If you are attending the Planning Decisions Committee as an objector, the following information may be helpful. 

PDC meeting format

The chairperson will explain the proceedings at the start of each agenda item. 

• For each item on the agenda, all parties relevant to the application (the permit applicant and objectors) will be invited by the chairperson to come forward and make a submission.
• The chairperson will then invite council planning officers to provide a brief (5 minute) overview of the application, including: the proposal and relevant policy in the Yarra Planning Scheme, the officer’s assessment and the officer’s recommendation.
• The permit applicant is invited to provide a brief (5 minute) overview of the application and to provide any new information not covered by the council planning officers
• The chairperson advises all objectors on the next steps:
  - This can depend on the number of objectors wishing to make a submission.
  - The chairperson may hear all submissions and then ask the permit applicant and/or council officers for a response or the chairperson may invite each objector to make a submission (5 minutes) and at the end of each submission ask questions of the permit applicant or for a response from council officers.

Limiting all parties to 5 minutes speaking time allows the meeting to run efficiently and effectively. 

Some agendas are large (with 6+ items on it) and can last several hours. 

Making a verbal submission

As an objector attending the Planning Decisions Committee you are encouraged to use your 5 minute verbal submission to:

• summarise your main issues / concerns
• raise any matters that you feel should be considered by the committee in reaching a decision, and
• suggest any modifications to the application or to the officer’s recommendation that would go some way to alleviate aspects of the application that you are most concerned about, in the event that a planning permit is approved.

We do not recommend reading from your objection letter during your verbal submission, and avoid discussing at length other issues already raised by objectors in their submissions.

If you are presenting any new information to the committee (including information that you did not include in your objection letter and has not been considered in the officer report) it is important for you to say this at the meeting.

Throughout the meeting it is expected that all parties in attendance are respectful of each other in the way that they speak, behave and conduct themselves. 

What do I need to bring? 

The committee prepares for the Planning Decisions Committee meeting by reading the officer report which includes a summary of all issues and concerns raised in the objection letters. Hard copies of all objections are kept on the relevant planning file, which council planning officers bring to the meeting.

Therefore, you do not need to bring a copy of your objection letter or read directly from it. You just need to talk to the main issues and concerns that you have on the application and how the proposed development impacts you.

If you wish to distribute items to the committee at the meeting to clarify or assist you in your 5 minute verbal submission, please bring at least six hard copies. 

If you are attending the Planning Decisions Committee  as an permit applicant, the following information may be helpful. 

PDC meeting format

The chairperson will explain the proceedings at the start of each agenda item. Generally, the chairperson will:

• invite all parties relevant to the application (including you, the permit applicant) to come forward and make a submission.
• invite council planning officers to provide a brief overview of the application, including the proposal and relevant policy in the Yarra Planning Scheme, the officer’s assessment and the officer’s recommendation (5 minutes).
• invite you as the permit applicant to provide a brief overview of the application / provide any new information not covered by the council planning officers (5 minutes).
• hear from the objectors sitting at the table and ask questions of you or council planning officers.
• provide you an additional two minutes to respond to anything raised by objectors in their submissions.

Making a verbal submission

The committee prepares for the Planning Decisions Committee by reading the officers report.

The report provides a summary of the proposed development, a summary of all referral responses, a summary of all issues and concerns raised in the objection letters and a full assessment of the proposal with an officer recommendation.

As a permit applicant attending IDAC you are therefore encouraged to use your 5 minute verbal submission to:

• provide a brief overview of your proposal and draw on anything not covered by the council planning officers in their verbal submission or in the officer report.
• raise any matters you feel should be considered by the committee in reaching a decision.
• suggest any modifications to the application or to the officer’s recommendation, in the event that a planning permit is approved.

Limiting all parties to 5 minutes speaking time allows the meeting to run efficiently and effectively. 

Throughout the meeting it is expected that all parties in attendance are respectful of each other in the way that they speak, behave and conduct themselves. 

The format of a Planning Decisions Committee meeting is more informal than a council meeting, however all questions and submissions must be made through the chair.

Generally in attendance at each meeting are:

• 3 ward Councillors (usually one from each ward)
• 2 Council planning officers
• Council governance staff 
• the permit applicant  (which may include a team of a planning consultant, architect, other relevant professional, and client)
• objectors (who have lodged a formal objection to the permit application). 

The Planning Decisions Committee is chaired and facilitated by the chair. While the meeting is recorded, no transcripts are taken. The committee's resolution and determination at the meeting are verbally stated at the end of each agenda item and recorded by Council staff. These are the Planning Decisions Committee meeting minutes and are the official record of the resolutions.

The agenda for each Planning Decisions Committee meeting can vary in terms of length and type of application listed. This can influence the length of a meeting (determining factors are generally the type of application to be determined, the number of objector parties present and wishing to speak and the questions / clarification from the councillors from all parties present). 

There may be several applications on the agenda to be heard at the meeting and a large number of people. For each item on the agenda, all parties relevant to the application (the permit applicant and objector parties) will be invited by the chairperson to come from their seats and sit with the councillors and council staff.

Parties relevant to each agenda item (usually the permit applicant and objectors) will then be invited by the chairperson to make a verbal submission to the committee.

Throughout the Planning Decisions Committee meeting it is expected that all parties in attendance are respectful of each other in the way that they speak, behave and conduct themselves. 

• Once the Planning Decisions Committee meeting is complete, the meeting minutes (which are the official record of the meeting) are published on our website.
• These documents are usually made available within a week of the meeting.
• The permit applicant and objectors to the application (even those who did not attend the meeting) are formally notified of Yarra Council’s decision in writing within 1-2 days of the meeting.
• The permit application and objectors can appeal Council’s decision to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).
• Instructions of how to appeal to VCAT are also printed on the back of the Notice of Decision to Grant a Planning Permit or the Refusal to Grant a Permit.