Planning process

Manningham City Council's overall vision for the Doncaster Hill precinct, outlined in the Doncaster Hill Strategy (2002), endorses an integrated design approach to Doncaster Hill that incorporates objectives of ecological sustainable development (ESD).

Through an integrated planning process, Council deals with planning applications in an efficient manner and, importantly, all the planning provisions that a developer and designer require are contained in the Manningham Planning Scheme. These controls represent the legal requirements for all permit applicants within Doncaster Hill.

Developers are encouraged to approach Council's Statutory Planning Unit at the initial design stage so Council officers can work with and assist them where possible.

Core requirements to be addressed by all Doncaster Hill planning applications include addressing the precinct vision and objectives, and the preparation of a Sustainability Management Plan (SMP). The SMP ensures applicants address eight specific sustainable design elements throughout a building’s design and life whilst the precinct vision and objectives address matters such as land use, building height, setback and form.

In addition to the standard permit consideration process, developers will also be assisted by the Sustainable Design Taskforce, which provides input into development proposals within Manningham.

The Doncaster Hill Sustainability Guidelines, June 2004 provide direction to developers as to Councils expectations for the contents of their Sustainability Management Plan. Together with the policies in the Manningham Planning Scheme, developers can refer to the user-friendly information in the Guidelines to ensure that their proposal addresses the eight key performance areas.

Developers are requested to present their proposal at a Strategic Briefing Session (SBS) to brief Councillors on their development.

For more information, view the Facilitated Planning Process fact sheet (423Kb).

The steps

Developers are strongly encouraged to follow these steps when preparing a planning application