Local councils have warned the Victorian government that seizing control of planning laws will not fix the state’s housing crisis, pointing to a shortage of town planners across all levels of government.
As pressure builds on the premier, Daniel Andrews, to release details of the government’s housing package – which he says will include a “substantial rewrite of planning laws” to increase supply – the Municipal Association of Victoria is urging caution.
“We don’t have to bust the whole thing up to fix it. We are actually that close to having the planning system run smoothly,” the group’s president, David Clark, said.
Clark said there are several ways to streamline planning approvals conducted by local governments, including by introducing consistent heritage protections and a statewide online application system, as well as shortening the 60-day statutory timeframe.
He said an investment in town planners is also “desperately needed”, arguing there was no evidence the government would handle the growing volume and complexity of applications any faster or better.
“They don’t have any planners either,” he said.
Currently, Victorian councils have 60 days to decide on statutory planning applications before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Vcat), although some builders are reporting waits of up to two years to gain approvals.
In Hume, which takes in the growing suburbs of Broadmeadows, Craigieburn, Greenvale and Sunbury, the mayor, Joseph Haweil, said the strategic planning team has been operating with a 50% vacancy for several years, leading to a backlog of about 500 applications.
“It’s not an issue of council not investing or putting money into having the appropriate staff on hand, it’s just the fact that we are dealing with a sector that’s very hot right now,” Haweil said.
“It also puts councils in some ways in competition with each other and then in competition with various state government projects for experienced people and that creates some tension in the sector as well.”
The Yarra Ranges council has similarly been operating for 18 months with a third of town planner roles vacant after staff received jobs on several of the state government’s infrastructure projects.
“It’s great that there’s good people in those roles but it’s worth acknowledging the flow-on effects that it does have,” the council’s director of planning, Kath McClusky, said.
The Victorian director of the Property Council of Australia, Cath Evans, said there was “no doubt Victoria is facing a pronounced shortage of skilled planners”.
“Delays and bottlenecks in our planning system are expensive, alienate private investment and deprive Victorians of the housing they need,” she said.
“Bringing consistency to the application of planning instruments such as heritage overlays would be a good first step in the cutting of red and green tape that restricts the delivery of desperately needed housing stock.”
McClusky pointed out that, while a shortage of planners was definitely contributing to housing supply issues, other factors included the high cost of materials, a lack of construction workers and climbing interest rates.
“There are a whole lot of building permits out there that have been approved but haven’t been acted upon,” she said.
Data from KPMG’s urban economist, Terry Rawnsley, shows developers are holding off on building bigger projects due to construction costs, though he acknowledged delays at the planning stage could also be having an effect.
“The longer it takes to get things approved, that’s delaying housing coming on to the market and it’s sending a signal to builders and developers that they’re going to have interest holding costs for up to 12 months,” he said.
“That makes the project less viable, combine that with the construction prices, it’s a double whammy on supply.”
A government spokesperson said: “We will continue to work with councils, industry and local communities to improve housing choice and affordability close to jobs, services and public transport.”
