Cardinia received $50,000 funding grant under the Post Precinct Structure Plan Approvals funding stream to provide resourcing assistance to growth area planning.
Cardinia Shire Council is one of the smallest growth areas in metropolitan Melbourne. Cardinia’s growth area is approximately 15% of the whole municipality. By April 2018, development rates increased by 25% over a three-year period and was impacting on Council’s ability to deliver. From a Council perspective, all Council departments involved in growth area planning experienced pressure. This was worsened by the fact that Council do not have an Engineering department specific to growth areas.
These growth pressures impacted on the turnaround time of Functional Layout Plans (FLPs) which ballooned to 30 days. Cardinia Shire obtained funding for a resource to help assess functional layout plans. This resource spent approximately 2-3 days a week reducing the turnaround times of FLPs by 30% (30 days to 20 days) – a 10 working day improvement. This allowed more time for staff to focus on core job requirements.
Cardinia noted that facing huge growth again, they would provide additional resources in growth area planning for assessment of FLPs and detail construction plans. The outcomes of the FLP work will inform a project currently examining options around private accreditation.