You heard from us last month regarding the implementation of our new planning and development application service standards. As foreshadowed, we are pleased to share that we have achieved our target of >90% of applications meeting the service standards for the March period. During the month we:

• Processed 945 applications; 98% according to the timeframes outlined in our new service standards for planning and development applications;
• Achieved 100% compliance for 1 application category (Design approvals: Concept and functional reviews); and
• Successfully reduced overdue applications, with a focus on applications within our Stormwater Management Strategy (SWMS) and design approvals (Concept and functional review) categories.

Read the March 2025 service performance update on the Melbourne Water website. We are now well positioned to meet the established service standard timeframes on an ongoing basis.

This result is built on our committed customer improvement program developed specifically to support housing supply outcomes in Greater Melbourne, articulated in our Housing Roadmap. We are continuing to deliver improvements:

• Through enhanced development application triage processes for more complex application types. This ensures that we are able to more efficiently assess each application and advise of any outstanding requirements earlier, enabling a reduction in processing delays.
• Our self-certification initiative is in development, with key elements of the program now scoped out and building on models utilitsed by Melbourne Retail Water Agencies to inform staged commencement from July.
• We are in the final stages of establishing new guidance on development within flood affected areas via our Afflux Practice Note - Floodplain Development Impact Assessment. This has been established to support Melbourne Water’s evaluation of the potential impacts of new development on flood levels.

We look forward to working with the development sector on these and our broader UPD improvement programs.