Wednesday, 30 July 2025

Planning policy

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (19:07): (1780) My matter for the adjournment tonight is for the attention of the Minister for Planning. What I seek is for the minister to review some recent planning changes and specifically to meet with the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).

A news release dated 9 July 2025 with quotes by Collette Brennan, CEO of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), and Charles Sowerwine, heritage committee chair of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, makes a number of points. These relate to the changes that have been recently made in planning in metropolitan Melbourne with these poorly designed and poorly thought through so-called activity centres, densification zones – whatever you wish to call them.

What I want to quote here is in the ‘More Housing and Heritage Must Go Hand in Hand’ statement:

The National Trust … and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria jointly call on the Victorian Government to ensure that the state’s planning reforms deliver more housing without sacrificing the heritage, character, and green spaces that make our neighbourhoods liveable and loved.

They talk about how they are:

… deeply concerned that the current approach – particularly the introduction of the new Housing Choice and Transport Zone … risks undermining the very qualities that make Victoria’s cities and towns desirable places to live.

The government’s own expert panel, they point out:

… has warned that the HCTZ should not be applied to areas covered by a Heritage Overlay or Neighbourhood Character Overlay because the new zones will override these protections, threatening the demolition of heritage buildings and the erosion of neighbourhood identity.

They make four key recommendations in their statement. The first is to ‘Protect Heritage Areas from Blanket Rezoning’:

Heritage Overlays must be exempt from the new Housing Choice and Transport Zone rezoning. These areas should remain within the Neighbourhood Residential Zone to prevent the loss of valued heritage places and neighbourhood character. In the 10 Centres where the HCTZ has already been gazetted, new mechanisms to ensure proper respect of the Heritage Overlay must be introduced.

They also seek to ‘Embed Heritage Expertise in Planning’, and they talk about how the Department of Transport and Planning:

… must include designated heritage professionals to support local governments in assessing and managing heritage impacts within the planning system.

They ask the government to ‘Ensure Consistent Protection of Trees, Nature and Green Spaces’ and introduce ‘uniform statewide protections for significant trees and green spaces’.

On ‘Implementation Tools for Housing Development in Heritage Contacts’, expedited planning approval ‘must include specific guidance for developments in heritage areas’.

They urge the Victorian government to adopt a more thoughtful approach and recognise that heritage should not be a barrier to housing but ‘a foundation for building vibrant, attractive, and enduring communities’.

The minister should meet – (Time expired)