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VICTORIA Report of the DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING July 1981-June 1982 Ordered by the Legislative Assembly to be printed MELBOURNE F D ATKINSON GOVERNMENT PRINTER 1983 The Honourable Evan Walker MLC Minister for Planning 500 Collins Street MELBOURNE VIC 3000 Dear Minister In accordance with Section 11(1) of the Town and Country Planning (Amalgamation) Act 1980, I have pleasure in submitting to you for presentation to Parliament the following report on the activities of the Department of Planning for the period 1 July 1981 to 30 June 1982. SECRETARY FOR PLANNING CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ROLE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT 3 PORT PHILLIP DIVISION 5 Metropolitan Area: Melbourne Central Area Task Force 5 Local Development Schemes 6 Retailing 7 Protection of Parks, Boulevards and their Surroundings - Amendment 151 7 Heatherton/Dingley Sand Area 8 Keysborough Green Wedge Working Party 8 Extended Metropolitan Planning Area - Amendment 3 9 Geelong Region 9 Upper Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges Region 10 Western Port Region 1l COUNTRY VICTORIA DIVISION 13 Central Gippsland Region 13 Central Highlands/Wimmera Region 14 East Gippsland Region 16 Goulburn Region 17 Loddon Campaspe Region 18 North Eastern Region 19 Northern Mallee Region 20 South Western Region 21 RURAL AND STRATEGY PLANNING 23 RESTRUCTURE OF OLD AND INAPPROPRIATE SUBDIVISIONS 24 WORLD TOWN PLANNING DAY 25 MELTON SUNBURY GROWTH CENTRES 26 SOCIO-ECONOMIC &~D DEMOGRAPHIC UNIT 27 HERITAGE AND ENVIRONMENT L~IT 28 Historic Buildings Council 28 Heritage Advisory Services 28 Planning 30 Environmental Planning 31 PLk~NING CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL 33 PLANNING APPEALS BOARD 35 PRINCIPAL OFFICERS SECRETARY FOR PLANNING N G HAYNES (Until 14 May 1982) DEPUTY SECRETARY J B LAWSON ACTING SECRETARY (15 Hay to 30 June 1982) CHIEF PLAJ.'l'NER D R DAINES REGIONAL DIRECTOR (PORT PHILLIP) V J SPOSITO REGIONAL DIRECTOR (COUNTRY VICTORIA) G MCK WRIGHT INTRODUCTION The Department's first full year of operation began with plans for consolidation following the amalgamation of the Ministry for Planning and the Town and Country Planning Board early in 1981. It ended with a reassessment of the Department's role and functions, and the beginning of new directions and new projects for Planning in Victoria. Major changes during the year were the election of a new Government and the departure of the Secretary for Planning, Mr Neville Haynes, who was appointed to the position of Co-ordinator for Economic Development. The new Government came to power in April 1982 with a well publicised planning and environment policy which it immediately took steps to implement. One of the first steps was to appoint a review team to examine and assess the role and functions of th.e Department of Planning. The team brought extensive experience in planning and urban affairs to the task. The Chairman, Professor Mal Logan, had been involved in the examination of urban issues and policy formulation in the academic field; Mr John Mant was formerly permanent head of the South Australian Department of Housing, Urban and Regional Affairs; Mr David Yencken was a major innovator in the building field and former Chairman of the Australian Heritage Co~~ission; Ms Faith FitzGerald and Dr Murray Frazer represented the Public Service Board's consulting and staffing divisions. The review group also examined ten Action Plan studies undertaken by the Department shortly after the new Government came to power. 63728/83-2 These Action Plans dealt with: Policies for Central Melbourne Metropolitan policy and Amendment 150 Amendment 151 - boulevards and park surrounds Policies for provincial centres Policies for the metropolitan fringe The Historic Buildings Act Latrobe Valley planning policies Portland Rural areas State statement of planning policy A number of new projects will be undertaken in th.e coming year arising from the work of tne Action Plan teams. Following Government policy to simplify planning procedures work also began immediately on the preparation of new planning legislation and streamlining of planning processes. The Department enters the 1982-1983 year with high expecta tions for a new system and rearrangement of roles. 