A housing strategy is Council’s long term plan to manage future housing growth and change, to best meet the ongoing needs of the community. It identifies the type of residential development we expect in locations across Banyule, and how new development can be managed to protect valued and unique attributes of our neighbourhoods.

State planning policy requires Council to review their housing strategy every 15 years so changes in the municipality can be included and planned for. Changes to population and housing trends, changes in the natural and built environment, accessibility to infrastructure and services, and changes to the economic landscape (locally, across Australia, and globally) can all affect how our existing Housing Strategy functions. It’s been 15 years since our existing Housing Strategy (2009) was adopted, and so it’s time to update it to ensure effectiveness and relevance.

The Victorian Government has announced an ambitious agenda of reforms to address housing needs in Victoria.

Victoria’s Housing Statement: The decade ahead 2024-2034 which was released in September 2023, includes increased Ministerial powers to expedite major residential developments, establish housing targets and direct 70% of new homes to established areas. Having a current Housing Strategy will put us in a strong position to negotiate and advocate for housing outcomes which meet Banyule’s needs.

The draft Housing Strategy and draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy have been developed following two previous rounds of community consultation on the Preliminary Housing Discussion Paper in 2022 and the Housing Discussion Paper in 2023.

Together, these strategies will manage Banyule’s housing development in a way that is inclusive to all members of the community, encourages a good design-led approach to development, and manages impacts on neighbourhood character.

Housing choice

To create housing choice in Banyule, which supports our communities in the long term, we need to cater for a wide range of needs and socio-economic backgrounds to ensure that Banyule is an inclusive and welcoming place to live.

Increasing housing diversity means having choice in typology (apartments, townhouses, units, detached houses) and in different sizes and internal layouts. With Australia and Banyule experiencing an aging population and shrinking household size, we need to make sure new housing matches these needs and preferences. To date, Banyule has been good at delivering single detached houses and higher scale apartment buildings in activity centres. To diversify our housing stock, we need to build more mid-scale housing like units and townhouses.

As housing affordability reaches crisis level in Australia, it is increasingly difficult for residents to find housing that is appropriate for their situation. In situations where housing diversity is insufficient, this can cause detrimental impacts on the economic and social bonds of community, forcing residents to move away from friends and family in search of more appropriate housing. Banyule will investigate a 10% affordable housing contribution in larger residential developments.

To help achieve housing diversity in Banyule, Council will advocate and engage with State government and the development industry to encourage innovation in Banyule. Banyule should be open to developments like build-to-rent, rent-to-buy and co-housing, and increasing the supply of social and affordable housing including key worker housing.

Well-located housing

To enable more people to have the choice to walk or cycle to their daily needs, housing growth will be directed closer to public transport and services. Higher scale housing (like apartment buildings) will be located in excellent proximity to public transport and services, mid-scale housing (like townhouses and units) will be located in good proximity to public transport and services. The draft Housing Strategy tests actual walkability to services and public transport stops to understand the best locations for higher and mid-scale housing.

Areas which have important biodiversity are protected in the draft Strategy by identifying these areas for lower scale housing. Heritage precincts and neighbourhood character areas which are especially sensitive to housing change have also been identified for lower scale housing.

Good quality housing and amenity

Good design is a critical ingredient for creating homes that are comfortable and neighbourhoods that people enjoy being part of. Design is especially important when it comes to higher density development. Much of the resistance to density amongst the community is due to the fact that there are too many examples of it being done badly. When done well, however, higher density development often creates safe, vibrant places that foster social connection, and a greater sense of community. Such transformations can also attract investment and improvements to public services and infrastructure.

As Banyule's population ages, there is also growing demand for housing that accommodates the community’s changing needs. Through the draft Housing Strategy, Banyule seeks to make the development of accessible housing a higher priority.

Housing design also plays a crucial role in responding to the challenges of climate change. While existing national building and construction codes have a role to play in this, higher quality and more cost-effective outcomes are often only achieved when these objectives are considered early in the planning stage. Banyule will seek to provide greater guidance to developers earlier on, ensuring sustainability objectives are a priority from the outset.

We will be preparing guidelines on how to achieve good design, aiming to pull together all the principles that must be included in every development, and give clarity on how to achieve good outcomes in different types of housing (e.g. units, townhouses and apartment buildings). We will also run training sessions, both internally and externally, to increase awareness of good design principles and its benefits.

Neighbourhood Character

Neighbourhood character is what visually differentiates one neighbourhood from another and is the measure of local identity. It encompasses the way a neighbourhood looks and feels.

Banyule’s Neighbourhood Character Strategy (2012) has been reviewed in tandem with the Housing Strategy. The aim of this process is to ensure there is a balance between housing growth and diversity, whilst also protecting valued neighbourhood identity.

Vegetation and landscaping are highly important to the Banyule community when talking about neighbourhood character. While acknowledging that Banyule must provide more housing in some areas, this must be carefully balanced with protection and enhancement of vegetation and biodiversity. The Draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy seeks to support enhancement of the urban canopy cover, in line with Banyule’s Urban Forest Strategy (2023).

