By Alesha Capone
WYNDHAM City Council’s CEO has welcomed new planning reforms for bottle shops, as the amount of liquor outlets in the area continues to grow.
The State Government has announced packaged liquor bottle shops will now have to apply for planning approval, under new permit rules.
Premier Ted Baillieu said councils would “now have an active role in deciding the location of new bottle shops” and be able to assess the “cumulative impact of bottle shops in a local community”.
Under the previous government, no planning permit was required for an outlet which only sold packaged liquor for consumption elsewhere.
Wyndham’s CEO Kerry Thompson said the changes would benefit the area, where more than 100 permanent liquor licences have been issued since 2005. More than 30 of these are classified as a “packaged liquor licence”, with the most of the outlets centred in Werribee and Hoppers Crossing.
“Wyndham City is pleased the new guidelines established by the State Government will ensure applications for new packaged liquor outlets in the municipality are assessed in terms of their cumulative impact,” Ms Thompson said.
“Given the high number of packaged liquor outlets that have opened in the municipality in recent years and the likelihood of further applications as Wyndham continues to grow, the issue of cumulative impact will be significant.
“Taking into account cumulative impacts when considering planning permits may help to prevent clusters of packaged liquor outlets in certain areas of Wyndham, which will benefit residents who live near proposed bottleshop sites.”
