2017-02-20
Ms DUNN (Eastern Metropolitan) — My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Planning. The City of Yarra has a large number of properties where residents and businesses have installed rooftop solar panels, usually voluntarily on older buildings, with a commitment to reducing their carbon footprint. This action is supported by the Yarra council and also state government policies. It is also encouraged in the Yarra planning scheme.
However, with many new applications for taller buildings in recent years, smaller buildings are finding their solar panels are being overshadowed, with no protection in the planning scheme, as various Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal cases and decisions have demonstrated. This contradiction in planning policy serves to undermine the efforts of citizens to take their own steps to address climate change, at their own significant cost, instead of supporting and encouraging, and it needs to be addressed.
The action I seek is that the Minister for Planning investigate ways to resolve the contradiction in state planning policy to ensure protection for existing solar panels from overshadowing and to support citizens who are taking action to reduce their own energy footprints, as encouraged by state and local policies.