Wednesday, 28 May 2025

Victoria planning provisions

Tim READ (Brunswick) (17:16): (1178) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Planning, and the action I seek is that the government amend the Victoria planning provisions so that people no longer need to seek permits to make small sustainable changes like adding solar panels and rainwater tanks to heritage buildings. I recently visited the home of Conor King, a Victorian resident who was never made aware that he was meant to apply for a planning permit before installing solar panels on the roof of his house, which is under a heritage overlay. Six months after he installed them Conor went through an unrelated application process with the council in order to do renovations to his house, and the council was dismayed to learn about his illicit solar panels and instructed him to remove four of the 12 panels. This instruction seemed to be an arbitrary compromise based not on protecting the structural integrity of the home or even making sure that the terrifying sight of a handful of solar panels was not visible to the poor innocent onlookers on the street but simply on finding the midpoint between the relevant planning regulations and the fact that Conor unintentionally had to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.

Clause 43.01-1 of amendment VC149 of the Victoria planning provisions states that owners of a heritage home need to apply for a planning permit before making a range of minor changes relating to sustainability – not only solar panels but also rainwater tanks, EV charging stations, heating and cooling systems and hot-water systems, including heat pumps. Crucially, these requirements do not appear to relate to any kind of concern for the heritage buildings themselves. A permit is only necessary if the works are visible from a street other than a lane or public park. If they are not visible, it seems you can go for your life. In contrast, the resident points out that the array of TV aerials atop every house are clearly not in keeping with the aesthetics of the century-old houses in his neighbourhood, but that does not seem to be a problem.

I have got enough faith in the Victorian public to think that passers-by would be able to handle the sight of a solar panel on the roof of a heritage building without falling over in horror in the street. Surely by this stage of the climate crisis, requiring homeowners to go through a permit application process just to install something as simple as a rainwater tank which collects the free water that falls from the sky, for no other reason than for someone else’s idea of aesthetics, should be considered an unnecessary barrier working against householders doing their bit to make their homes as sustainable as possible.