Melbourne Water has expedited the approval of new housing as part of new measures introduced to encourage more home construction in Melbourne.
In the past year, Melbourne Water has expedited the assessment of development applications. In March, over 98 per cent of applications were processed within the newly established standards for approving new applications.
Melbourne Water’s goal was to eliminate the backlog of planning applications by December 31, 2024, and to ensure that at least 90 per cent of contemporary applications were processed by March 31, 2025.
“We are pleased to announce that we have exceeded these targets, ahead of schedule and cleared 98 per cent of applications,” said Melbourne Water Managing Director, Dr Nerina Di Lorenzo.
“While significant progress has been made, Melbourne Water is committed to ensuring that the next stages of work generated by completed applications are well supported and continue to meet the needs of our customers and community.”
Melbourne Water is responsible for assessing flood risks and planning applications in both greenfield and established urban areas, including drainage schemes for new developments.
Linda Allison, CEO of the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) praised the reforms, highlighting their crucial role in delivering Victorian Government’s goal of providing 2.24 million new homes by 2051.
“Melbourne Water has been working with industry to understand the issues and address bottlenecks. They have made good progress in processing new development applications, benefiting the industry and Victoria’s growing community. The timely delivery of drainage and water management infrastructure is critical to delivering more homes more quickly.”
Key improvements by Melbourne Water include:
- An enhanced triage process for faster assessments and quicker identification of issues.
- A prioritisation system for applications to improve customer experience and expedite handling.
- Better reporting mechanisms for monitoring application statuses.
- System upgrades that facilitate the early identification of complex applications.
Dr Di Lorenzo emphasised: “By leveraging additional resources and improving our systems, we will continue to aim for at least 90 per cent of applications to meet service standards moving forward.”
For more information about our ongoing housing initiatives and to view application processing times, visit the Melbourne Water website.
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