I’ve put together a draft guide on the council planning process. Please don’t hold me to the complete accuracy of it. I’ve just done it to try to explain the quite complex process when residents object to a planning application.
Note that many times council refuses an application, yet the application is approved by VCAT, examples:
Each time council defends its decision to refuse at VCAT, it costs around $10K in legal fees.
Overshadowing
The September Equinox is the measure that is used in Victoria (ResCode) to determine overshadowing impacts in residential areas. It is used as it represents the ‘middle point’, between the worst case shadow scenario (winter) and the best case shadow scenario (summer).