Planning & building
Victoria’s planning and building systems should promote safe, healthy, and vibrant communities for all Victorians. Councils have a vital role in this. Councils are responsible for developing local planning policy, assessing the vast majority of planning permit applications, and have key responsibilities in enforcing both the planning and building systems.
Latest advocacy
The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) released its submission, Reforming Victoria’s Planning System in April 2025.
The submission emphasises the readiness of local governments to facilitate change to support thriving, resilient, and inclusive communities and has support from metropolitan, rural, and regional local councils.
It identifies key challenges currently impacting the effectiveness and efficiency of the Victorian planning system and proposes a planning reform model that integrates system designers in state government with system administrators in local government.
Key recommendations address urgent social and environmental challenges, supporting a sustainable and inclusive future for all Victorians, including:
Net Zero Emissions: Consider a new objective “to achieve and maintain net zero greenhouse gas emissions.”
Affordable Housing: Include an updated definition of affordable housing and enable mandatory contributions in rezoned precincts.
Consolidated Contributions: Consolidate Development, Infrastructure, and Open Space contributions to ensure all state and local infrastructure requirements can be met on a fair and equitable basis.
The MAV welcomes the Victorian Government’s commitment to modernise the Planning and Environment Act 1987, paving the way for a planning system that meets today’s challenges and future needs.
Current priorities
We are involved in capacity-building reform projects, and we represent councils in numerous State-led reviews and reforms in the planning and building spaces.
Our advocacy priorities in planning and building include:
- The need for planning and building systems to contribute to climate change mitigation as well as promote resilience and adaptation
- Ensuring an effective Victorian planning system, which has local decision making at the center.
- Reform of Victoria’s building regulatory system to ensure Victorian families are protected from defective building work.
- Working with councils, the Victorian Government, and non-government stakeholders to meet Victoria’s current and future housing needs.
We also host the Council Alliance for a Sustainable Built Environment.
Submissions and briefs
On behalf of the local government sector, we prepare submissions on a range of planning and building related topics.
Our public submissions are available on the MAV submissions page.
Resources
- Affordable Housing Agreements Resources – Developed with the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA Vic), these resources help councils with the process of negotiating Affordable Housing Agreements.
- Local government's role in building control - An introduction for councillors 2025 (PDF - 2.66MB) [Updated February 2025] - Developed with the Victorian Building Authority and Victorian Municipal Building Surveyors Group, this guide seeks to help councillors understand the important role of building control and the Municipal Building Surveyor within councils.
- Local Government’s role in heritage protection – An introduction for councillors (PDF - 861KB) – Developed with the Heritage Council of Victoria, this guide seeks to help councillors understand the importance of local heritage protection and their obligations under the Planning and Environment Act 1987.
- Local government's vision for planning in Victoria (PowerPoint - 1.5MB) - the MAV's policy position on planning reform.
- MAV policy position on reform to the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (PDF - 197 KB) – Based on our vision for planning in Victoria, this position aims to ready Victoria’s planning system for the next 40 years to better reflect current challenges and empower local government to meet those challenges.
- MAV and PIA Joint statement on Plan Victoria (PDF - 163KB) – The MAV joins forces with Planning Institute of Australia to call for the State Government's new Plan for Victoria to demonstrate how planning improves people’s lives and enhances our environments.
- Shaping Metropolitan Melbourne Discussion Paper (PDF - 1.42MB) – The MAV has commissioned SGS Economics and Planning to prepare a Discussion Paper addressing ‘what a Plan for Victoria should include and how the planning vision could be delivered, with local government acting as a valued and indispensable partner’.
- Shaping Regional and Rural Victoria Discussion Paper (PDF - 1.35MB) – The MAV has commissioned SGS Economics and Planning to prepare a Discussion Paper addressing ‘what a Plan for Victoria should include and how the planning vision could be delivered, with local government acting as a valued and indispensable partner’.
- A members brief on current planning reforms is available on our Member’s Only Site.
- You can access planning, housing and building-related presentations from past events on our Members Only Past Event Presentations page.
Engage with us
Emlyn Breese
Co‐ordinator Research and Policy
James McLean
Senior Policy Adviser, Sustainable Development
Email: planning@mav.asn.au