Ebook: A failed experiment : the performance of the Victoria Planning Provisions and the new format planning schemes

In 1996, the Victorian Kennett Government embarked on an ambitious experiment on the State's land use planning system. The government amended the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to introduce the Victoria Planning Provisions (VPP). These provisions introduced an unprecedented amount and type of standardisation into Victorian planning schemes and sought to remove a strong orientation towards local variation and influence. 'A Failed Experiment' reports on a project that sought to evaluate the performance of the new format planning schemes against the objectives of the Victoria Planning Provisions. It also makes limited comparisons between the performance of the new format planning schemes and the planning schemes which existed between 1988 until their replacement by the new system. The authors conclude that the VPP based new format planning schemes have failed on the indicators used to justify their introduction by the Kennett government. The planning system is not in crisis, but on the basis of the information gathered in this project it is approaching crisis. The introduction of the reforms promoted in Better Decisions, Faster will lead to some of the short term pressure being reduced. However, it is likely that pressure will be increased by the greater demands on metropolitan councils during the implementation of Melbourne 2030.  Read more...