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VCAT Visit

Bass Coast Planning staff and Councillors attended a workshop in Wonthaggi with Justice Stuart Morris last month.

By Bass Coast Shire Council - 24th July 2006 - Back to News

The purpose of Justice Morris’ visit to Bass Coast was to discuss the role of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

Bass Coast Mayor, Cr Neville Goodwin said the visit from Justice Morris had resulted in some very good discussions.

"We were very fortunate to have this time with Justice Morris," said Cr Goodwin.

"His insights into the importance of VCAT in the Victorian legal system were invaluable."

Justice Morris said that the role of VCAT was to provide an accessible, efficient and fair system for dealing with issues. Planning matters make up approximately a quarter of VCAT’s budget.

VCAT considers approximately 35,000 appeals annually. Justice Morris noted that there had been an increase in non-metropolitan appeals, mainly within a two hour zone of Melbourne.

Council’s Planning Director, Andrew Mason said that Bass Coast Shire had 54 appeals before VCAT in the 2004-2005 financial year and 35 in 2005-2006.

"The commonly held perception is that Council has many appeals at VCAT," said Mr Mason.

"But in actual fact we’ve had relatively few.

"The appeals at VCAT represent less than 5 per cent of all the planning decisions made by Council."

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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