Practice notes and guidelines
The publications on this page contain advice and guidance on statutory planning:
- Practice and advisory notes
- Development contributions guidelines
- Continuous Improvement Review Kit
- Model officer report and templates
- Using Victoria's Planning System
Practice notes and advisory notes
These include VPP Practice Notes, which cover application of the Victoria Planning Provisions, General Practice Notes, about a range of processes, preparation of planning scheme content and assessment under schemes, and Advisory Notes, about specific subjects like new initiatives. They are generally aimed at the planning practitioner however they can also help people who only occasionally interact with the planning system.
You can locate the notes in three ways:
1) By list.
List of all practice notes and advisory notes.
2) By subject group.
View individual notes, with a brief description of each note, by selecting an appropriate subject group below.
Rural, timber, coastal, green wedge
Residential, subdivision
Neighbourhood character, heritage, intervention, height limits
Extractive industry and mining
Environment, native vegetation, wildfire, flooding
Planning schemes, amendments, zones, overlays, local policy
Planning permit process
Activity centres, urban design, car parking, transport & traffic
Miscellaneous
3) By keyword search of entire set.
Search a composite of
All planning practice notes and advisory notes (PDF - 7.4 MB)Note: This is a large document and may take some time to download.
Open the document and in Acrobat Reader select Edit/Find (Ctrl+F) or Edit/Search (Shift+Ctrl+F), then type in the word(s) to be located. All notes will be searched and the results displayed.
To assist download, the complete composite is provided split into three smaller documents below.
All VPP practice notes part 1 (PDF - 2.4 MB) All VPP practice notes part 2 (PDF - 2.6 MB) All General Planning Practice Notes and Advisory Notes (PDF - 2.2 MB)Page Top
Development Contributions Guidelines
Development contributions are payments or in-kind works, facilities or services provided by developers to help meet their community’s future infrastructure needs.
The Development Contributions Guidelines advise on the appropriate and practical application of the development contributions system.
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Continuous Improvement Review Kit
A guide for planning authorities in regularly reviewing their planning schemes, in order to meet legislated requirements and identify potential operational improvements that can save money and staff resources in their planning department: This document can also be downloaded in sections:
Introduction and the review process - part of Continuous Improvement Review Kit (PDF - 749 KB) Appendices B and C - part of Continuous Improvement Review Kit (PDF - 746 KB) Appendix A - audit tools - part of Continuous Improvement Review Kit (PDF - 302 KB)
Appendix A1: Planning scheme audit tool - Continuous Improvement Review Kit (DOC - 87 KB) Appendix A2: File audit tool - Continuous Improvement Review Kit (DOC - 48 KB) Appendix A3: Planning workload and office statistics audit tool - Continuous Improvement Review Kit (DOC - 242 KB) Appendix A4: Planning processes audit tool - Continuous Improvement Review Kit (DOC - 289 KB)Model officer report and templates
The Model Officer Report templates are a set of standard documents intended to help councils consider planning permit applications. The report and associated checklists, assessment tables and templates will help to clarify the relevant policy considerations and promote the efficient assessment of applications.
Model Officer Report (PDF - 687 KB) Pre application meeting file note - Model Officer Report (DOC - 38 KB) Checklist 1 Construction single/multi dwelling - Model Officer Report (DOC - 38 KB) Checklist 2 Industrial - Model Officer Report (DOC - 36 KB) Checklist 3 Business - Model Officer Report (DOC - 37 KB) Checklist 4 Advertising signage - Model Officer Report (DOC - 35 KB) Checklist 5 Waiver car parking - Model Officer Report (DOC - 33 KB) Checkilist 6 Subdivision - Model Officer Report (DOC - 32 KB) Application checklist - Model Officer Report (DOC - 41 KB) Planning Assessment Report - Model Officer Report (DOC - 42 KB) Assessment Table 1 One dwelling - Model Officer Report (DOC - 64 KB) Assessment Table 2 Two or more dwellings - Model Officer Report (DOC - 100 KB)Using Victoria's Planning System
Using Victoria's Planning System is a guide for those who use the planning system on a regular basis as well as those who have occasional contact with it. The guide is designed to assist professional planners, officers of authorities, councillors, students, people making an application for a planning permit and people who may be affected by planning proposals. It is a technical guide to interpretation and administrative procedures under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the Planning and Environment Regulations 1998 and their interaction with other related legislation and planning schemes.
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Please note: Document(s) on this page are presented in PDF format. If you do not have the Adobe Reader, you can download a copy free from the Adobe web site.