What is Clause 52.10?

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For Yarra Ranges residents, Clause 52.10 means that if your home was destroyed by a storm/fire/flood then you are able to rebuild a home. However, you will need a planning permit for the ‘buildings & works’ needed to build a home.

Why do we have planning permits?

Planning examines the needs of the community and the environment in which we live. It is borne from ensuring safe and appropriate homes for residents while remaining sensitive to the natural landscape and making the area a great place to live.

The Victorian Government through the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) owns the Planning Scheme for the State.

Councils then manage that scheme in their locality and amend parts of the scheme to suit the location. Any amendments to the State Govt planning scheme need to be accepted and approved by DELWP.

Following emergencies and the need to rebuild, the State Government introduced changes to the Planning Scheme to assist with speeding up the planning process - Clause 52.10(PDF, 66KB) is one of these changes.

Clause 52.10 is a planning scheme provision to help landowners reconstruct homes and other buildings damaged or destroyed as a result of an emergency (including a bushfire) and help re-establish businesses and services.

It exempts some planning requirements for dwellings and streamlines the planning permit application process.

There are two key features of Clause 52.10:

Dwelling use exemption

  • Subject to meeting some requirements, this exemption turns off planning scheme requirements related to the use of land for a dwelling so that affected owners and councils can focus on rebuilding safely.
  • If you need to use this exemption, you will still likely need a planning permit for the buildings and works to construct your replacement dwelling.

Notice and review exemption

  • Under this exemption:
    • the council is not required to give notice to your neighbours of your planning permit application
    • other people cannot apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) for a review of the council’s decision on your application.
  • This exemption applies to applications for dwellings as well as for businesses and other uses and developments impacted by an emergency after 1 January 2019, including a bushfire.

What does this mean?

Planning is complex and the whole of the planning scheme needs to be taken into account. Building permits also need to be taken into account. 

Clause 52.10 does not remove the responsibility of making sure that whatever is being built is done to today’s standards.

In layman's terms Clause 52.10 removes the advertising component of the planning process and enables the CEO of the council (and their delegates) to approve the plans instead of them going to Council. 

When building on land, the development (called Buildings & Works) and what the development will be used for (called ‘Use of the land’) need to be considered by Council together.

Clause 52.10 applies to the ‘use of the land’ – eg if the land had been used for a home before the emergency, it can be used for a home again.

Clause 52.10 does not apply to the ‘buildings & works’ – eg how the development will be built, what materials will be used, how much water/waste will come from the development.

If the property has an Overlay on it how the house is built and what materials can be used need to be considered to make sure they are safe.

For some overlays, Council must be satisfied that where the building will be sited is appropriate to the overlays (eg Bushfire Management and Erosion Management).

For YRC residents Clause 52.10 means that if your home was destroyed by a storm/fire/flood then you are able to rebuild a home. However, you will need a planning permit for the ‘buildings & works’ needed to build a home.

 

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