Let's go for zero - Council push for ESD planning amendment
Published on 21 July 2022
Hobsons Bay City Council has joined forces with 23 other Victorian councils to push for more sustainable design within planning laws.
Today, Council lodged a request for a planning amendment to the State Government, seeking to introduce planning policy that elevates sustainability requirements for new buildings and encourages a move towards zero carbon development.
Along with the planning amendment, Mayor Peter Hemphill has written to the new Minister for Planning Lizzie Blandthorn seeking support of the amendment and to acknowledge the current planning laws do not reflect the urgency needed to tackle climate change.
The planning amendment would build on the current Environmentally Sustainable Development (ESD) requirements for new developments and in doing so, better protect the natural environment, reduce resource consumption, and support the health and wellbeing of future occupants.
Strengthening its calls, Hobsons Bay has collaborated with councils from across the state on the project, sharing the project with Ballarat, Banyule, Bayside, Boroondara, Darebin, Frankston, Glen Eira, Greater Bendigo, Greater Dandenong, Greater Geelong, Knox, Maribyrnong, Mitchell, Moonee Valley, Moreland, Mornington Peninsula, Port Phillip, Stonnington, Strathbogie, Warrnambool, Whitehorse, Whittlesea, and Yarra City.
After the State Government’s recent implementation of Stage 1 of its ESD Roadmap (by making changes to the Planning Policy Framework in the Victoria Planning Provisions), Hobsons Bay sees this planning amendment as the next step in ESD requirements with detailed, measurable targets that will deliver meaningful outcomes in practice.
Cr Hemphill said that stronger ESD requirements in Hobsons Bay were essential to meeting the community’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2030.
“Council adopted an ESD Policy in 2018, which has enabled us to lead by example by adopting best practice environmentally sustainable design features in our own facilities and buildings, while encouraging local commercial and residential developers to do the same.
“Stronger ESD requirements will help ensure that we are providing the climate-change resilient infrastructure that our community will need over the coming decades.
“We are calling on Minister Blandthorn to make ESD a key action item to help make net zero in new builds a reality across Victoria.”
Under the proposed amendment changes, new developments would:
- Produce net zero emissions
- Better manage water use and collection
- Protect and enhance greening and biodiversity within new buildings
- Be more resilient to changing climate impacts
- Provide a healthier, more comfortable environment for the current and future community
Hobsons Bay is undertaking this work as a member of the Council Alliance for a Sustainable Built Environment (CASBE), supported by the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV).