By Colin MacGillivray
A LANCEFIELD landowner believes the adoption of a development plan overlay, DPO, for land on the town’s fringe has been flawed from the outset, and that a recent Macedon Ranges Shire Council move to rectify issues it created is fundamentally unfair.
Robert Green owns land inside Lancefield’s north-west growth boundary in an area that came under a DPO in January 2020.
The DPO restricts land use and requires the preparation of a development plan by landowners before any development can occur.
Council officers sought the introduction of the DPO starting in 2016 after what they described as ‘a number of ad hoc and inappropriate development enquiries’.
The DPO, which was introduced through Planning Scheme Amendment C117, received a tick of approval by both the State Government and council, but Mr Green said it had unintended consequences for landowners.
The DPO allowed for only two development plans in an area covered by seven landowners including Mr Green, meaning landowners needed to share responsibility for creating development plans if any of them wished to develop their land.
With one development plan covering three properties already approved by council in October 2021, Mr Green said he would be required to create a plan covering the remaining three properties as well as his own if he wished to develop it.
“If I wanted to do anything with my property – that includes building a shed, putting in a swimming pool or anything else – I would have to do a development plan,” he said.
“With only two development plans allowed for the area, I would have to do it on the remaining properties as well. There are another three properties and one has an extensive heritage overlay on it.
“I would be required to do all the studies for these other properties, which puts me at a financial loss immediately. Why would I do a development plan for three other people’s properties when I only want to do something with mine?”
In June council moved to mitigate the cost to local landowners by applying for a Victorian Planning Authority, VPA, grant through its Streamlining for Growth program that would allow council to prepare development plans on behalf of landowners.
Council planning and environment director Rebecca Stockfel said it would relieve landowners of the cost of preparing technical reports.
“Challenges with preparing development plans within the Lancefield DPO24 areas that landowners have expressed include: perceived complexity of the process; cost; collaborating with other landowners; and engaging suitably qualified and experienced consultants,” she said.
“The funding would enable council to engage a consultant to prepare all of the relevant technical background reports required by the [DPO] to enable the preparation of a development plan for each of the remaining [DPO] areas.
“If council is successful in receiving funding through the Streamlining for Growth program, it would enable a unique opportunity to work with the landowners in DPO24 to prepare development plans for the balance of the Lancefield DPO24 areas and enable these areas to be ready for housing development.”
But Mr Green said council had not consulted landowners before applying for the grant and that it would only create more procedural inequity, as well as creating a dangerous precedent.
“[Council chief executive Bernie] O’Sullivan said they were trying to fix my problem, and I said ‘it’s not my problem, it’s your problem. You and the State Government created this’,” he said.
“The fact is three landowners in our area are going to be upset. They’ve already put their development plan in in October and got it passed using their cold, hard cash. Now they’ve been left out of this latest grant that the shire is going to get.
“[In the future] if somebody is doing a development in Riddells Creek, who is going to stump up for their development plan?”
Ms Stockfeld said the DPO was necessary to protect ‘the last remaining greenfield sites inside the Lancefield protected settlement boundary’.
“Unlocking these for development is needed to ensure we can continue to provide residential land,” she said.
But Mr Green said the process had put millions of dollars in potential land value at risk.
“I’m looking at about a $10 million loss, if not more [if I can’t develop the land]. This property is my superannuation,” he said.
People can view more information on the DPO by visiting www.mrsc.vic.gov.au/Build-Plan/Planning-For-Our-Future/Town-planning-projects/Lancefield/C117-Development-Plan-Overlay-Schedule-24.
