The state government is rushing ahead with its housing plans without adequately consulting with councils, says the peak body for local government.
“MAV would like to see the state engage in some genuine consultation with councils and a deeper dive around co-design,” James McLean – policy advisor for the Municipal Association of Victoria – told Government News.
In September 2023, the Victorian Government released its Housing Statement, an initiative that – through widespread planning reforms and other actions – aims to build 800,000 homes statewide over the next decade. The Housing Statement also includes a commitment to review Victoria’s Planning and Environment Act.
“We welcome that work. The Act is 40 years’ old; a lot has changed in 40 years,” McLean said.
However, MAV has told GN that, in the rush to implement change, “meaningful consultation with local government and industry has been hindered by hurried and incomplete processes”.
When seeking input, the government has imposed “very constrained timeframes”, says MAV, which has placed council planning departments “under huge time and resourcing pressure to provide feedback”.
McLean told GN that, under its housing proposals, the government is removing strategic planning powers from councils in some key activity centres while introducing new residential development design codification rules.
“So they’re doing a lot of work all at once and there doesn’t seem to be any way that they are joining up any of this work that will help councils implement really good outcomes on the ground,” he said. “What I’m hearing from councils is that [the reforms] will create confusion on day one.”
McLean told GN the property development sector is also bewildered by the government’s approach. “The people that the state government is supposedly relying on to build the homes that Victorians need are confused about the process as well,” he said.
McLean regards the lack of council consultation as “a missed opportunity”. “The councils are well-versed at running strategic planning processes that look at increasing housing supply, increased density in all of the right locations. Ticking the right boxes around transport, access to services. Open space – cooling, greening, all of the that. Councils are experts at that but the state has not sought to tap into that information,” he said.
“Councils also know about where the local social community physical infrastructure is and therefore what infrastructure is available to support increased density. But, again, the state hasn’t genuinely sought that information from councils,” added McLean.
In response, a Victorian Government spokesperson told GN: “Throughout the year we’ve met with every single council on our planning reforms and we’ll continue to consult with councils on how we can build more homes for more Victorians.”
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