VICTORIA Report of the TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING BOARD for the Period from 1 July 1980 to 2 February 1981 Ordered by the Legislative Assembly to be printed MELBOURNE F D ATKINSON GOVERNMENT PRINTER 1981 No. 4 Thirty-Sixth Report 150 Queen Street, Melbourne, 3000 The Honourable the Minister for Planning, 500 Collins Street, MEI:iBOURNE, 3000 Sir, In accordance with Section 5(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1961, the Board has pleasure in submitting to you for presentation to Parliament the following report on its activities during the period from lst July, 1980 to 2nd February, 1981. Yours faithfully, Chairman, J .J. BAYLY Deputy Chairman, M. W.MILBURN Member, J .R. BAGHEL Member, P. S. COLCLOUGH Acting Secretary, H.R. TROTTER TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS AS AT 2ND FEBRUARY, 1981 Full-time Members J.J.BAYLY, B.Arch., Dip. T.R.P.(Melb.) Chairman M.W. MILBURN, B.Sc. (Durham), Deputy M.A. (Waterloo), Dip. T.P. (Durham) Chairman Part-time Members J .R. BAGBEL (Mrs.) Member P.S. COLCLOUGH Member PRINCIPAL OFFICERS IliJRING TEE PERIOD ENDEJD 2ND FEBRUARY, 1981 Acting Secretary H.R. TROTTER, A.A.S.A. Director of Planning P.J. BROWN, B.A., (Statutory) Dip. T.C.P.(Sydney) Acting Director of J.D. MOIR, B.A., Planning (Strategic) (Nottingham) Dip. T.P. TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING BOARD Chairmen Deputy Chairmen J.S. Gawler, 19,46-51 H.W. Hein, 1966-76 F.C. Cook, O.B.E., 1951-66 J.J. Ba¥ly, 1977-79 R.D.L. Fraser, I.S.O., 1966-76 M.W. Milburn, 1979-81 H.W. Hein, 1976-79 J.J. Bayly, 1979-81 Members F.C. Cook, O.B.E., 1946-51 Sir Alfred Kemsley, K.B.E., C.M.G., E. D. , 1946-1968 A.C. Collins, 1951-76 M.J. Lea, O.B.E., 1968-71 P.B. Ronald, C.M:G., 1971-75 P.S. Colc1ough, D.s.c., 1975-81 J.R. Baghe1 (Mrs.) 1976-81 Secretaries J.D. McNamara 1946-52 N.L. Lyneham 1952-60 W.H. Craig 1960-80 TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING BOARD HEAD OFFICE Melbourne: 150 Queen Street, Melbourne, 3000 Tel: (03) 6029200 REGIONAL OFFICES :Bendigo: 391 Hargreaves Street, :Bendigo, 3550 Tel: (054) 421511 Central Gippsland: 71 Hotham Street, Traralgon, 3844 Tel: (051) 745223 Warrnambool: T & G Building, Liebig Street, Warrnambool, 3280 Tel: (055) 624532 Wodonga: Astra House, Jack Hore Place, Wodonga, 3690 Tel: (060) 244688 The Town and Country Planning :Board was established in February, 1946 under the Town and Country Planning Act, 1944. The Act was substantially amended several times, particularly in 1961, 1968 and 1980. The Board consisted of a full-time Chairman and Deputy Chairman and two part-time members with a staff of 118 and offices in Melbourne, Bendigo, Traralgon, Warrnambool and Wodonga. It vas responsible to the Minister for Planning. The Board 1 s general duty under the Act was "promoting and coordinating town and country planning within the State". Its more specific functions included: * reviewing and reporting on all planning schemes, interim development orders and urban renewal proposals for any area of the State * preparing, at the Minister's request, planning schemes for any area of the State * preparing statements of planning policy * advising the Minister generally on planning issues. With the proclamation in January, 1981 of the relevant sections of the Town and Country Planning (Amalgamation) Act 1980, the Board was disbanded as from 2nd February, 1981 and its responsibilities transferred to the Minister. Its staff, together with those of the Ministry for Planning, were transferred to a new Department of Planning on the same date. This, therefore, is the Board's last report to Parliament and to the people of Victoria, after thirty-five years of State-wide planning. CONTENTS PAGE Foreword xi Strategic Planning l Statements of Planning Policy 2 Strategic Planning Studies 6 Regional Planning 15 Planning Systems Review 18 Melton/Sunbury Growth Centre 20 Local Planning 22 Statutory Review of Planning Schemes 26 Melbourne Metropolitan Planning Area 26 Western Port Planning Area 27 Geelong Planning Area 28 Planning Schemes Approved 28 Other Schemes and Studies 28 Urban Renewal and Other Proposals 32 Committees 34 Promotion of Planning 36 Board Members and Staff 41 The Board - In Short 43 Appendices 49 The Board's offices (left) in Queen Street, Melbourne xi FOREWORD The Town and Country Planning Board will cease to exist on the 2nd February, 1981, having been the Victorian Government's principal source of professional advice and channel of public communication on planning matters since it was established by the Town and Country Planning Act 1944. In the beginning, the task of promoting and co-ordinating town and country planning throughout the State was undertaken personally by the Chairman and members, ably assisted by a tiny band (as it now seems) of skilled and devoted officers. The Board has always been a small body, but the balance of professional skill and appreciation of community