Answering: How long do heritage planning approvals really take across Melbourne’s inner-east councils?
Estimated reading time: 9 min read
Every Victorian council has the same statutory deadline: 60 days to decide a planning permit, set under the Planning and Environment Act 1987. For a heritage home in Melbourne’s inner east, the elapsed time is almost always longer, because the clock stops the moment the council asks for further information or advertises your application to neighbours. Across Boroondara, Stonnington, Yarra and Bayside, a substantial heritage renovation commonly runs several months from lodgement to decision rather than the bare 60 days. The waiting is the worst part of a heritage approval, so here is what each inner-east council really takes, and what makes one project clear in months while another stalls. These ranges are indicative, drawn from BY Projects Architecture’s experience across more than 200 permit applications and the public reality of how heritage-dense councils work, not a promise on your file.
If your application is “with council” right now, the hardest part is the not-knowing. You have a builder waiting, a budget holding its breath, and a home you cannot picture living in until someone signs the permit. Silence from a planning department feels like bad news even when it is simply process.
It usually is just process. Understanding why elapsed time runs past 60 days, and where each council tends to sit, turns an anxious wait into a manageable one. Here is the honest picture.
Key Insights
- The 60-day decision period is a statutory clock under the Planning and Environment Act 1987, not a guaranteed turnaround.
- The clock stops when the council requests further information and during the public-notice (advertising) period, which is why elapsed time exceeds 60 days.
- For heritage homes, a heritage-advisor referral is an extra step the inner-east councils routinely run, adding time.
- A substantial heritage renovation in Boroondara, Stonnington, Yarra or Bayside commonly takes several months from lodgement to decision.
| Inner-east council | Statutory clock | Realistic range, substantial heritage reno (indicative) | What tends to stretch it |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Boroondara | 60 statutory days | Several months; complex heritage commonly 4–6+ months | Dense heritage overlays (Hawthorn, Kew, Camberwell), heritage-advisor referral, neighbour objections |
| City of Stonnington | 60 statutory days | Several months; prestige-suburb projects often 4–6+ months | Toorak/Armadale/Malvern significance, high application volumes, advertising in sensitive streetscapes |
| City of Yarra | 60 statutory days | Several months; precinct work commonly 3–6 months | Tight Fitzroy/Richmond/Collingwood precincts, strong third-party interest, further-information requests |
| City of Bayside | 60 statutory days | Several months; coastal heritage often 3–5 months | Brighton/Hampton significance, neighbourhood-character concerns, possible dual overlays |
Keep reading for full details below.
Table of Contents
- The 60-Day Clock, and Why It Stops
- Council by Council: What the Inner-East Really Takes
- What Moves the Timeline, Up or Down
- Reading Your Own Application While It Is With Council
The 60-Day Clock, and Why It Stops
The number everyone quotes is 60 days. Under the Planning and Environment Act 1987, the council, as the responsible authority, is allowed 60 statutory days to decide a standard planning application. If it has not decided within that period, you gain the right to ask the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to review the council’s failure to decide. That is where the 60 figure comes from, and it is real.
What makes elapsed time run longer is that the statutory clock pauses. The two pauses that matter most for a heritage home are these:
- A request for further information. The council can ask for more detail within 28 days of lodgement, and the clock effectively stops until you supply what is requested. If your response is judged incomplete, it does not simply restart, the council can write again for what is still outstanding.
- Public notice (advertising). Most heritage applications must be advertised to adjoining owners and occupiers, who then have at least 14 days to lodge a submission, and the council cannot decide until that notice period has run. Heritage applications are rarely exempt from this step.
Add a heritage-advisor referral, which the inner-east councils run as a matter of course on significant buildings, and you can see why a project that is “within the 60 days” on paper has been with council for four or five months on the calendar. The statutory clock measures working time on a complete application; your wait measures everything in between. Across more than 200 permit applications, much of our work is simply removing the reasons for those pauses before they happen.
Council by Council: What the Inner-East Really Takes
The statutory clock is identical everywhere; the real-world experience is not. Each inner-east council carries a different heritage workload, a different volume of applications, and a different temperament in its streetscapes. The ranges below are indicative, based on our experience and the public reality that heritage-dense councils commonly run several months. For the official record on how long applications actually take, Planning Victoria publishes council-level data through its Planning Permit Activity Reporting System.
- City of Boroondara. Hawthorn, Kew and Camberwell sit under extensive heritage overlays, and heritage matters are taken seriously here. A substantial period-home renovation commonly runs several months, and complex cases often four to six months or more, particularly where a heritage-advisor referral and neighbour objections both come into play.
- City of Stonnington. Toorak, Armadale and Malvern carry some of Melbourne’s most significant residential heritage, alongside high application volumes. Prestige-suburb projects frequently sit in the four-to-six-month-plus band, with advertising in sensitive streetscapes a common source of submissions.
- City of Yarra. Fitzroy, Richmond and Collingwood are tight, much-loved heritage precincts where third-party interest is strong. Precinct work commonly takes three to six months, with further-information requests a frequent early step.
- City of Bayside. Brighton and Hampton combine heritage significance with strong neighbourhood-character expectations, and sometimes a coastal consideration as well. Coastal heritage projects often run three to five months, with character concerns the usual point of negotiation.
Our practice has navigated 59 heritage approvals across more than ten Victorian councils, including Boroondara, Stonnington, Yarra and Bayside. The pattern is consistent: the council that knows your kind of building well is rigorous, and rigour takes time, but a clean, well-argued application moves through that rigour faster than a contested one.
