Recent developments in development law

LG Leader July 2017

Aside from the upcoming commencement of certain provisions under the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016 concerning Development Assessment Panels and the release of the Draft Design Guidelines on 1 October 2017 (as reported here), a number of other important developments are occurring, each of which are detailed below.

Building Upgrade Agreements

The Local Government (Building Upgrade Agreements) Amendment Act 2015 will commence later this year.

This Act will amend the Local Government Act 1999 to allow councils to enter into agreements with building owners and financiers to secure loans for building upgrades by way of a charge registered over the title to the relevant land. (See here for our analysis of the Act, and here for our analysis of the draft Regulations).

For those of you interested in Building Upgrade Agreements and how they may be used to improve existing heritage and other buildings in your council’s area, the Better Building Finance website is a useful resource. The website was developed by the Victorian and Federal Governments and reflects the successful Victorian Environmental Upgrade Finance Scheme, which our State’s scheme is based upon.  The website contains financial calculations and case studies.

State Planning Commission

The membership of the State Planning Commission was announced recently. Tim Anderson QC is the Chairperson, and Michael Lennon, Matt Davis, Janet Finlay, Fairlie Delbridge and Allan Holmes are the remaining members. Sally Smith has been appointed as the ex officio member.

The State Planning Commission are charged with many responsibilities under the PDI Act. Over the next few months they will be required to develop the Community Engagement Charter and to designate “regions” and “sub regions” for the purposes of planning policy development, State Planning Policies and the Planning and Design Code.

We will keep you informed as to the activities of the State Planning Commission.

Development Plan Amendments

A number of Development Plan Amendments (initiated by councils as well as the Minister) are presently being progressed by their proponents and the Development Policy Advisory Committee.

On 8 August 2017, public hearings will occur for two Ministerial DPA’s, the Inner and Middle Metropolitan Corridor (Sites) DPA and the Inner and Middle Metropolitan Corridor (Design) DPA.  These DPA’s affect land adjacent to major public roads “corridors” within five inner-metropolitan councils. It is expected that these DPA’s will be approved prior to the end of this year and that a number of other DPA’s will soon be released on public consultation.

What is very clear now is that Development Plans will continue to be amended despite the transition to our new planning system. Given that there are transitional provisions under the PDI Act to allow Development Plans to be used for planning assessment under the new planning “pathways” in the PDI Act, it also appears clear that Development Plans will be with us for many years to come!