third parties and a prompt decision
will assist the proper administration of the Greater Shepparton Planning
Scheme.
The interests of Victoria or any part of Victoria make such an exemption appropriate
because:
 the amendment enables critical flood mitigation infrastructure to be constructed
prior to further residential development occurring in the Mooroopna West
Growth Corridor.
Signed by the Delegate
JANE MONK
Director
Planning Statutory Services
Date:30 April 2013