Implementation plans > Green wedges > Actions > Action 5

Action 5
Manage residential development in green wedges

Lead agent: Local government in conjunction with DOI

Development of small towns
Green wedges are home to small towns and settlements that provide services for surrounding areas, tourism destinations and the opportunity for a different lifestyle. Many of these towns have existing or planned physical and social infrastructure that can support a growing population, and a surrounding environment capable of absorbing additional development.

In some instances, expansion of an existing settlement would contravene the intended purpose of a green wedge. The character of some towns in green wedges relies substantially on their limited size. This may be restricted naturally by topography, the lack of services or by firm policies administered through planning schemes.

In the Dandenong Ranges, the Regional Strategy Plan, backed by legislation, limits the expansion of small towns, and, in areas such as the Mornington Peninsula and Westernport, planning policies curtail expansion of coastal and other settlements.

New urban development will be focused on areas where services are currently available or planned. The values of green wedges identified in Melbourne 2030 and through the UGB (see Action 1) will help determine where additional measures are required to limit or encourage urban development.

Local councils will be encouraged to work with DOI to support consolidation of new residential development in existing settlements. This work will need to reflect the level of services planned for these towns and the values of surrounding green wedge areas.

In suitable cases, councils will be encouraged to consider the possibilities for urban intensification within the existing urban areas subject to environmental and servicing constraints.

Amend Ministerial Direction No. 6 – Rural Residential Development
Lead agent: DOI in conjunction with local government
While living in rural areas remains a popular alternative to living in cities or towns, this form of development can have negative consequences. There may be conflicts between agricultural activities and the expectations of rural dwellers, claims on local authorities to extend uneconomic community services and infrastructure, and demands on the local environment and landscape to absorb more intensive development.

Ministerial Direction No. 6 – Rural Residential Development guides how new rural living proposals are considered and how they apply to an amendment to a planning scheme to allow:

• the subdivision of land into lots between 0.4 and 2.0 hectares
• the construction of a house on lots between 0.4 and 2.0 hectares.

The central principle of these guidelines is that rural residential use is essentially an urban use, requiring access to all the normal social services and most of the physical infrastructure provided in an urban centre.

Subdivisions that provide for lots larger than two hectares are not affected by the direction and may still be used principally for rural living. To ensure that this wider range of lot sizes is also considered, the direction will be extended to ensure compliance for all proposals for rezoning of land that would create lot sizes between 0.4 hectares and eight hectares.

The performance guidelines will be reviewed to include reference to other relevant issues, including protection for water catchments. The revision will be undertaken in consultation with councils and appropriate stakeholders.

Changes to the direction will apply throughout Victoria and will be drafted accordingly.

Limit isolated rural development and encourage lot consolidation
Some of the many rural living lots now available for housing development, both within and surrounding metropolitan Melbourne, are in locations that may not satisfy the guidelines for rural residential development as outlined in Ministerial Direction No. 6. They may have high environmental values, or have a significant impact on water quality or agricultural production. The suitability for rural living purposes of areas with these qualities will be reassessed.

To ensure that rural living and its consequences do not have undesirable impacts, councils, in consultation with DOI, will be asked to review existing isolated small lots in rural areas which have significant constraints or bring the likelihood of undesirable off-site effects. DOI will help councils determine the best way to discourage development of these lots, including restructure plans, to encourage or require consolidation.