Status
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Collaboration delivers digital planning improvements to four rural councils
Northern Grampians Shire Council
Snapshot
- Timeline: July 2023 – June 2024
- Funding amount: $300,000
Increase digitisation of planning assessment process through local government collaboration
Problem
Through the Victorian government’s Better Planning Approvals program, a collective of Western Victorian councils identified shared challenges in housing and the need to reduce barriers for new development in their regions.
Following initial work completed through the Better Planning Approvals program, a secondary phase of work was needed to improve the online experience for planning applicants and to simplify the assessment process for council staff.
Solution
Supported by funding from the Digital Planning Grants, the Northern Grampians Shire Council led the collaboration with the Southern Grampians Shire Council, Borough of Queenscliff and Moyne Shire Council.
The collaboration delivered shared website upgrades to make their planning systems more user friendly and easy to navigate for applicants.
3D building and planning models helped potential applicants understand their needs before the application process commenced.
Councils further streamlined pre-applications and internal referrals through improved online guidance for applicants and an updated planning assessment process for council staff.
Benefits
Upgrades to the planning system have delivered process efficiencies and led to better planning decisions and a consistent approach to planning across all four councils. This means councils can provide standardised information to industry and developers can rely on consistent experiences across municipalities.
Planning applicants can now access improved guidance and a more intuitive planning system, resulting in a more positive user experience for applicants in across the four regions.
Learnings
The collaboration between councils enabled access to a bigger pool of shared resources to deliver greater returns and a more cohesive and connected relationship between councils and communities.
This project leads the way to support digitisation of other rural and regional councils.
Page last updated: 04/07/24