What is a pre-application meeting?

Need advice before lodging a planning permit application? Book a pre-application meeting with our planning staff.


Book your pre-application meeting early in the design phase, before you finalise plans. This will provide an opportunity to make changes without significant expense.

 

How will you benefit?

A pre-application meeting can identify issues around the use of your property. It's an open discussion where everyone works towards a positive outcome.

It can also point to the likely outcome of your application and make the process more efficient.

You'll benefit through:
  • Early identification of issues
  • A better understanding of the Planning Permit process
  • A faster process, as there will be less need for us to request extra information later on.

What advice can we give?

A pre-application meeting can't investigate every detail of your application. That's what the formal assessment is for.

We can, however, give advice which should prove useful to a successful application.

Our planning officers can advise on what documentation you need and how to get it, any gaps in your application, and more.

Please note, this is advice only, and not binding for anyone.

What permits need a pre-application meeting?

We encourage anyone with questions to book a pre-application meeting.

Are you at the beginning of your planning process? You can speak to our planners, and they will advise you on the need for one.

What can you discuss?

At the meeting you can discuss such issues as:
  • initial concepts
  • detailed design aspects
  • any other requirements.
Our planning officers will give their professional opinions and offer guidance where possible. The meeting will not pre-empt the outcome of your application.

Once you lodge your application, we will assess it against the Mount Alexander Shire Planning Scheme.

Preparing for the meeting

Preparation is essential. You should research your proposal and identify relevant issues for the meeting. The quality of our advice depends on how much detail you give us.

Here's a checklist to help you prepare for the meeting. We highly recommend that you bring the following:
  • A full copy of title that is no more than three months old
  • Photos of the site and surrounding area. Include neighbouring properties, the streetscape and large vegetation
  • A neighbourhood and site description plan showing:

  1. existing buildings on site
  2. the location of buildings on at least four adjoining properties (including windows and yards)
  3. a concept plan at a ratio of 1:100. This should including detail such as the proposed building footprint, window placement, internal building layouts, earthworks, retaining wall locations, existing vegetation, car parking and vehicle access, current and proposed crossovers, and a concept design of elevations.
This will give our planner an understanding of your proposal, and help us give you better advice. You may need a consultant to help prepare this information and ease the application process.

We aim for the planner you meet with to manage your application once you lodge it. However, we can't always guarantee this, due to staff movements and workloads.

 

 

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