Red tape reduction – revised statutory land use terms

During 2018 VicWater prepared a submission to the DELWP Land Use Terms Advisory Committee: https://vicwater.org.au/news-publications/industry-guides-submissions/vicwater-submission-land-use-terms

A focus area for the submission, and subsequent negotiate with DELWP, was the definition of ‘minor utility installation’. The minor utility installation definition plays a significant role in determining planning permit and native vegetation requirements (among other things) for water corporation infrastructure. However, councils varied in their treatment of these assets because the only guidance provided in the statutory land use terms was that the asset “service a neighbourhood”.

In late 2019, DELWP published the updated land use terms as part of a broader planning scheme update: https://planning-schemes.delwp.vic.gov.au/schemes/vpps/73_03.pdf. At the water industry’s suggestion, the statutory definition of a minor utility installation now includes siphons, water storage tanks, disinfection boosters stations and channels and thus these assets are now subject to less onerous permit requirements.