Latest Update

The Age August 29, 2009

The Department of Planning and Housing has called for tenders from suitably qualified parties to “conduct housing capacity assessments” across 31 local government areas.

The Age June 22, 2009
How to Sell a Planning Decision by Jason Dowling

The Age May 20, 2009

Constructing a City Behind Closed Doors. Jason Dowling discusses the role of lobbyists in Victorian planning raises serious issues.

In the name of preserving jobs and stimulating the economy, Planning Minister Justin Madden has seized planning control of nearly a dozen massive projects, and developers for at least three of these were represented by lobbying firms Hawker Britton….

The role of lobbyists in determining Government priorities raises serious issues.

So how does the Government decide which projects require intervention? And what role do well-connected lobbyists play in getting a project taken on by the Government? Do such projects face less scrutiny than if they had gone through a council planning department? Read the article Constructing a City Behind Closed Doors here.

May 21, 2009

Termination of Consultative Committees. CoRBA wrote to the Lord Mayor and Councillors expressing serious concerns about the policy of the City of Melbourne to undermine avenues of community consultation and thereby devaluing the potential input that the community can make to Council deliberations. CoRBA noted the number of consultative committees that the Council has decided unilaterally to discontinue in recent times and urged the Council to:

• clarify that the Council  Administration have the authority to terminate these Committees, and
• re-consider the  termination of these Committees, and
• reinstate them as a  matter of urgency.

April 3, 2009

Sustainable Urban Water Sourcing. Submission by the Royal Park Protection Group Inc. to the Parliamentary Enquiry into Melbourne’s Future Water
Supply.   

February 18, 2009

New Residential Zones for Victoria released for comment. A copy of the information sheet and consultation draft of the paper can be viewed on the planning page at www.dpcd.vic.gov.au or at the planning counter at Richmond Town Hall. 

February 16, 2009

Takeover of power by State from Council.
It is preferable for Councils to do property valuations but the State want to take it over.  If you think it is hard to keep rates down, wait until the state does valuations of your property. Don’t forget they are also thinking about  land tax. Darebin Council have voted against it and Boroondara have refused it out of hand.
For more information, telephone  136186 or to see the full info, click here. 

To object, email:  policy.projectslv@dse.vic.gov.au  and quote  RAV Review

May 6, 2008

Norman Day writes in The Age about planning for Melbourne’s future.

The Age May 6, 2008 (Watershed for this livable city of ours)

It is CoRBA’s view that we need a competent, highly functional Council to implement “Future Melbourne”. Not the dysfunctional Council have at the present time.

To go to the site for Future Melbourne.