How long your local council takes to approve planning applications
Red tape is hurting Victorian builders who say massive delays in planning application approvals is costing them jobs and “significant revenue”. See how your council performed.
Victorian tradies say local government red tape is costing them jobs and “significant revenue” as dozens of councils fail to meet deadlines for planning application approvals.
New data about every Victorian council reveals that 52 councils failed to make decisions within the regulated timeframe last financial year, with some taking as long as six months.
Councils have 60 days, including weekends and public holidays, to make a decision about regular planning permits, with applicants able to take their matters to VCAT if this time lapses.
Six councils made decisions about less than half of the applications lodged within these 60 days.
Hepburn Shire Council, which takes in spa country towns Hepburn Springs and Daylesford, performed the worst in the state for approving applications within this timeframe.
It comes as councils say they are facing a severe backlog of planning applications, with many citing shortages in staff and resources to assess them.
Ryan Everitt, whose business AceFab builds portable homes, said delays made it difficult to put timelines on jobs and “shattered the confidence” of builders.
“By the time people start the planning process to the time they’re approved the price of materials have jumped and exceeded their budgets,” he said.
“This is often with homes where people get to the end and they can’t afford to build and they’ve been through all this pain to get there.
“People can’t afford those delays and those extra expenses when they’re trying to build a small home in the backyard for their teenage son or daughter.”
Hepburn Shire made a decision about only 26.5 per cent of applications within 60 days.
In a response published online, council said a large turnover of staff in the last 18 months and a “number of ongoing complex” planning and VCAT matters created a “challenging backlog”.
“However the percentage of applications decided within 60 days is steadily improving in response to vacancies being filled and the continuing implementation of targeted process improvements”
See the rest of the councils below
David Penman, whose family runs luxury holiday rental company Clifftop at Hepburn, said he has spent upwards of $1.5m to fight council red tape.
His latest battle with Hepburn Shire has landed in the Supreme Court after his application for secondary consent to regularise four villas was refused.
He said many businesses “could not afford” to fight councils to build their projects.
“They tell us ‘if you don’t like it all you have to do is apply to VCAT’, but a year and a half and hundreds of thousands of dollars later,” Mr Penman said.
“Ninety-nine per cent of people can’t afford it ... you burn so much money, you can’t do it.”
Alpine Shire, Macedon Ranges, Indigo, Mitchell, Southern Grampians and Yarra also approved less than 50 per cent of applications within the set timeframe.
Macedon Ranges took a median time of 170 days — almost six months — to make a decision about applications, pinning the blame on staff shortages.
“Resourcing numbers remained during this period meaning officers could not deal or cope with the growth in applications,” council said.
“The organisation has quickly moved to address this problem by approving additional staff resources for the planning team. Recruiting for the new positions was not finalised until June 2025 when new staff members joined the team.”
The median amount of time for 20 councils, including Wyndham, Greater Geelong and Casey, was above 90 days.
The average amount of time councils took per application was about 72 days.
Several regional councils put state government grants towards beefing up their planning teams, resulting in swift improvements.
Loddon Shire — in the state’s north — was the best performing municipality in the state, making decisions about 94 per cent of its applications within 60 days.
Banyule City Council was the fastest moving metropolitan council, with 87 per cent of planning applications moved on in the required times.
East Gippsland Shire Council was among the most improved, reducing the number of median days for decisions from 94 to 64.
