Raised with: Minister for Planning

Raised by: Mr Finn

Raised on: 7 May 2009

REPLY:

I have obtained a list of all State planning decisions in relation to Brimbank City Council for the period 1 January 2005 to 1 June 2009. There were no decisions made by the State Government on planning permit applications for this period apart from those made in relation to planning scheme amendments which involved a combined amendment and one or more planning permits.

All decisions made in relation to planning scheme amendments were laid before both houses of parliament within 10 sitting days of the decision being made.

Brimbank City Council made 947 decisions on planning permit applications from the period 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008. Section 49 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 requires the Council, as the responsible authority, to keep a register of all applications for permits and all decisions and determinations relating to permits. Council must make the register available during office hours for any person to inspect free of charge.

Given that there are strict privacy laws governing the release of information related to private individuals, if Mr Finn would like to obtain any further information from Brimbank City Council regarding specific planning decisions related to individuals that is not publicly available, the appropriate mechanism to apply for this information is through the Freedom of Information Act 1982.