Media Response |

The Victorian Planning System provides a suite of tools under the Victorian Planning Provisions, with the Ballarat Planning Scheme using the Environmental Significance Overlay (ESO) to create a local environment control in respect of the very significant koala population that enjoys the forests which surround Ballarat.

A planning permit application would need to be lodged which needs a full environmental assessment by qualified parties addressing the specific nature of the vegetation and the habitat it provides to indigenous species, in particular koalas. Further, the role that any vegetation plays in linking adjacent vegetative areas to provide for koalas to move through an area is also a relevant consideration which would be assessed. This information is reviewed by our in-house vegetation officer, DEWLP via referral and, in some instances, engaging external expertise to provide advice. With all this advice to hand, the planning officer will consider the proposal’s merits from an environmental perspective and also balance the other planning scheme policy and zone provisions to determine the most appropriate course of action.

It is a measure of the significance of a vegetation type across an allotment. In short, the measure allows the significance of a particular vegetation class to be measured and assessed in a controlled and consistent manner with the potential for removed vegetation to be offset with plantings elsewhere. The manner in which the habitat hectare tool works is that the specific merits of a vegetation class on a site that is proposed to be developed is calculated and then, if it is determined that some vegetation can be removed, the habitat hectare measure is used to specify the offset amounts which are required to be put in place as replacement vegetation.

With an offset established for replacement vegetation, a 10-year management plan has to be established. An investment plan to provide for the maintenance regime to be appropriately resourced over that 10 year period is also required to be locked in.