stapdards has been sustained by the willingness of quite remarkable people to accept office as part-time members and by the performance that has attracted and held staff who have earned a widespread reputation for understanding and willingness to assist in the efforts of local and regional planning bodies to define and achieve their planning aims. The remarkably short list of people who have served Victoria as members or principal officers of the Town and Country Planning Board is appropriately recorded in the early pages of this report. On the 30th June, 1980, the first commencement day of the Town and Country Planning (Amalgamation) Act took the Board's staff into the Public Service so that they would have the same standing as staff of the Ministry for Planning in the establishment of the new departmental structure. The Board has accepted amalgamation as a necessary end to the internal and external confusion about its role and that of the Ministry, and has co-operated closely with the Secretary for Planning in progressively releasing officers for different duties related to the new arrangements. xii It is inevitable in so radical a restructuring that there will be some disappointments and other "teething troubles". It will not help the new Department that its staff, although now administratively united, must continue for some months at least to work in four separate buildings. However, despite these problems, an opportunity has now been created for more positive and responsive development and administration of planning policies than have been possible with divided and overlapping responsibilities in recent years. The Board wishes for the Minister, with the Secretary for Planning and his colleagues in the management of the new Department, that their efforts will be rewarded with public appreciation and personal satisfaction. The Board takes considerable pride in the quality of the foundation for the Department's work that has been laid by the Board, and is confident that officers upon whom the Board has depended for its successes in the past will ensure, by their contribution, that further improvement in policie:s and standards can be sustained in the new arrangements. While planning for the wise and effective conservation ·~d use of our land resources requires the application of considerable technical skills, acceptable choices among competing social and economic objectives cannot be achi•aved unless those skills are applied with deep understanding of a wide range of factors affecting community standards. The Board's professional staff have developed policies of public consultation to a high level of effectiveness over the years, and undoubtedly this will continue as an important aspect of the Department's activity. Successive Ministers have expre~sed the view that the Board's tradition of independence from political control and undue bureau­ cratic constraint has been a valuable influence upon difficult decisions,and it is to be hoped that future Ministers w.Lll continue to look to this kind of source as a complement to the advice of a highly skilled Department. The Board therefore welcome1~ the continuation of its role as advisor to the Minister thrC>u.gh the Planning Consultative Council. The Board wishes to record its thanks to the many peoplE~, both in local government and in other agencies and departments of the State Government, for the co-operation which has made it possible to increase the effectivenesB and usefulness of the planning administration and to eliminate :xiii or reduce some of the anomalies that give rise to unsympathetic jokes about bureaucracies. With the active encouragement of the Ministers concerned, collaborative work with agencies in the Conservation and Water Resources groups has been remarkably productive in recent months, and there are signs of significant progress in the even more complex areas of Housing, Transport and Minerals and Energy. The prospect of a special relationship with this last Department with the appointment of Mr. Lieberman as its Minister as well as Minister for Planning should assist in encouraging the view of planning as not so much a source of constraint as a supportive agent for achievement. John J. Bayly Chairman l STRATEGIC PLANNING In July, 1967 the Board published its report, "Organisation for Strategic Planning". Although the report was prepared as a result of a direction from the Hon. R.J. Hamer, M.L.C. (at that time the Minister for Local Government and responsible for planning), to report on planning requirements for the future growth of Melbourne, its conclusions and recommendations had far reaching consequences. In particular, the report recommended the establishment of a "Council for the Co-ordination of Regional Planning", the preparation of statements of planning policy, and the establishment of regional planning authorities to give effect to strategic planning proposals by undertaking physical planning in their respective regions.