BendigoWeekly www.bendigoweekly.com.au
ISSUE 1039 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2017
Project uplift BRA bins have popped up around Bendigo this month as part of Octobra, which involves collecting old and unused bras to send to women in developing countries. Bra bins are available at locations including Fernwood Fitness, Professionals Bendigo and the Bendigo Weekly. Organiser and Professionals Bendigo director Jacinta McIvor said Bendigo women have donated more than 9000 bras to Octobra in the past seven years.
MAPPED OUT Photo: ANDREW PERRYMAN
By JOEL PETERSON
BENDIGO’S reputation as the city in the forest appeals to many, but an update to a Victorian government planning overlay may make planning developments in the urban fringe more difficult. The Victorian government this week introduced changes to the Bushfire Management Overlay, stemming from the royal commission into the Black Saturday bushfires. The commission identified a more strategic and consistent approach to mapping was necessary
Bushfire overlay impacts on planning
and that protection of properties and life should be the number one priority from a planning perspective. Bendigo is the second most affected council area in the state government changes, which were introduced by planning minister Richard Wynne this week. The minister elected to roll the changes out without public notification, so council is sending notices
out to the 10,600 property owners affected by the change to notify them of the controls. Council’s Andrew Cockerall said residents should receive letters this week to notify them of any change that applies to their land. But he said only owners proposing new developments will be affected by the changes. “If you’ve got an existing house
and you aren’t proposing any major extension the controls are not going to impact on you,” he said. Any area of vegetation greater than four hectares meets one part of the criteria for the overlay, with a buffer zone of 150 metres of that area will be affected. Only the Yarra Ranges council has more properties affected by the changes. In the City of Greater Bend-
igo, the number of properties that come under the overlay will increase by more than 200 per cent. It triggers the need for a planning permit for certain developments and requires new developments to include appropriate bushfire protection measures. Among the exemptions among developments from the overlay are extensions to existing homes that are less than 50 per cent of the floor area and constructions of outbuildings less than 100 square metres in size.
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TI SE C K L FA L ET STING S
■ Police op nabs drivers – Page 7 ■ 60-page Property Guide inside