Housing permits denied due to Mt Helen fire risk:

By Meg Rayner
Updated November 2 2012 - 2:24pm, first published August 6 2010 - 3:17pm

MORE than 170 Mt Helen landholders face an agonising wait to see whether they will be able to build their dream homes on blocks backing onto a pine plantation.Among them are young families and first home buyers.City of Ballarat Statutory Planning and Building manager Veronica Schilling yesterday confirmed the staggering number of land owners had been denied planning permits, following restrictions placed on developments in fire-risk areas."To get a planning permit you need to get CFA to sign off in some areas because of wildfire control," she said."For CFA to sign off you need to get a specialist report and to get that at the moment, there are only four people in the state that are accredited to prepare them."Since September 2009, those four people have withdrawn that service, which means we can't issue them with a permit."The problem was highlighted at the state government's community meeting held in Ballarat on Thursday night to discuss the recommendations made in the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.A group of land owners in the Sanctuary Mount Helen estate expressed their anger over the long battle to build.One woman, who did not want to be named, said she had purchased a block of land in the estate in September 2009 and applied for a permit in October."We're stuck in the middle of the legislation," she said.Ms Schilling said the council was struggling to find an answer for the residents, despite lengthy discussions with state agencies."Because the wildfire control is a mandatory control we can't progress," she said."It's not unusual to have conflict in a planning permit but we can usually offer options and choices."We know we've got first home owners in the group, and they want to know where they are going to live."Ms Schilling praised Sanctuary developer Integra for doing all they could to assist land buyers."To their credit as soon as they became aware that people would be placed in this position they pulled the blocks from the market, they acted very responsibly," she said.*Have you been affected? Email us: inquiries@thecourier.com.au

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