What Moves the Timeline, Up or Down
Two homes in the same street, lodged the same week, can finish months apart. The variables are largely within your control before lodgement, and largely outside it afterwards, which is exactly why the preparation matters so much.
What stretches the timeline
- An incomplete application that triggers a request for further information, pausing the clock.
- Designs that touch protected fabric or principal elevations, inviting heritage-advisor concern.
- Neighbour objections during advertising, especially in tight precincts.
- Individually significant or Register-listed buildings, which carry a higher bar.
- A refusal or unworkable conditions, which can push the matter to VCAT and add months.
What shortens it
- A complete, well-documented application that pre-empts the council’s likely questions.
- A design that reads sympathetically in the streetscape, reducing objection risk.
- Early, candid engagement with the council’s heritage expectations.
- Resolving the heritage and neighbour concerns on the drawing board, before they become submissions.
This is where full-cycle architectural oversight earns its keep. The fastest approvals are rarely the simplest projects; they are the ones where the difficult questions were answered before lodgement. Anticipating what a heritage advisor or an adjoining owner will raise, and resolving it in the design, is the single most reliable way to keep elapsed time closer to the statutory clock than to the Tribunal.
Reading Your Own Application While It Is With Council
If your permit is with council now, you can read the signals rather than sit in the dark. A request for further information, while frustrating, is normal and means your file is being assessed, not ignored. The advertising period is fixed and visible; once it closes, a decision can follow. A referral to the heritage advisor is routine for a significant building, not a red flag.
What you are usually waiting on is not a verdict but a sequence: information complete, notice given, submissions in, referral returned, decision made. Each step has a rhythm, and knowing where your application sits in that sequence is the difference between dread and patience. If the 60 statutory days have genuinely elapsed on a complete application, you do have a right to seek VCAT review, but that is a considered step, not a reflex, because a clean decision from the council is almost always faster than a Tribunal hearing.
Across 35-plus years and more than 200 permit applications, the projects that wait the best are the ones that were prepared the best. The work to keep an approval moving happens long before it reaches the planner’s desk.
Closing
The 60-day clock is real, but it measures complete-application working time, not your wait, which is why inner-east heritage approvals commonly run several months once further-information requests, advertising and heritage referrals are counted. Boroondara, Stonnington, Yarra and Bayside each take heritage seriously, and that rigour is precisely what protects the value of your home. For how we map an approval timeline before design begins, see our process page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: If the law says 60 days, why is my heritage application taking longer?
A: The 60 days is a statutory clock measuring working time on a complete application, not a guaranteed turnaround. It stops when the council requests further information and during the public-notice period, and a heritage-advisor referral adds another step. Those pauses are why elapsed time on a substantial inner-east heritage renovation commonly runs to several months rather than 60 days.
Q: Which inner-east council is fastest for heritage approvals?
A: There is no single answer, because the statutory clock is identical across Boroondara, Stonnington, Yarra and Bayside, and the variation comes from each council’s heritage workload, application volume and the complexity of your specific property. Planning Victoria publishes council-level decision-time data through its Planning Permit Activity Reporting System. In practice, a clean, well-argued application moves faster in any council than a contested one.
Q: Can I do anything to speed up an approval that is already with council?
A: The biggest gains are made before lodgement, by submitting a complete application that pre-empts the council’s questions. Once your file is with council, respond to any further-information request promptly and completely, since an incomplete response keeps the clock paused. After the advertising period closes and any referral returns, a decision can follow.
Q: What happens if the 60 days pass with no decision?
A: If the 60 statutory days have genuinely elapsed on a complete application, you have a right to apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for review of the council’s failure to decide. It is a legitimate path, but it adds time and cost, so it is a considered step rather than a reflex. A clean decision from the council is almost always quicker than a Tribunal hearing.
Want to Learn More?
With more than 35 years designing within Melbourne’s heritage suburbs, BY Projects Architecture treats the approval timeline as something to manage, not endure. The clearer the application at lodgement, the shorter the wait at the other end.
Citations
- “Chapter 3: Planning permits” — Planning Victoria. Confirms the council, as responsible authority, has a 60-day statutory period to decide a standard application, that notice is given to affected parties with at least 14 days to make a submission, and that review rights at VCAT apply. https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/guides/guide-to-victorias-planning-system/planning-permits
- “Planning permit activity reporting” — Planning Victoria. The official Planning Permit Activity Reporting System (PPARS), which collects standardised, council-level planning permit data including the median number of days between lodgement and decision. https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/council-resources/planning-permit-activity-reporting
- “Planning Permits” — City of Boroondara. Confirms the council may request further information within 28 days of lodgement and that heritage grading of a building affects how a planning permit application is assessed. https://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/planning-building/planning-and-heritage/planning/planning-permits
- “VicSmart permits” — Planning Victoria. Sets out the 10-business-day VicSmart fast track for a narrow set of eligible works, which substantial heritage renovations almost never qualify for, leaving them on the standard 60-day path. https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/guides/all-guides/vicsmart-permits
These are the official Victorian sources that govern heritage approval timing: the Planning and Environment Act 1987 framework set out in Planning Victoria’s guide, the council-level PPARS data, and the City of Boroondara’s published planning-permit process.
With 35-plus years and more than 200 permit applications across councils including Boroondara, Stonnington, Yarra and Bayside, our work is to turn an anxious wait into a sequenced, readable plan, so the time your home spends with council is time well spent, not time lost.
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