Planning objection mediation could be bypassed by council officers

One of the policies is around mediation with planning objectives.

Mediation will not be held over there is no merit in having the meeting and it will be bypassed to a notice of decision, if changes are approved by council.

Planning officers will asses the "value" in going to mediations - factors they will look at will be willingness of each party to compromise.

Council officers stated in their report that without updating policies and procedures "statutory planning and the council are more broadly at risk - this potentially includes legal action by permit applicants and third parties who may have based submissions on out-of-date policies and who may subsequently seek to recoup lost costs for example".

Other updates cover consideration of planning applications, advertising planning applications and statutory planning fee waiver and rebate policy.

Three policies would be revoked, which are the 2011 mediation policy, solar panels in Heritage Overlays policy 2009 and a planning scheme amendment on projects policy which was endorsed by council in 2009.

There have been state-level updates to help increase planning permit times.

In September 2023, housing planning updates included removing the need for a planning permit for a single dwelling on a lot of 300 square metres or more.

However, these changes will have little to no impact on the City of Ballarat's planning.

Council often incurs costs around planning decisions, for example when outcomes are taken to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. In 2022-23 financial year, the council spent $208,641 in costs relating to planning, regulation and governance matters brought to VCAT.

These updates will be debated and voted on by councillors at the next council meeting on Wednesday, April 24.