Answering: How long does planning approval really take in Melbourne?
Estimated reading time: 9 min read
The statutory decision period for a standard Victorian planning permit is 60 days. That number is real, and it is also not the calendar time most Melbourne applicants live through. The 60 days measure council’s assessment window under the Planning and Environment Act, not the journey from first lodgement to a permit you can build from. The clock pauses and can restart. Notice, referrals, further-information requests, a Notice of Decision, and any VCAT step all sit in real weeks that never appear inside that 60. Eligible VicSmart applications are different: council must decide those in 10 business days, but only if the whole application stays inside VicSmart classes. Across more than 200 permit applications and work in 10-plus Victorian councils, BY Projects Architecture’s experience is that the useful question is which triggers your site actually has, not which number you were quoted.
If you have been told it takes 60 days and you are now in month four, nothing improper has necessarily happened. The clock you were given and the calendar on the wall are two different instruments. We are not town planners, lawyers or building surveyors. An architect who speaks council fluently still cannot make the Act run faster than it does.
Key Insights
- A standard planning permit in Victoria runs on a 60-day statutory decision period. That is council assessment time, not end-to-end calendar time from lodgement to permit issue.
- The clock can restart when council makes a valid further-information request within the prescribed window, and it pauses for notice. Referral authorities generally have their own response period.
- Eligible VicSmart applications must be decided in 10 business days, with no third-party notice or review. One non-VicSmart trigger takes the whole application off that path.
- A Heritage Overlay, a sloping or flood-affected site, or a multi-dwelling proposal changes which documents council needs before it can assess you. That is usually where months appear, not in the 60-day figure itself. Past approvals are a record, not a guarantee of your timeline.
| What you are counting | Standard planning permit | VicSmart (if wholly eligible) | After a Notice of Decision or VCAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statutory decision window | 60 days | 10 business days | Tribunal timetable, not the council clock |
| Public notice | Usually required; submission period at least 14 days after last notice | No third-party notice | Objector review has its own filing window |
| Further information | A valid request can restart the prescribed period | Request generally must be made within 5 business days; then a further 10 to decide | Depends on the proceeding |
| Who decides | Your council as responsible authority | Council officer against pre-set VicSmart criteria | VCAT if a review is lodged |
| Typical use on a substantial Melbourne project | Most extensions, new dwellings, overlay work | Defined minor classes only | When the council path is refused, conditioned unworkably, or not decided in time |
Keep reading for full details below.
Table of Contents
- Why 60 days is not 60 calendar days
- What actually adds the months
- When VicSmart is 10 business days, and when it is not
- How to plan a date you can hold
Why 60 days is not 60 calendar days
Victoria’s planning system gives the responsible authority, almost always your council, a prescribed period to decide a standard planning permit application. Planning Victoria’s guide to the planning permit process sets that period at 60 days. Applicants collapse four separate events into that one number, and that is where the frustration starts.
Lodgement is when the application is received. A decision is when council resolves to grant, refuse, or issue a Notice of Decision. Permit issue is later, and where objections exist it cannot happen until the objector review window has closed without a review application. Endorsement of condition plans is later still. It is often endorsement, not the decision, that shapes when construction documentation is safe to complete and when a building permit can issue. Treating those four as a single countdown is why a project can be “inside the rules” and still months older than the owner expected.
The most common interruption is a request for further information. If council makes a valid request within the prescribed window, the statutory period can restart once satisfactory information is provided. If that letter arrives in week three and your side takes four weeks to answer it, seven calendar weeks have passed and the assessment clock has effectively begun again. Nothing underhand has occurred. Your project is simply two months older. If the request is made outside that early window, the clock does not get that reset, which is a different problem: you can still be waiting, but the failure-to-determine rights at VCAT may already be running.
The Planning Amendment (Better Decisions Made Faster) Act 2026 has received Royal Assent, but its full operational effect is not the current clock. Do not plan a 2026 lodgement as if those streams were already running.
What actually adds the months
Three mechanisms account for most of the gap between the statutory figure and lived time, and none of them require council to be “slow” in the ordinary sense.
Notice is the first. Where an application must be advertised, the public submission closing date must be at least 14 days after the last notice is given. Preparing, serving and completing notice consumes real weeks before that 14 days even starts. The statutory clock pauses between council requiring notice and the last notice being given. That pause is lawful. It is also invisible in any “60 days from lodgement” conversation.
Referral is the second. Where the planning scheme requires referral to an authority, a water corporation, a roads authority, Melbourne Water, or a similar body, that authority has its own response period, commonly 28 days. Their clock runs on their workload. A flood overlay, a main-road interface or a servicing question can put your file in that queue whether or not the architecture is resolved.
Objections are the third and the most variable. If objections are received and council still supports the proposal, it does not issue a permit. It issues a Notice of Decision, which gives objectors a defined window to seek review at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Only after that window closes without a review can the permit issue. If someone does apply for review, you are on a tribunal timetable. VCAT is a legitimate path. It is not a shortcut, and it is not a failure of the design by default. The cheaper move is still to answer neighbour and overlay questions in the drawings before they become a proceeding.
A Heritage Overlay does not automatically add a fixed number of months. It changes what council needs before it can assess you: often a heritage impact statement, demolition justification, streetscape or sightline material, and a level of documentation a non-overlay extension never requires. Every one of those documents either exists at lodgement or becomes a further-information request. The practice has a historical record of 59-plus heritage approvals with a 98 per cent success rate. That is a record of past applications. It is not a promise that your application will be decided in a particular number of weeks, or decided in your favour.
