MP campaigns on landowner problems

STALLING developments is the prerogative of the State’s planning rules according to the Member for Polwarth Richard Riordan.

Across regional Victoria, Mr Riorden said that landowners hoping to develop are being obscured by zoning and planning changes and are finding the process problematic.

Now he’s launched a campaign to determine how many people in the regions have been negatively impacted by Victoria’s planning overlays and guidelines.

Rules concerning the state’s bushfire overlay, environmental management overlay and township boundary modifications are the three issue predominantly at play.

“When a bushfire comes through and people lose their homes, they might actually find that they can’t rebuild their house,” Mr Riorden said.

“Across South West Victoria there are a lot of people that sadly don’t realise that they could be left worrying about their home after a fire.”

The bushfire overlay recommended by the Royal Commission after the Black Saturday bushfires were specifically designed to protect people and prevent deaths.

Minister for Planning Richard Wynne said the aim of these planning policies is to prioritise the protection of human life.

“The Victorian government has implemented all planning recommendations from the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission to protect people from bushfires,” he said.

“These reforms ensure that all new construction in areas subject to bushfire risk are designed and built with materials that help to save lives.”

However, these regulations have made it increasingly financially difficult for some owners to continue construction on their land.

After purchasing a block of land in the Otways in 2017 complete with a permit to build, Damian Costin and his family found that the new fire safe regulations stood in the way of constructing his house.

“There were all these other fine print clauses as well that made it impossible to build,” Mr Costin said.

“I have been told by consultants to not even go to VCAT, to not waste my money and effectively that I can do nothing.

“These planning laws have ruined people’s economies.”

Mr Riordan has put a call out for stories like Mr Costin’s to come forward to form a united front.

The Member for Polwarth said he wants to gain a sense of how many people have been disadvantaged by these rules and raise it with State government as a larger issue.

“I have a section on my website for people to submit their stories,” he said. “I’m calling for a review of the rural and country zoning laws.

“The shires either have to front up and give a huge rate reduction to thousands of people and revalue a whole bunch of land to zero or the state has to step up.”