23/08/2026
PLANNING MINISTER SONYA KILKENNY RIDES ROUGHSHOD OVER RESIDENTS
I cannot express how disappointed I was to receive the news early on Friday morning that Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny had already approved the Harry the Hirer Planning Application. Council got wind of this late on Thursday 20 August 2026 and used all available channels to request that the Minister delay any decision until after Council’s Planning Decisions Committee had met on 25 August 2026. This fell on deaf ears.
The Planning Application for Tim Gurner’s planned Harrington Village at the ‘Harry the Hirer Site’ at 81-95 Burnley Street and 26-34 Doonside Street, Richmond, was submitted by the developer via the Development Facilitation Program pathway.
With DFP Planning Applications, City of Yarra is a Referral Authority and is not the ultimate decision maker. These Planning Applications are overseen by the Department of Transport and Planning and the Planning Minister is the Responsible Authority.
On Wednesday 19 August 2026 Council published the agenda for the Planning Decisions Committee that is scheduled for 25 August 2026.
The Minister approved the Application without waiting for Council’s Planning Decisions Committee to pass a resolution on the Planning Application and refer Council’s referral advice to the Department.
For the record, this was not a case of Council dragging its feet, delaying a decision. The Planning Application was submitted to DTP in early April and Council did not receive a copy of the ‘complete’ Planning Application until 23 July 2026. The Department advised that it had to prepare its referral advice by 7 August 2026. It was therefore literally impossible for the Planning Application to be referred to Council’s Planning Decisions Committee.
It should also be noted that Council was well within the 60-day statutory timeframe to for a responsible authority to make a decision on a Planning Permit Application set out in the Planning and Environment Act 1987. The DTP Officer’s report confirms that the decision was made within 47 statutory days.
So, why the great hurry? It seems that as soon as the Council Officer’s report came out a decision was made to bypass Council’s Planning Decisions Committee and the Minister hastily approved the Application.
Council’s Planning Decisions Committee was not the only thing Minister Kilkenny bypassed. The Department of Transport and Planning also bypassed the requirement to notify residents who will be materially affected by this Planning Application.
Council officers advised DTP in writing on two previous occasions that they don’t consider the application to be ‘generally in accordance with’ the Development Plan - in November 2024 when Council officers were invited to provide preliminary comments as part of the pre-application process, and again in April this year when we were made aware of the application having been lodged with DTP.
DTP ignored this advice, providing no public notice to affected residents. That’s right, not a single sign was put up and not one resident received a notification as required under the Planning and Environment Act 1987. I question the legality of this.
Let’s call it as it is. Minister Kilkenny’s approval of this Planning Application without undertaking any public notification completely undermines the statutory requirements set out in the Planning and Environment Act and rides roughshod over residents.
The changes made by Minister Kilkenny with the Development Facilitation Program pathway, includes Clause 53.23 - Significant Residential Development with Affordable Housing) allows DTP to waive any building height or setback requirements of the Planning Scheme. This is the Clause used by developer to bypass requirements set out in Council’s Planning Scheme.
All of this points to the fact that the Labor State government and Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny have thrown out the rule book, and they are ignoring everything that stands in their way.
So, what was the Officer’s assessment of the Planning Application?
The Officer report indicates that the Application is not generally in accordance with the DP masterplan in terms of height, vehicle access, pedestrian walkways and commercial floor space. The is also variation around building setbacks.
One of the key conditions proposed in the Officer report is 'a reduction in building height to comply with the Development Plan'. With the exception of Building C, all Buildings in the Planning Application exceed the Maximum Building Height set in the Development Plan.
The Application does not comply with the requirement to provide 687 car parking spaces under Clause 52.06 – Car Parking. They are proposing to provide just 474 car parking spaces. Barely 68% of parking requirements, where are those remaining cars going to park?
The Officer recommended that Council not support the Planning Application on the following basis:
• The development is substantially not generally in accordance with the Development Plan
• The Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) response has substantial deficiencies;
• The apartments will receive poor internal amenity;
• The development will have an adverse amenity impact on the surrounding public realm;
• The development’s public realm response is deficient.
Key conditions proposed by the Council Officer include:
• A reduction in building height to comply with the Development Plan;
• Removal of vehicle access and loading to Harry’s Lane (except for the Restricted Retail Premises);
• Retention of a significant eucalyptus tree;
• Park Lane widened;
• Full compliance with Clause 58 internal amenity standards; and
• Updated daylight and thermal performance modelling.
Council has not objected to more housing being built, just the terrible outcomes that will come with this development.
Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny ought to be ashamed of herself. I fear that there will be many more of these terrible decisions before the State Election in November. As a community, we will be paying the price for these terrible decisions into the future.
Please reach out to me if you with to discuss this further ([email protected]) or come to my Ward meeting at 6.00-7.30pm on Thursday 27 August 2026 at Richmond Town Hall.
