Plantation Management – Regulation and Planning
Victoria
Legislation
Summary – Victoria legislation
The Planning and Environment Act 1987 has provided for a streamlined approach to the plantation development approval process in Victoria.
Provided plantation development is to be on cleared land in land zoned farming or rural activity, and is not of an area greater than the area specified in a schedule to the zone in the Planning Scheme, the main requirement under the Act is to notify Local Councils under the Code of Forest Practices. This streamlined approach provides certainty for investors in regard to the plantation development approval process.
No specific right to harvest (or ‘harvest guarantee’) legislation exists in Victoria as its use is contained in parts of other statutory documents. The native vegetation provisions of the Planning Scheme contain an exemption from requiring a permit to ‘clear’ native vegetation if it is a planted forest. There may be a risk to harvest if extensive natural regeneration has occurred in a plantation following its establishment. However current regulatory review is seeking to address this issue.
Under the Planning and Environment Act, timber haulage is singled out for as a road use that may cause excessive damage to roads. This may act as a disincentive to investment in plantation forestry.
Victoria’s Forestry Rights Act allows for the separation and sale of the land, trees and their products, specifically carbon, and provides investors in these products with the confidence that the legislative framework to underpin investment is in place.
