Overview
The Victorian Government is committed to helping secure access to critical materials to build our future homes and infrastructure affordably.
Victoria’s population is set to double by 2050. As our population rises, so will our demand for quarry materials such as rock, gravel and sand in order to build homes, infrastructure and private sector development. It’s vital to ensure extractive resources are sourced close to where they’ll be used in construction. This is because it helps affordability by keeping construction costs down, while also reducing the need to transport material over large distances, which is a more sustainable approach.
The identification of a Strategic Extractive Resource Area (SERA) ensures a quarry can supply raw materials well into the future while avoiding land use conflicts. The pilot project established two SERAs, one in Wyndham City Council and the other in South Gippsland Shire and provides a framework for defining the locations of future strategic state resources in the context of other existing land uses, environmental assets and community interests.
The two SERAs have been incorporated into the relevant planning schemes of Wyndham and South Gippsland via the introduction of VC196. The South Gippsland amendment made some minor associated consequential changes to the Cardinia, La Trobe and Wellington Planning Schemes. These planning controls provide a template for securing further extractive resources of strategic importance in the future, providing greater certainty to industry and the community. The framework introduced by amendment VC196 provides for a better land use planning framework for extractive industry well in advance of development, provides for complementary land uses adjoining identified SERAs to better inform future urban development.
UPDATE - AUGUST 2021
From May to July 2020, the Victorian Government undertook an 8 week public consultation process about the SERA pilot project. We received over 300 submissions, with detailed feedback provided by statutory authorities, local governments, landowners, community organisations, and interested individuals. Topics covered in the submissions include the methodology used to inform the SERA pilot project, the SERA boundaries in the two pilot locations, and the planning controls drafted to implement them.
All submissions have been reviewed and number of refinements were made to the recommendations that the Minister for Planning subsequently adopted in amendment VC196. VC196 provides a framework for stronger recognition and protection of existing extractive industries and identifies land with State-significant earth resources in the municipalities of Wyndham and South Gippsland.
The planning controls introduced by Amendment VC196 increase planning oversight of sensitive land uses near existing extractive industries and, in areas where new extractive industries may be established, it is expected that the new controls will balance the need for extractive resources and adjoining land uses. The new State Resources Overlay controls have been applied in areas of Wyndham City and South Gippsland Shire Councils where development activity is and should remain low (based on existing zoning provisions), while providing recognition of the extractive resources in these areas of Wyndham and South Gippsland.
The amendment detail can be inspected free of charge at the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning website at https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/schemes-and-amendm....
For more information about SERAs, including fact sheets and frequently asked questions, please visit https://earthresources.vic.gov.au/projects/strateg....
