The Macaulay Structure Plan Advisory Committee (MSPAC) Report on C417melb has been released (https://www.planningpanels.vic.gov.au/panels-and-committees/projects/macaulay-structure-plan-advisory-committee).
An interesting aspect of this this amendment was the Council’s overarching strategic ambition was to develop a mixed use precinct with a target of 9,500 workers by 2500. To help achieve this target, the exhibited amendment contained a discretionary requirement for 20 per cent of new floor area to be allocated to non-residential (employment) use. The MSPAC said that:
Council submitted that the 20 per cent requirement is directly linked to achieving the 9,500 jobs target. It is derived from total development capacity under the proposed floor area ratio controls and assumed floorspace requirements per worker (based on Building Code of Australia benchmarks of approximately 24 square metres per commercial job and 20 square metres per retail job).
This requirement was a contentious aspect of the amendment.
An issue raised was the nature of land uses that would occupy this space and whether current economic conditions would influence the achievement of this requirement? The Panel observed that there was ‘broad agreement amongst the planning and economic witnesses that there had been fundamental changes to the office market since COVID and that work from home arrangement have also changed how suburbs function during the working week. Add to this the possible impact of Artificial intelligence on office floor space demand and you have real uncertainty around what the appropriate delivery mechanism to achieve this target should be.
For these and other reasons the MSPAC recommended that the 20 per cent non-residential development requirement should be deleted.
It raises an interesting question about how to plan for housing and jobs in mixed use areas.
John Glossop was engaged as an expert planning witness in this matter. Contact us to discuss how we can assist you in your next matter.