What is a Planning Permit?

Whether you need council approval for construction depends on your zoning, overlays, the nature of works, and your local planning scheme. A feasibility assessment with SilverPoint Building Designers & Planning Consultants is the fastest way to find out.

A planning permit covers what you are allowed to build and whether it suits the location. A building permit covers how it is built and whether it meets safety standards. If both are required, the planning permit must come first.

VicSmart applications take around 10 business days. Standard planning permit applications in Victoria take 60 statutory days, though four to nine months is a more realistic real-world expectation. Complex applications take longer. 

Zoning and overlays Victoria properties carry are the two controls that determine what can be built on any land. Zoning defines the permitted use. Overlays add controls for heritage, vegetation, flooding, or bushfire risk. Both determine whether a planning permit is needed.

You are not legally required to engage town planning consultants, but doing so significantly improves the quality and success rate of your application. An experienced planning permit consultant prepares a stronger submission and anticipates issues before they become problems.

If you carry out works that require a town planning permit without obtaining one, you are in breach of the Planning and Environment Act 1987. Consequences include significant fines, enforcement orders from your local council, and in serious cases a requirement to demolish what you have built at your own cost.

In some cases, you can still apply. But applications made after the work is carried out are more costly, more stressful, and offer no guarantee of approval. They are a last resort, not a strategy.