What are Third Party Funding Agreements and how are the contributions calculated?

Third party funding is the method adopted by the VPA to fund the preparation of a Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) and Development Contributions Plan (DCP). Funding will facilitate the preparation or updates to technical work, stakeholder consultation, and associated work to prepare a planning scheme amendment to incorporate the PSP and DCP into the Planning Scheme.   

Third Party Funding Agreements are a contract between the VPA and a ‘third party’ (typically the landowner) to formalise funding arrangements. Typically, costs to fund a PSP is undertaken on a per hectare basis (i.e. the larger your landholding the more it will cost). The Agreements provide for staged payments over the course of the PSP process.    

Third party funding is voluntary.   

Normally, third party funding costs are estimated by undertaking the following steps:   

• Project is scoped to determine complexity and range of issues that will need to be addressed by the PSP (including required technical studies).  
• The VPA calculates the total estimated cost of the project, with estimates based on previous (most recent) actuals with allowances for variances based on inflation and the relative complexity of the project.    
• The estimated total cost of project is divided by the area of the precinct to deliver a per hectare funding rate.   
• The VPA then seeks Expressions of Interest from all landowners within the precinct to enter into Third Party Funding Agreements with requested amounts based on the calculated per landowner funding amount.   
• Following receipt of Expressions of Interest from landowners the VPA will recalculate each landowner’s draft obligation and provide this back to participating landowners to confirm their continued interest.