As recommended by the 2014 Review, Amendment C61 restructures and substantially revises the Municipal Strategic Statement (MSS), bringing its format into line with current State Government guidelines. New and revised objectives and strategies are introduced to the MSS, responding to strategic work undertaken in recent years as well as updated demographic and development data.
The number of Local Planning Policies is reduced from 32 to eight, with many policy guidelines moved to the MSS and a new policy for heritage introduced. The policy on Use and Development of Land in the Farming Zone (renamed from the previous Clause 22.22) is amended to implement recommendations of the Rural Land Study. The remaining six Local Planning Policies are subject to less substantial amendments.
Schedules 1, 2 and 3 to the Significant Landscape Overlay, which apply to areas around Maldon, Castlemaine and the Muckleford Valley, are amended by introducing a permit trigger for the removal, destruction or lopping of specified types of vegetation. This corrects a drafting error made previously when new format planning schemes were introduced and permit triggers should have been included to give effect to the objectives of the overlay and its schedules.
The amendment affects all of the land in the Shire of Mount Alexander. The areas most affected by the amendment are described in the Explanatory Report, which can be accessed as described below.