_Townhouse and Low Rise Code: Less red Tape or More Window Dressing?

On 28 February, Collie reported on the Victorian Government new planning provisions relating to the ‘Townhouse and Low-Rise Code'(TLRC).  It deals with two or more dwellings on a lot and apartment buildings up to three storeys. 

The TLRC deemed to comply assessment pathway come into operation on 31 March 2025.  Under the new pathway:

• a town planning application continues to be required;
• a clause 55 standard that is met is deemed to meet the relevant objective;
• an application that meets a standard cannot be refused under that standard;
• the responsible authority is not required to consider the corresponding decision guidelines;
• a third party may make a submission to an advertised application but it has no right of review at VCAT in respect of a development that meets the applicable deemed to comply standards. 

It is early days in the new assessment pathway as any application with a responsible authority before the approval date of the TLRC, continues to be assessed / dealt with under the existing pathway.  It will be some time therefore, before any outcomes from the new assessment pathway are observed and even then, it will be difficult to determine the success of the pathway in reducing red tape / delays in the system because:

• many applications are assessed under planning scheme provisions (including under overlays) other than just the specified clause 55 deemed to comply standards and in all of those cases, the application continues to be assessed under the ‘normal’ pathway;
• even in an application with minimal other planning permit triggers, not meeting even one deemed to comply standard (likely often to be the case), opens the ‘normal’ pathway and removes any real time saving advantage of the deemed to comply pathway.

In terms of reducing red tape, why does an application that meets all the applicable clause 55 deemed to comply standards need to be advertised? 

As noted above, it will be very interesting to see if the TLRC is a real improvement or more window dressing.