Tuesday, 29 July 2025

Planning

Kat THEOPHANOUS (Northcote) (19:11): (1216) My adjournment is for the Minister for Planning, and I ask the minister to meet with me to discuss how the Victorian government’s planning and regulatory frameworks can better support community protections and compliance during the construction phase of major developments. Across the Northcote electorate we are seeing a surge in major residential and mixed-use developments. These projects will play a vital role in addressing our housing needs and revitalising underused land, particularly around our key transport corridors. We welcome this investment in our inner north communities. But as these large-scale builds move from concept to construction they often bring significant disruption: noise, dust, blocked roads, strained parking and substantive impacts on local businesses and residents over long periods of time. While most developers engage with communities in good faith to work through these pressure points, there are still too many instances where basic obligations are not met and enforcement options are limited.

One recent example is a major construction on High Street in Preston, which has caused significant angst in my community. Disappointingly, nearby businesses and residents have reported a range of issues to my office, including unannounced road closures on High Street – a vital north–south corridor – trades vehicles occupying street parking for extended periods despite time limits designed to support retail turnover, lost revenue from reduced customer access and, most frustratingly, a sense of intransigence when concerns are raised. These concerns have rightly been escalated to Darebin City Council as the responsible authority for planning permanent local law enforcement. In this case I have also reached out directly to the developer to seek clearer channels of communication with the surrounding community. Despite these efforts, what has become evident is a structural gap.

Councils are largely responsible for developer compliance during construction yet are often unable to hold developers to account when issues persist. While the particular project I outlined predates the Victorian government’s activity centres program, the future does hold a bigger role for state government planning mechanisms as we look to support growth along our transport networks close to jobs, schools and services. Given this, it is timely to consider whether we need stronger safeguards during the construction phase of major developments, not just at the approval stage, because currently there is no consistent framework to manage disruptive developer behaviour, especially where the cumulative impact is high but individual offences are minor.

Ideas raised with me include requiring major developments to appoint a dedicated community liaison officer or creating clearer obligations for developers to work with communities through prolonged disruptions. I would welcome the minister’s advice on whether these mechanisms or others could be integrated into Victoria’s planning or building systems. Our community supports well-planned and well-built urban renewal, but we expect it to be delivered in a way that respects the people and businesses that make our suburbs such a great place to invest. I look forward to the opportunity to discuss these important matters further with the minister.