In most cases a planning permit will be required. Engage early with your council to determine what approvals you need. Determine if you will seek professional assistance to prepare your application and supporting paperwork.
Key steps in finalising an application
Based on your concept plans, finalising an application for a planning permit generally includes:
Undertake a site analysis
- Take photographs of the site and surrounding area, including neighbouring properties.
- Prepare a site description and plan to illustrate the features of the site and surrounding area.
Prepare plans
- Prepare plans and initial site plan for your proposal, taking into consideration the opportunities and constraints identified by your site analysis.
- Prepare a design response statement, outlining how your preliminary design has responded to the site and surrounding area.
Talk to your neighbours
- Talking to your neighbours before finalising your plans is encouraged. If they are unhappy with an aspect of your proposal, you may be able to reach a compromise before lodging your application. This may help prevent concerns about the sharing of views, screening of windows and access to sites from the road.
Review and finalise your plans
- Consider feedback from staff at the Community Recovery Hub and your neighbours.
- Review your plans and incorporate any suggested changes that you consider reasonable.
- Finalise your plans and any written material, including your site description and design response.
- Refer to the checklist on the next page as a guide for application requirements.
Lodging your application
- After obtaining advice from the Community Recovery Hub and preparing the necessary documentation you will now be able to lodge your application with council. Remember to read over your application form carefully to ensure you have completed all relevant details and submit all required documentation with your application.
Application checklist
The following is a general list. Depending on the nature of the application additional information over and above the general requirements may be requested.
Please refer to specific factsheets and discuss with the Community Recovery Hub, as required.
Requirements for an application will vary but generally contain the following information:
- A covering letter explaining your proposal.
- Completed application form.
- Recent copy of title (no older than 60 days) from the Landata website
- Application fee (fee may be waived by council for rebuilding applications).
- Site survey (showing contours, site features, location of structures and vegetation on your land and close to the boundary on adjoining land, setbacks, land features between the site and the road, etc.).
- Neighbourhood and site description.
- A design response or explanation of the proposed use
- For residential properties in settlements, a response to the decision guidelines and description of how the development responds to the Clause 54 ‘Rescode’ standards.
- Site Development Plan, including layout of development and access from road, site contours, building setbacks, driveways and hard surface areas.
- For properties with landslip and erosion risk, a geotechnical assessment.
- Description of how the building siting and design responds to the BAL applicable to the property, including proposed bushfire mitigation measures.
- Land Capability Assessment for properties without connection to existing sewerage.
- Three copies of plans drawn to scale (1:100 or 1:200) and fully dimensioned.
- An A3 size set of plans (in addition to those mentioned above)
- Plans may need to show the site, floor layout and elevations, clearly showing building height above natural ground level and floor/roof levels that relate to the site contours
- Details of proposed external building materials and colours.
- Applications should show clear links between the site context plan, the design response and the development proposal.
Application requirements
Documents to be included with a planning application:
Covering letter
- Submit a covering letter with your application briefly describing your application and the details of any pre-application discussions with the Community Recovery Hub.
- This will ensure that officers assessing the application will be aware of any pre-application discussion.
A completed application form
- An application form must accompany every application.
- The application form must be complete before an application will be processed.
A response to key issues
Depending on where the site is, information on matters listed below may need to form part of the planning permit application.
Site survey
As part of your planning permit process to rebuild a house lost in the fires you may be required to re-establish your property boundary and undertake site specific surveys as part of your building and engineering work. This work could include a survey of easements, site levels and contours, the location of vegetation and other features.
Bushfires
The Bushfire Management Overlay (BMO) applies to many fire impacted properties. The planning control requires new development to consider bushfire protection measures including appropriate siting, water supply, access for emergency services and vegetation management.
A Bushfire Risk Assessment has been prepared for the Victorian Government by Terramatrix. Landowners are encouraged to provide their BAL level to an architect/designer or builder to begin the process of designing or creating a replacement dwelling, and to make an appointment with the Community Recovery Hub to discuss the initial design responses, and to seek clarification on any of the design standards.
To appropriately consider future bushfire risk, an application may require a Bushfire Management Plan that includes:
- The BAL in accordance with the preliminary assessment or an alternative assessment prepared by individual landowners
- location of a static water supply for firefighting and property protection purposes
- the provision of defendable space to the property boundary
- if proposed, the location of a private bushfire shelters (a Class 10c building within the meaning of the National Construction Code).
Landslip (East Gippsland Shire Council)
The risk of landslip has been identified as a significant hazard in Gippsland. Where the Erosion Management Overlay exists an application must include development plans drawn to scale and dimensioned, showing as appropriate:
- The proposed development, including a site plan and building elevations, access and any proposed cut and fill, retaining wall or effluent disposal system.
- Any existing development, including buildings, water tanks and dams on both the subject lot and adjacent land (as appropriate).
- Any existing development on the subject lot, including cut and fill, stormwater drainage, subsurface drainage, water supply pipelines, sewerage pipelines or effluent disposal installations and pipelines and any otherwise identified geotechnical hazard.
- Details and location of existing vegetation, including any vegetation to be removed.
Applications must also include a Geotechnical and Landslide Risk Assessment prepared by a suitably qualified geotechnical practitioner, specific to the proposed building design.
Landslip (Towong Shire)
The risk of landslip has been identified as a significant hazard across Towong Shire. Consequently, local policies apply to ‘steep land’ to manage risk. Development on properties with more than 20o slopes may require geotechnical assessments to appropriately consider the landslip issues on-site. An application must include development plans drawn to scale and dimensioned, showing as appropriate:
- The proposed development, including a site plan and building elevations, access and any proposed cut and fill, retaining wall or effluent disposal system.
- Any existing development, including buildings, water tanks and dams on both the subject lot and adjacent land (as appropriate).
- Any existing development on the subject lot, including cut and fill, stormwater drainage, subsurface drainage, water supply pipelines, sewerage pipelines or effluent disposal installations and pipelines and any otherwise identified geotechnical hazard.
- Details and location of existing vegetation, including any vegetation to be removed.
Applications must also include a Geotechnical and Landslide Risk Assessment prepared by a suitably qualified geotechnical practitioner, specific to the proposed building design.
Land capability and wastewater management
Land Capability Assessments will be prepared for impacted properties. This will assist landowners and architects to understand the design constraints associated with the sites. This will also inform individual property owners and their architects as to what additional property-specific investigations are needed to build a new house.
All applications will need to be accompanied by a Land Capability Assessment (LCA) prepared by a suitably qualified person that responds to the specific design proposed for a site, and which builds on the technical assessments provided by the Victorian Government.
Land subject to inundation
Some areas are in flood prone areas. This land is generally subject to a Flood Overlay (FO) or Land Subject to Inundation Overlay (LSIO). The key purpose of these controls is to:
- minimise the effects of overland flows and flooding on new buildings
- ensure new developments don’t adversely affect existing properties.
Overlays are based on the extent of flooding resulting from a 1 in 100-year event. This relates to a flood event of such intensity, based on historical rainfall data, which has a one per cent chance of occurring in any given year.
A feature survey may be required by a licenced land surveyor to identify the extent of the overlay on your property and elevations required to manage flood risk. Dwellings within these areas should be sited, designs and engineered to minimise risk.
Consultation with the Catchment Management Authority may be required.
Aboriginal cultural heritage
Many rural properties are within areas of cultural heritage sensitivity. While certain development may require a Cultural Heritage Management Plan, generally this is not needed to build a single house. For further information please discuss with the Community Recovery Hub.
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