Our Land Development Process
1
Contact us about your development
Developers are encouraged to discuss their plans with Melbourne Water at an early stage in the project planning to ensure appropriate decisions are made. In many instances, developers must comply with our requirements, so it’s important to know what these requirements are prior to commencing works.
More information:
2
Apply for a planning permit
To commence the planning permit process a formal town planning permit application must be made to the responsible authority (usually your local council). Your planning permit application will then be referred to Melbourne Water for comment if the responsible authority believes that we have an interest in the development.
3
Referral and correspondence
If the application is of interest to Melbourne Water, it will be referred to us (along with any other relevant referral authorities).
Melbourne Water has 28 days from the receipt of a referral to provide any comments, permit conditions or directions to the responsible authority. (Note: 28 days includes the time it takes for us to send our response).
If we require more information, we have 21 days to tell the responsible authority. The responsible authority may then need to ask you to provide further information. If this happens, the referral period of 28 days is temporarily suspended (to allow time for you to gather further information) and resumes when the information is provided.
You can send information (particularly technical information) directly to Melbourne Water, provided a copy is sent at the same time to the responsible authority.
You can avoid delaying your application by minimising the likelihood that more information will be requested by Melbourne Water. This can be done by:
- having prior discussions with Melbourne Water before applying for a planning permit
- having your proposals or plans reviewed and amended first before applying
- identifying and considering what information may be required to make a decision on your application.
Check the progress of your application
To check the progress of your application with regard to Melbourne Water’s conditions, you should:
1. Contact the responsible authority (e.g. your local council) to see if a response from Melbourne Water has been received.
2. If the responsible authority is awaiting our response, you can contact our Land Development team on +61 3 9235 2517 for an update.
Note: It is a statutory requirement for Melbourne Water to provide a response to a planning application referral within 28 days of receipt and to request further information, if required, from the applicant within 21 days of receipt.
4
Response
Melbourne Water, having sought extra information if needed, responds to the referral by either:
- consenting to a permit being issued;
- objecting; or
- consenting to a permit being issued with specified conditions.
When Melbourne Water responds, we will:
- provide clear and legally enforceable conditions to be included in the permit (if required)
- give reasons for any objections
- respond within specified time limits
- indicate to the responsible authority the status of the advice that’s been provided (i.e. which sections or regulations govern the advice).
One of the conditions which may be inserted in a planning permit states that the developer must enter into an agreement with Melbourne Water to provide drainage services for the development. For more information about this condition, please see our Applications for Conditions section, where you can apply online if you wish.
Unhappy with our response?
If you are unhappy with Melbourne Water’s response to your application we encourage you to speak with a Melbourne Water planner to understand why we responded with certain conditions, or in some cases, why we objected to your proposal. We are available to talk through your concerns surrounding your development and do aim to resolve any issues directly with you.
If the issues cannot be resolved, you can submit an application to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). Note that VCAT may also request that mediation between all of the relevant parties be held first.