2 ROLE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE. DEPARTMENT The Department of Planning derives its main powers from the Town and Country Planning Act and other Acts for which the Minister for Planning is responsible or partly responsible. Under the Act a decentralised system of planning administration has been developed within which local and regional authorities are given the responsibility for preparing and amending planning schemes and for administering land use controls. The Department's main function is to be responsible for land use strategies and for the management and control of land use and development of private land. This includes reviewing and reporting on planning schemes and urban renewal proposals prepared by all responsible authorities throughout the State; the administration of some planning schemes; the preparation of strategy plans, where appropriate; the provision of advice and assistance to regional planning authorities (including the MMBW), local councils and the public; and advising the Minister. It is also responsible for the restructuring of old and inappropriate subdivisions throughout the State; and for overseeing the development of the Melton-Sunbury growth area. The Department's activities are organised on a regional basis with offices in Melbourne, Ballarat, Bendigo, cranbourne, Traralgon, Warrnambool and Wodonga. Virtually all the Department's land use planning functions are carried out in the two regional divisions of the organisation. These functions include strategic as well as statutory planning matters and the develop ment of policy as well as the processing of statutory items. 3 Artist's impression of Swanston Street, showing the potential for greater pedestrian use (from Designs on Melbourne - An In;;;roduction to ;;he Cent=l City Local Development Scheme, Department of Planninq, 1981). PORT PHILLIP DIVISION The Port Phillip Division provides advice and assistance to established metropolitan and regional authorities, commissions and committees, and reviews the policies, planning schemes and other statutory planning controls developed by these bodies. It is also responsible for developing planning policies and strategies for the Greater Melbourne Area. This division consists of five regional groupings, each responsible for the day to day management of a defined geographical part of the Port Phillip District: Western Port/South Gippsland (Cranbourne Office) Metropolitan (East and South) Melbourne Central Area Geelong- Metropolitan (North and West) Upper Yarra Valley-Dandenong Ranges-Macedon As well as these groups, a major task force operated during the year. Metropolitan Area Melbourne Central Area Task Force The Central Area Task Force, appointed in May 1981 by the then Minister for Planning, the Hon Lou Lieberman, was set up to evaluate all the planning work previously carried out on central Melbourne, and to produce firm planning provisions for the central business district. The group was made up of representatives of the principal planning agencies with jurisdiction in the central city area. It comprised five Departmental staff, and representatives from the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, the Melbourne City Council, Department of Public Works, and the Ministries of Transport and Housing. 5 Proclamation of the Town and Country Planning (General Amendment) Act in July 1981 enabled the task force to produce a local development scheme (LDS) for the central business district. This was to be developed from an analysis of all relevant studies, planning provisions and development programs for the city centre, including the 1974 Strategy Plan and the major Amendments 150 and 151. The LDS was publicly released in November during World Town Planning Week, with subsequent formal exhibition and submissions. With the election of a new government in April 1982, a review of the previous government's policy proposals for central Melbourne was carried out in one of ten action plans initiated by the new Minister for Planning, the Hon Evan Walker MLC. These action plans were presented to the Minister in June 1982. Local Development Schemes Legislation enabling the preparation and approval of local development schemes in the Melbourne Metropolitan Planning Area was brought into operation in July 1981. The Department held two seminars in July on new legislation and guidelines for preparing local development schemes. A number of councils have resolved to prepare local development schemes, two of which are well advanced. These are the Central Area LDS (City of Melbourne) and the City of Berwick LDS. A feature of the planning of the Berwick area will be the introduction of Metropolitan Residential and Business Zones into the Melbourne Metropolitan Planning Scheme to complement the City of Berwick LDS. The Metropolitan Zones will control the uses which are of a metropolitan nature only. 6 A committee comprising representatives of the t.fMBiv, the Department of Planning, and the Local Government Planners Association has been formed to monitor and facilitate the progress of local development schemes in the metropolitan area. Retailing Major retailing proposals continued to be submitted to the Minister and the Department for consideration. The policy of specifying, as a condition of rezoning, a maximum gross leasable floor area for retailing in accordance with the developer's plans continued. Proposals for rezonings