Banyule will seek to make our neighbourhood character objectives stronger in the Banyule Planning Scheme, through zone schedules, and application of appropriate overlays to protect special neighbourhood character precincts or vegetation and biodiversity.

One of the objectives of the Draft Housing Strategy is to direct a diverse range of housing scale, density, and typologies to appropriate locations. Residential areas across Banyule have been mapped into 4 'Change Areas': minimal, incremental, increased, and substantial change areas.

This is only one objective in the suite of objectives and actions of the Draft Housing Strategy.

To see the type of change proposed for your area, go the draft Housing Strategy page on Shaping Banyule and type in your address.

Neighbourhood character is what visually differentiates one neighbourhood from another and is the measure of a locality’s identify. It is the combination of unique features that make one place different from the next. These features may include vegetation, topography, streetscape, building styles, spacing between buildings and external materials and finishes.

A Neighbourhood Character Strategy provides strategic direction for the preferred neighbourhood character of an area. It does this by recognizing preferred character statements, objectives and design guidelines which new development must consider in its design and landscaping.

A neighbourhood character strategy gets put into the Banyule Planning scheme through neighbourhood character policies and objectives. This draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy also proposes to make neighbourhood character policy stronger than it currently is, by inserting requirements such as setbacks and front fence requirements into residential zone schedules.
A planning scheme amendment is required to achieve these stronger controls – this will be part of the implementation stage, undertaken over the next 2 years.

Banyule has an existing Neighbourhood Character Strategy which was prepared in 2012. Since this time, there have been many changes to planning policy, which means the existing Housing Strategy (2009) and Neighbourhood Character Strategy (2012) no longer align.

A revised Neighbourhood Character Strategy will ensure that future housing growth is balanced with the protection of characteristics that contribute to the preferred character of Banyule’s residential areas.

The Draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy will strengthen Banyule’s position on neighbourhood character by updating information and making sure it is relevant to today’s neighbourhoods. It will also strengthen our position as it works in tandem with the draft Housing Strategy, ensuring there are no conflicts between the two Strategies.

Some of the key changes between the existing Neighbourhood Character Strategy (2012) and this draft Strategy are:

• Minor boundary changes for the inclusion of additional land in the Garden Suburban 6 and Urban Canopy 1 precincts
• Renaming the current Semi Bush and Bush Garden character areas for greater consistency with similar areas across Victoria
• Merging the current Bush Garden (West) and Bush Garden (South) precincts to create a new precinct, Urban Canopy 2
• Additional clarification for different levels of housing change within a precinct in line with the housing change areas identified in the draft Housing Strategy
• Updated preferred character statements, objectives and design guidelines for each precinct.
• Updated neighbourhood character map which excludes land in non-residential areas and the Residential Growth Zone.

The draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy applies to all residential land in the Neighbourhood Residential Zone, General Residential Zone, Rural Conservation Zone, Low Density Residential Zone and Precinct 5 of the Activity Centre Zone as identified in the Banyule Planning Scheme. It does not apply to land in the Residential Growth Zone or to land zoned for commercial, industrial or public use purposes. These areas are subject to other planning policies and strategies to protect character.

The draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy does not seek to prevent housing growth and development as Banyule is still required by State Planning Policy to provide adequate housing supply and diversity in residential areas. The draft Strategy does however provide a framework to ensure future development in Banyule’s residential areas appropriately responds to the preferred neighbourhood character as defined by the draft Strategy.

Within each of the neighbourhood character precincts, there will be differing levels of housing change that will contribute to the overall preferred character of the area. A different set of character objectives and design guidelines are provided for each change area to ensure new development aligns with the level of housing change that is expected in that area of the precinct.

Neighbourhood Character Area: In the context of this Draft Strategy, ‘Neighbourhood Character Areas’ refers to the classifications given to describe the unique characteristics that differentiate one neighbourhood from another. These classifications are based on factors like topography, vegetation, street layout, architectural style, and the existing built form.

The draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy identifies five neighbourhood character areas. These are generally in accordance with the neighbourhood character areas of the existing Strategy.

Neighbourhood Character Precinct: Within each character area, there are one or more neighbourhood character precincts, each with their own unique qualities and attributes. Each neighbourhood character precinct has its own set of objectives and design guidelines to provide guidance for future residential development. It’s these objectives and guidelines which go into the Banyule Planning Scheme and new developments are assessed against them.

The draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy identifies 14 neighbourhood character precincts. These have been updated to provide further guidance in line with the draft Housing Strategy.

Type your address into the map on the draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy page on Shaping Banyule to find out which precinct applies to your property.

Public consultation on the draft Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategies will conclude on 26 May 2024.

You can provide feedback by completing the survey on Shaping Banyule.

To find out more about the draft Strategies, register to attend an information session, come to a pop-up engagement event or schedule a meeting with the Team.

All details can be found on the Shaping Banyule website: https://shaping.banyule.vic.gov.au/HNC.

Your feedback will help us understand if we have accurately reflected what you told us in the first two stages of engagement. We will consider your feedback when we refine the draft Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategies for their final draft.

The final draft documents will be presented to Council to consider for adoption in July 2024.

A summary of the feedback received will be made available on the Shaping Banyule.