A sweeping change to the balance of power between City of Ballarat and property developers is on the horizon, and could inch one step closer at council's general meeting on Wednesday evening.
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The proposal - borne of a joint initiative spearheaded by the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) and involving 30 other local councils across the state - seeks to expressly import environmentally sustainable design principles into council planning schemes.
READ MORE: Moving on development reform
In practical terms, the desired amendment - centred around stricter building codes addressing the myriad harms occasioned by climate change - would give council licence to refuse planning applications for new developments which fail to meet its disclosed environmental standards.
It could, for instance, fall within the power of council to reject a proposed development that makes no provision for rooftop solar panels or storm water recycling, fails to prioritise renewable energy, lacks infrastructure to support electric vehicle charging or does not minimise the spectre of urban heating by maximising green infrastructure and implementing appropriate controls.
Under the existing planning scheme, council lacks the authority to reject development projects based on objections of that kind, precisely because such standards are not embedded within the planning scheme.
City of Ballarat chief executive Evan King said the proposed amendment would accordingly remove the obvious disconnect that subsists between council's existing commitments to address climate change and what, in practice, commonly occurs within the realm of private development.
"Environmental sustainability is clearly a high priority for council," he said, referencing various strategic plans, including the carbon neutrality plan, the emerging zero emissions plan and the circular economy framework.
"But unless [the amendment] is adopted and unless it is in the planning scheme, we have very little capability to drive environmentally sustainable design in infrastructure or housing around Ballarat."
It's a sentiment shared by Cr Belinda Coates, who added that the move carried added significance given the pace at which both climate change and population growth were accelerating.
"[Local councils have] had weak environmental protections [around urban planning] for a long time, so this amendment is, like action on climate change, coming very late in the piece and means we have a lot of ground to make up for," she said. "It's obvious we must raise the bar and do so quickly."
"So, the proposal is really exciting and hopefully it'll give council the clout it needs to lead a progressive agenda on climate action."
The joint initiative between MAV and the 31 local councils, conceived in June last year, recognises the critical role local government could and should play in ensuring climate resilient communities through local planning policies.
The ensuing recommendation to elevate environmental controls into the planning scheme was the direct upshot of the first stage of the project, involving detailed reports into what was required to enable councils to meet that end.
A recommendation to proceed with the next stage of joint initiative, involving a minimum $20,000 commitment towards the development of the standards to underpin the planning amendment, is also to come before council this evening.
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