SPEAR Planning (Planning Applications Online)

SPEAR Planning, formerly known as Planning Applications Online (PAO), is the new system to support the online lodgement and processing of planning permit applications in Victoria.

Following the successful completion of the six month PAO pilot, SPEAR Planning is now being rolled out across Victoria and initial meetings with councils and planning consultants commenced in June 2009.

Developed as an enhancement to the SPEAR system, SPEAR Planning streamlines the planning permit application process and manages applications from "end to end", including lodgement, requests for further information, referrals, advertising, approvals and tracking of applications.

There are around 50,000 planning applications lodged in Victoria each year. Planning applications have a high administrative overhead associated with them, characterised by an abundance of paper, manual handling and distribution of documents, lack of transparency and a high volume of enquiries by all parties wanting to know the status of an application.

SPEAR Planning is expected to deliver significant benefits including reduced handling of paper, faster application processing and online tracking of applications.

Planning Applications Online Pilot

Planning Applications Online was rolled out to a pilot group of councils, applicants, referral authorities and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) in August 2008.

The implementation of the pilot and the development of SPEAR Planning has proceeded quickly thanks to the extensive support of the following pilot participants.

Councils	Applicants
Banyule	Archsign Pty Ltd
Greater Dandenong	Archtistic Design Group
Hepburn	Contour Consultants
Hobsons Bay	Daylesford Design Studio
Melbourne	Fulcrum Town Planners
Moreland	Hansen
	Ikonomidis Reid
	KLM Spatial
VCAT	Reeds Consulting
	SJB Planning
	Urban Works Group
	Urbis

Referral Authorities
Alinta (AGL Electricity)	Goulburn Murray Water
APA Group	Lower Murray Urban & Rural Water
Barwon Water	Melbourne Water
Central Highlands Water	North Central CMA
Country Fire Authority	Optus
CitiPower	Powercor
City West Water	South East Water
Corangamite CMA	SP-AusNet Electricity
Department of Transport	SPI PowerNet
Department of Primary Industries	Telstra
Department of Employment and Training	Tenix Maintenance Services
Department of Sustainability and Environment	VicRoads
East Gippsland Water	Wannon Water
Environment Protection Authority	Western Water
GasNet Australia	Wimmera CMA
Glenelg Hopkins CMA	Yarra Valley Water

Further information

For further information about SPEAR Planning contact Eric LoBianco, Implementation Manager on 03 9637 9440 (during normal business hours) or email eric.lobianco@dpcd.vic.gov.au

The Minister for Planning starts using SPEAR

Following a recent amendment to the Victoria Planning Provisions (VPP) and all planning schemes, the Minister for Planning is now the consent authority for all planning permit applications that relate to:

accommodation uses, or
buildings and works in association with the accommodation use as recommended by the Director of Housing as priority projects for funding under the Social Housing Initiative (under the Commonwealth's Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan).
Other planning permit applications may now be lodged to the Minister for areas covered by Alpine Resorts, Central City, Docklands, French Island & Sandstone Island, and Port of Melbourne.

As such, all new planning permit applications where the Minister for Planning is the consent authority can now be lodged and processed online through SPEAR.

For more information please refer to the Advisory Note VC56

If you have any questions relating to this matter please contact Greg Wapling on 9637 9618, or Eric Lo Bianco on 9637 9440.