Whittlesea is one of 17 Victorian councils to request a standing advisory committee to report on the impact of Planning Minister Matthew Guy’s new residential zones.
The new zones are neighbourhood residential, general residential, and residential growth. They will replace the existing residential 1, 2 and 3 zones in municipal planning schemes.
The new zones have been seen widely as an attempt by the state government to increase housing densities and multi-unit developments in established residential areas that were previously able to be protected by neighbourhood character provisions.
Whittlesea council is asking residents to submit their views on the new zones by April 14, taking into account the council’s own housing diversity strategy, which stipulates parts of Lalor, Epping, Mill Park, South Morang, Thomastown and Whittlesea that it believes can sustain higher-density housing.
Councils have until July to apply the new zones; otherwise, a general residential zone will apply.