Difficult sites behave the same way. Slope, flooding, vegetation, contamination, access and neighbouring amenity all expand the information pack. The time is in completeness, not in a suburb name.
What you can control, before anyone lodges:
- Whether the application is likely to require notice, and what that does to the sequence.
- Which referral triggers apply, identified at feasibility rather than after the file is in.
- How fast your side can answer a further-information request. Three days is not the same as three weeks.
- Whether you are lodging a VicSmart class, a standard application, or a hybrid that will be forced onto the standard path.
When VicSmart is 10 business days, and when it is not
VicSmart is the fast pathway in Victoria’s planning system. Planning Victoria is direct: if the application qualifies, council must decide it within 10 business days, against pre-set criteria, with no third-party notice or review. That is a genuine saving when you are actually eligible.
Eligibility is all or nothing. If any trigger on the application is not a VicSmart trigger, the whole application leaves the fast path. A Heritage Overlay does not automatically disqualify VicSmart, because certain defined minor works in a Heritage Overlay can be VicSmart classes: for example some external alterations to a non-contributory building, some fences, outbuildings and domestic services, each with its own criteria. A substantial extension, a new dwelling that is not in an eligible class, or a proposal that also trips a flood, parking or overlay control that is not VicSmart, will not stay on the 10-day path.
If council requests further information on a VicSmart file within five business days, it then has a further 10 business days to decide from a satisfactory response. Incomplete VicSmart lodgements lose the very speed they were meant to buy. That is why we treat VicSmart as a classification question at the start of a feasibility conversation, not as a promise attached to a sketch.
How to plan a date you can hold
Plan backwards from when you want to be building, not forwards from when you feel ready to start. Design sits in front of planning, and while some documentation can progress in parallel, hardening the full construction set before planning is decided carries the risk of paying for it twice. A building permit, issued by a registered building surveyor under the Building Act 1993, sits behind it, and a building permit cannot be issued until any required planning permit is in place. Tender sits behind that. If planning is likely to consume several months of calendar time once notice and information requests are included, a build starting next winter needed its planning application lodged this year.
Assume the statutory minimum only for VicSmart-eligible minor works. For everything else, assume you must survive notice, a possible further-information loop, and a possible Notice of Decision window. Then work to beat that by lodging complete. Complete lodgement material is the single largest lever you control. It does not create a guaranteed date. It removes the most common reason clocks restart.
The practice has handled 200-plus permit applications across 10-plus Victorian councils over 35-plus years. That depth is useful for reading triggers early. It is not a warranty that your file will match a past one.
A 45-minute feasibility session with Barbara is the right first instrument when you need a date you can hold. She sketches while you talk. The point is to map the pathway before you spend a documentation budget on a sequence that cannot meet the family calendar.
Closing
The 60-day statutory period is a genuine benchmark for council assessment. It is not a promise about your project. VicSmart is 10 business days when, and only when, the whole application qualifies. The months in between are mostly notice, referrals, incomplete information and, sometimes, VCAT. Plan for the pathway your site actually has, prepare the pack properly, and treat anyone’s past approval time as history. To see how we sequence planning before design hardens, visit our process page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How long does planning approval really take in Melbourne?
A: The statutory decision period for a standard permit is 60 days, and for eligible VicSmart applications it is 10 business days. Lived calendar time is usually longer on a standard file because notice, referrals, further-information requests and a Notice of Decision window all consume weeks the 60-day figure does not include. There is no honest single Melbourne average that we can cite from an official source. The time that matters is the time your triggers produce.
Q: Does a request for further information restart the clock?
A: Often, yes. Where council makes a valid request within the prescribed early window, the prescribed period can restart once satisfactory information is provided. A request made outside that window does not give council the same reset, and failure-to-determine rights at VCAT may already be in play. Complete lodgement is the practical control.
Q: Can a heritage property use VicSmart?
A: Sometimes, for defined minor works listed as VicSmart classes in a Heritage Overlay. A substantial extension of a contributory or individually significant home almost never stays on that path. Eligibility applies to the whole application. One non-VicSmart trigger takes you back to the standard process.
Q: What is the first step if I need a realistic date?
A: A site-specific feasibility read: zone, overlays, notice, referral, and whether any of the works are truly VicSmart. Book a feasibility session rather than attaching a builder to a statutory number.
Want to Learn More?
BY Projects Architecture is an experienced Victorian practice for substantial, complex work. Heritage depth is a proof source, not the limit of the work. If you want a timeline that belongs to your site, we will sketch it with you.
Citations
- Guide to Victoria’s planning system, Chapter 3: Planning permits, Planning Victoria. Sets out the planning permit process, including the statutory decision period and the stages between lodgement and permit issue. https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/guides/guide-to-victorias-planning-system/planning-permits
- VicSmart permits, Planning Victoria. Confirms the 10-business-day VicSmart decision timeframe, the all-or-nothing eligibility, and the further-information rule. https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/guides/all-guides/vicsmart-permits
- Applying for a planning permit, Planning Victoria. Explains notice, referral and what happens when objections are received. https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/planning-approvals/planning-enquiries-and-requests/applying-for-a-planning-permit
- Local heritage protection, Planning Victoria. Explains how a Heritage Overlay operates and that local heritage places are listed in the overlay under Clause 43.01. https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/guides/all-guides/local-heritage-protection
- Planning Amendment (Better Decisions Made Faster) Act 2026, legislation.vic.gov.au. The as-made Act, cited for Royal Assent and for the fact that its streams are not yet the current clock. https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/as-made/acts/planning-amendment-better-decisions-made-faster-act-2026
These are the Victorian government sources for the clocks.
