A week may be a long time in planning (or even football), but the last few weeks have been particularly busy in regard to emerging changes to the Victorian Planning System. After the announcement of Victoria’s Housing Statement back in September 2023, a number of projects and initiatives had been announced, but nothing concrete has been delivered to date.
The codification of ResCode was one such announced project that Ratio staff have been involved with, participating in industry/stakeholder testing workshops over the last year. As announced in The Age over the weekend (following the release of leaked documents,) the codification of ResCode, and the potential demise of neighbourhood character, is further advanced. We look forward to sharing these changes in due course.
Our previous newsletter on activity centres followed our initial review of the documentation to hand. Landowners within the nominated activity centres and associated catchment areas have now been notified about the draft Activity Centre Plans for 10 activity centres across Metropolitan Melbourne.
The 10 activity centres are North Essendon, Niddrie (Keilor Road), Broadmeadows, Epping, Preston (High Street), Ringwood, Camberwell Junction, Chadstone, Frankston, and Moorabbin. The draft plans can be viewed here.
It is critical that landowners in the activity centres stay up to date with the draft plans that have been released to understand the impacts and potential opportunities on their current landholdings as well as on any present or future development projects.
Any persons wishing to raise comments or concerns about the proposed controls should make a submission by the due date. This is the only opportunity to comment before the controls are finalised.
The consultation period is open until 29 September 2024.
How can Ratio assist?
We have prepared additional mapping of all the affected centres so the extent of the catchment areas and the existing context, in terms of zoning and Heritage Overlays, can be better understood relative to the proposed controls.
Broadmeadows
Broadmeadows
Camberwell Junction
Camberwell Junction
Chadstone
Chadstone
Epping
Epping
Frankston
Frankston
Moorabbin
Moorabbin
Niddrie
Niddrie
North Essendon
North Essendon
Preston
Preston
Ringwood
Ringwood
The activity centre plans have been prepared by the Victorian Planning Authority (VPA) and propose a range of built form controls (e.g. building heights, setbacks, separation, and shadow) with a mix of mandatory, discretionary, and deemed-to-comply provisions for the activity centre cores. This includes maximum heights of generally up to 12 storeys, but rising to even greater scale of 14 storeys in Preston, 16 storeys in Frankston and 20 storeys in Ringwood. The plans also identify walkable catchments extending 800 metres from the core where increased housing density is encouraged in the form of 3 to 6-storey development.
In some cases (such as Frankston, Preston, and Camberwell) the proposed controls are informed by recent Council-led Structure Planning. In other cases, entirely new controls are proposed.
The new controls are expected to be implemented by the end of the year and will set the long-term planning framework for the 10 activity centres, with similar controls then expected to follow for remaining centres across Melbourne.
Given the consultation period closes at the end of the month (otherwise known as Grand Final weekend!), we strongly recommend that those with affected land make submissions to Engage Victoria. This will be the only opportunity to provide feedback on the controls and effect changes.
If you have any questions relating to this announcement or if you have a project or landholding that you would like to discuss, please get in touch with Alice Maloney (Director: Planning), Mathew Furness (Director: Urban Design) or your existing Ratio contacts.
Ratio Consultants can assist with the provision of due diligence planning advice on the draft plans and have in-house urban design capability to model potential built form outcomes and scenarios for individual sites and precincts. This can assist to inform and support any submissions made to the Government to ensure the development outcomes are optimised.
