Obtaining a council approval can take an enormous amount of time and patients along with even with experienced consultants who understand the rules and regulations, regardless whether you believe your proposal is a simple development that should have no issues, it can still take several months to gain an approval.

I always try to resolve planning issues the binging of the project , by having have one or a series of pre-application meetings with the council planning officers prior to submitting my application for approval.

Usually our architect is present at these meetings as well as a town planner for more complicated projectsWhat is a Local Council Planning Scheme?

Every Victorian Local Council has a legal document called a Planning Scheme. This document controls land use and development of property within the local Council area.

The information contained in your Local Council Planning Scheme sets out the requirements which show how land within your local area may be developed and used. It also contains details of all Victorian State and local planning policies, zones and overlay controls.

You can also access a set of maps which show the zones and overlay controls that apply to all land within your local council area, including your own property, from your local council Planning Scheme document.

This document will show whether or not you will need to have a Planning Permit to make any changes to your property, including further building/development on your land.

What is a Local Council Planning Permit?

In relation to any development work or changes to property in your area, the local Council has a legal document known as a Planning Permit. This Planning Permit sets out the types of land uses and developments cialis price allowed for certain properties.

Not all development needs a Planning Permit, some sites are prohibited completely and others will need a Planning Permit – especially in the case of properties on heritage zoned areas. If a Planning Permit is required for your development, then this must be obtained and approved before you obtain your Building Permit.

Zones – where to find them and what are they

All land in Victoria is zoned for specific uses.
If you wish to check the zoning in your particular area, you can check with your local Council Planning Scheme which sets out the zones for your local council area, which will include your property.

These zones are usually made up as follows: residential, commercial, industrial, business, open space and others.

Your local council Planning Scheme will show the specific requirements for each particular zone so that you can check whether or not you will require a Planning Permit to develop or subdivide your property.
These zones, as shown in your local council Planning Scheme, each contains a Land Use Control Table which outlines a number of land uses in 3 sections as:

What is a property Overlay?

An Overlay only affects certain properties. There can be more than one Overlay affecting a property. These overlay will denote the type of style development achievable in same case may even restrict the development some will relate to vegetation and size of land for minimum subdivision

You can check whether your property has an Overlay or a zone affecting it, by checking with your local council Planning Scheme.

Typical examples of an Overlay include Heritage Overlays, Significant Vegetation Overlays, Flood Prone Overlays, as well as Design and Development Overlays etc.
Information pertaining to the Overlay affecting your property will state whether or not you need to obtain a Planning Permit to construct a building or make any changes to your property.

Do you need a Planning Permit?

If your zoned property is affected by an Overlay, this could contain requirements which set out whether or not you will need to obtain a Planning Permit to undertake subdivision, development or other works to your land.

Depending on your plans, you may be required to lodge an Application for Planning Permit at the Planning Department of your local Council. This Planning Permit is the legal document which allows you to develop or change your property.

How much will I have to pay for Viagra Jelly a planning permit?

The planning fee which you will be required to pay when lodging your application is included in a Schedule of Planning Application Fees which is held at each Victorian Local Council.

This Schedule of Planning Fees is derived from the Planning and Environment (Fees) Regulations, 2000.
The amount you will need to pay your planning fee will depend on the nature of your planning application, whether for development or renovation use and will also depend on the cost of this proposal.

Once you realistically estimate how much your development will cost, you will then be able to work out (against the sliding scale of fees) what your planning application fee will be.

How long will my planning application take to process?

It is difficult to specify time frames for processing planning applications as they vary from Local Council to Local Council. Each Council has its own agenda and there are no set time limits for decisions on your planning permit application.

Within the Planning and Environment Regulations document, there is a ‘prescribed time’ which outlines that the local Council has 60 days in which to process your planning application. If this is not met, you can then lodge an appeal at VCAT for an Application for Review for Failure.

This is an appeal against your Local Council for failing to process your planning application within the stated time.

However, it should also be understood that the ‘prescribed time’ as show in the Regulations has a further set of rules stating when the ‘prescribed time’ stops and commences again which could affect the overall timing of your planning application.

There are many factors involved in the consideration and processing of your planning application by your Local Council which can affect the ‘prescribed time’.

These include:
* The fact that after you have lodged your planning application, the Local Council has 28 days to request from you further information regarding your planning application.

* If a Request for Further Information is requested, then the clock goes back to zero from the time when the further information is received by your Local Council.

* The Local Council may have to refer your application to any of the External Referral Authorities such as Melbourne Water, State Government planning departments, Vic Roads etc. due to requirements in your planning application or the location of your property.

* This External Referral Authority has 21 days to get back to your Local Council for more information and 28 days to respond to your Local Council. This means that the Local Council cannot make any decision on your planning application until the 28 day time limit is completed.

* If this process is happening, the clock stops and then starts again at the end of the 28 day referral period.

* Your planning application may also have to be referred to other Departments within your Local Council, such as the Building, Engineering, or Strategic Planning Departments. These Departments have a further 28 days in which to respond, which means that the Local Council Planning Department cannot proceed further with processing your application until these responses have been received.

* You may be required by your Local Council Planning Department to advertise your application by erecting a sign on your property, and advising surrounding property owners by registered mail and/or in the local newspaper.

* Should you be required to advertise, then the Local Council has to wait until the 14 day advertising period has expired before being able to make a decision. The Local Council can also extend the advertising period to longer than 14 days if it wishes to do so.

* The clock stops and starts again at the end of the fourteen day advertising period.

* In cases where a large number of objections to the proposal have been received, then the Local Council may request a meeting between yourself as the applicant and the objectors to discuss matters of concern and potential ways of overcoming these objections.

* In such cases, usually the Local Council will delay processing your application until after the proposed meeting in light of the fact that the outcome of the meeting may well incur changes to the original application.

* In cases where there are a specific number of objections to a planning application, many Local Councils have a policy which states that if there are say, more than five objections to that application, it must be put to a full Council Meeting rather than be decided within the Local Council’s Planning Department.

* These local Council Meetings usually take place once a month which may mean your planning application could be postponed for consideration to the following month should there be too many planning applications to process at any one meeting.

* There could be additional factors which may influence the timing/processing of your planning application at any one time.
The Local Council Planning Department may be experiencing staffing problems, inexperienced planning staff, a large number of planning applications being lodged or any number of other problems which could all affect your application being processed with the ‘prescribed time frame’.

It is quite likely that a Local Council Town Planner could be working on up to fifty planning applications at any one time, and hopefully trying to process all these applications within the ‘prescribed time’ limits.

However, your Local Council Town Planner is only human and in many cases the processing of a planning application will just have to wait its turn for processing in the line of other applications lodged earlier. The whole process can be frustrating, but is unavoidable and is commonly understood within the Victorian development industry.

Author Bio: property subdivision has been helping home owners subdivide and develop property for over 14 years , if you looking to develop you property call the subdivision professional today for you free site analyses on 1300 767 893 or visit us at www.propertysubdivsion.com.au

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Keywords: town planning , town planning permits , developing , subdivisions, property development, council pla