Planning overlay comes under fire

POLWARTH Liberal MP Richard Riordan and local landowners are calling on the Andrews Government to readdress the Bushfire Management Overlay (BMO), with some people unable to build on land where they had intended to live.

The BMO was developed by the state government with the help of the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), the CFA and the CSIRO as part of Labor’s response to the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.

The commission was a response to the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, in which 173 people died and more than 2,000 homes were destroyed.

The BMO was created to ensure the development of land prioritised the protection of human life and strengthened community resilience to bushfire.

Mr Riordan called on people who had been negatively affected by changes to state planning laws to contact him.

He said he had received a “strong response” to his call out, and that the feedback he received showed the existing planning scheme was putting people in financial peril.

“Proponents can be dragged through expensive planning and report processes before ultimately being told they cannot proceed.

“The rules are too rigid and do not allow for alternatives. Victoria needs a review of rural and regional planning to identify these anomalies.”

Damien Costin said he and his family have been victims to the rigidity of the rules.

They purchased a block of land in Big Hill in 2017 with the intention of building on it.

Mr Costin said the introduction of the BMO has greatly affected his plans.

“The interpretation of those laws then affected my ability to even access my block.”

He believed the plans may also be counter-intuitive to safety by encouraging people to defend their houses rather than leave.

“Should there be a fire up on Big Hill or Wye River, or even Lorne itself, if your house was to burn down, the new laws may actually stop you from rebuilding,” he said.

“If people know these laws prevent them from rebuilding then they are more likely to stay on the land and defend, which means it’s putting people’s lives at risk.”

The Surf Coast Times asked DELWP whether exemptions or compensations would be offered to people who owned land they intended to build upon before the introduction of the BMO.

In response, a DELWP spokesperson said, “The Victorian Government implemented all planning recommendations from the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.

“These changes prioritise human life and focus on protecting people from bushfires.

“They help ensure that any new construction in areas subject to bushfire risk are built to designs, and with materials that help preserve human life.”