Planning and environmental law

The population of metropolitan Melbourne is growing rapidly, passing 5 million in July 2019 and anticipated to grow to more than 8 million by 2050. This is the current size of London and New York. According to the Victorian Government’s strategic planning policy Plan Melbourne this growth requires another 1.5 million jobs, 1.6 million homes and a transport network supporting more than 80% increase in utilisation (to 10 million trips per day). This places Melbourne on the path to be a mega city (a population of more than 10 million according the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs). There are huge technological, economic, social and environmental changes which will impact the future city. Strategic urban planning (such as Plan Melbourne), and legal framework for implementing that planning policy, is critical to delivering a sustainable, liveable, smart and resilient city. Planning policy creates a vision and direction of what we want the city to be, but that vision and directions are often contested, and the implementation of policy must consider a huge range of issues, interests and stakeholders. Important issues such as urban congestion, urban density, transport infrastructure, provision of services (energy, water, telecommunications), housing availability, housing affordability, the location and changing nature of work, urban sprawl, loss of agricultural land and biodiversity, land use change and remediation for former industrial land, protecting cultural heritage, mitigating and adapting to climate change, controlling pollution, waste management and resource recovery, regional and inter-city connections. All of these issues (and more) are played out daily in the planning and environment legal framework.

This unit will focus on how Victorian planning and environment legislation, key institutions, decision-makers and forums for dispute resolution and inquiry, address these complex and challenging issues. The unit will focus on the legal framework for urban planning, development approval, impact assessment, facilitating major projects (including major transport, energy, waste and land use change projects); the role of key decision makers in Victoria including the planning and environment ministers, councils, referral authorities and other government agencies, and forums for dispute resolution and inquiry including the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Planning Panels and Advisory Committees.