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SPEAR Planning FAQ's
What is SPEAR Planning?
SPEAR Planning, formerly known as Planning Applications Online enables all planning permit applications to be managed online including lodgement and tracking of applications.
A group of councils, applicants, referral authorities and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal participated in the pilot of SPEAR Planning from August 2008 to February 2009.
When will SPEAR Planning be released?
SPEAR Planning is now being rolled out across Victoria and initial meetings with councils and planning consultants commenced in June 2009.
Was there a pilot and who were the participants?
Yes there was a pilot and selection of participants was made on the basis of (a) the willingness of an organisation to participate; (b) the willingness to participate of organisations with whom it deals; (c) the likelihood of processing appeals during the pilot. The following councils were in the pilot:
A number of planning organisations (applicants) that deal with these councils had also been invited to participate in the pilot - refer to SPEAR Planning.
The Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal is participating in the pilot, as too are the Referral Authorities used by the pilot councils.
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What are the benefits of SPEAR Planning?
The overall benefits of SPEAR include:
Improved data quality
More complete applications
Faster turn-around time
Reduced copying, collating and posting costs
Increased transparency leading to fewer enquiries on application progress
A single interface to all councils for applicants, referral authorities, VCAT and members of the public
End to end application tracking
SPEAR Planning delivers a number of additional benefits:
Provides applicants with free access to Property Planning Reports which contain detailed information about the required property.
Improved quality of planning applications resulting from property validation, and ensuring that applications may only be created where the zoning and overlay(s) for the property permit it.
Introduction of VCAT promotes more visibility and information on the progress of each application.
Introduction of Cultural Heritage Management Plan features clarifies requirements between applicant and council.
Closer alignment with the Planning & Environment Act, and provides a means for reflecting future changes under this Act.
Public access to Statutory Fee calculator.
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My organisation already uses SPEAR. What impact will SPEAR Planning have on my business?
The only business impacts arising from SPEAR Planning for existing SPEAR users, is that there will be additional permit types, or ‘categories’. Other than ‘Subdivision’, these categories include:
'Change of use' ('Land Use')
'Construction' ('Building and Works')
'Extensions' ('Additions')
Because of their business structures, some organisations prefer to deal with these categories using different people. Consequently, these people will need to be made of aware of SPEAR and trained if necessary.
This will not result in additional workload where the organisation previously dealt with planning permit applications using manual paper based processes. Some organisations may experience reductions in processing time.
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My organisation does not use SPEAR. What impact will SPEAR Planning have on my business?
Organisations new to processing applications online will experience impacts dependant on the nature of their business. These are summarised below:
Applicants:
Will be able to prepare, lodge and monitor all planning & subdivision applications electronically from a web site, across all councils used. Councils not yet registered for SPEAR will still require 'paper' applications to be lodged.
Will require documents to be loaded using PDF format.
Will require the acquisition of Digital Certificates only if lodging applications leading to the Certification of a Plan of Subdivision.
Expect to make fewer phone calls in relation to the processing of applications at councils. See other benefits.
Councils:
For applicants registered with SPEAR, council will receive applications from SPEAR, rather than in the traditional 'paper' format.
Councils may choose to use SPEAR in one of two ways:
the SPEAR web site – a free service, OR
enhance their 'core' systems to interact with SPEAR directly. There is no charge from SPEAR for choosing this option, but there may be a charge from the developers of the 'core' system.
Will require the acquisition of Digital Certificates only if processing applications associated with the certification of a plan of subdivision.
Consideration should be given as to how to process electronic forms of documents. For example, there may be a preference to storing these documents in an internal document management system, or network folder. Alternatively, preference may be given to printing these documents and to continue to store the hard-copies in paper files.
Referral Authorities:
Where a given council has registered to use SPEAR, referrals will be received from SPEAR, rather than directly from council.
Referral authorities may choose to use SPEAR in one of two ways:
the SPEAR web site – a free service, OR
enhance their 'core' systems to interact with SPEAR directly. There is no charge from SPEAR for choosing this option, but there may be a charge from the developers of the 'core' system.
Consider how to process electronic forms of documents. For example, there may be a preference to storing these documents in an internal document management system, or network folder. Alternatively, preference may be given to printing these documents and to continue to store the hard-copies in paper files.
For details of other set up requirements, click here.
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What type of planning permits may be lodged through SPEAR?
Any planning permit that relates to one or more properties. A given council may choose to process some, but not all permit types in SPEAR.
What is a 'Trigger'?
'Trigger' is an abbreviated term referring to the Permit trigger clauses written into the Planning & Environment Act. Some examples of 'triggers' are shown in the discussion below on Permit 'Category'.
What is a Permit 'Category'?
A Permit Category is a term used to categorise a planning permit. A single Permit Category may refer to multiple 'triggers'. For example, the following 'triggers':
"Construct one new dwelling on a lot less than 300 sqm"
"Construct one new dwelling on a lot between 300 and 500 sqm"
"Construct one new dwelling if there is at least one dwelling existing on the lot"
are each assigned to a Category of "Dwelling: Construct: 1".
Do I need a permit for a 'liquor license' (or for any other purpose)?
SPEAR Planning has not changed any of the criteria for determining whether a permit is required. So, if you didn’t need a permit for something before SPEAR Planning, you don’t need one now. However, SPEAR Planning has made it simpler to determine which permits are valid for a given property. The new Wizard for creating a permit will only allow applications to be created which are valid for a given property, or set of properties.
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Do I need a Digital Certificate for SPEAR Planning?
No.
Applicants lodging permit applications do not require a Digital Certificate.
Councils processing permit applications are not required to use a Digital Certificate for making planning permit decisions. However, if councils already use a Digital Certificate (eg for processing subdivision applications), then they may prefer to use a Digital Certificate when making a permit decision in SPEAR.
See also 'What is a Digital Certificate'.
How can you sort the application list to distinguish between subdivision and planning applications?
Sort on the column and proceed through the following sequence:
'Certification of a Plan'
'Planning Permit (permit category)'
'Planning Permit and Certification'.
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How does an applicant comply with Condition 1 of the permit requiring submission of an amended plan for endorsement, particularly after application is complete?
An applicant has the ability to submit revised plans in accordance with Condition 1 of the planning permit. Only after council have ticked the box indicating that 'Endorsing is Complete' is the permit able to be deemed complete. Typically, council will only complete a planning permit once all applicable plans have been endorsed.
Can the Council Reference Number be modified?
Yes. Select 'Modify' next to Council Reference Number on the Details Tab.
Can a copy of Title be downloaded from within SPEAR?
The Copy of Title needs to be purchased via current means (e.g. relevant broker) then saved locally, then uploaded into SPEAR.
Does SPEAR send a reminder notice/email to applicants who have not responded to council's request for further information within the designated time frame?
Yes. A reminder is sent to the applicant for every application where the Additional Information Request (A.I.R.) is due in less than seven (7) days.
What does an applicant need to do if they wish to lodge multiples of a document type? For instance, four elevation plans and two shadow diagrams.
Where multiple pages are required for the one document type (e.g. 4 elevations / 2 shadow diagrams), the applicant is required to merge these multiple pages together into a single PDF version.
Have all planning permit triggers in the planning schemes been included in SPEAR Planning, including those derived from provisions other than zones and overlays?
Yes. Permit triggers in other parts of the planning schemes, most notably the Particular Provisions (e.g. reduced/waived car parking requirements, signage, and installation of a satellite dish) have been included into SPEAR Planning.
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SPEAR Planning FAQ's