A coastal town has land zoned for housing that has sat largely undeveloped for more than a decade, held up by planning rules that landowners find slow and costly.
The local council now wants to strip back those controls so building can move ahead. Residents and landowners have until early next week to lodge a formal response.
Image: Lakes Entrance, Victoria, by Alex Proimos via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
What the council is changing
East Gippsland Shire Council has prepared Planning Scheme Amendment C161egip. An amendment is a formal change to the local planning scheme, which is the rulebook governing what can be built and how land can be used. This one targets the Lakes Entrance Northern Growth Area, known as LENGA.
The precinct was rezoned for residential housing in 2014, as reported by the Lakes Post. Development has since stalled under complicated planning mechanisms.
The amendment would support residential land supply over the next 30 years. It aims to take the planning burden off individual property owners by having the council handle background assessments itself.
Two planning layers would be removed from land inside the growth area: the Development Contributions Plan Overlay, which sets developer levies for local infrastructure, and the Native Vegetation Precinct Plan, which maps and manages vegetation across a defined area.
Schedule 8 of the Development Plan Overlay would also be simplified and removed from land already developed outside the LENGA boundary. An Environmental Audit Overlay would be applied to 135 Palmers Road after site assessments identified potential contamination risks. That overlay requires environmental assessment before certain uses can begin.
Minor administrative updates to the regional planning scheme are included as well.
Why the land has sat idle
Lakes Entrance sits on the coast at the entrance to the Gippsland Lakes. It is East Gippsland's largest tourist centre and one of the shire's larger towns. Bairnsdale is the largest town in East Gippsland by population and business size. The East Gippsland Shire Council's own community plan states this. The growth area covers roughly 1,500 lots on high ground above the town.
The council says the precinct has been examined for environmental matters, bushfire risk and cultural heritage, including within the Gunaikurnai cultural landscape. Stormwater management is a focus, to protect local catchments.
East Gippsland carries a state housing target of 11,000 new dwellings by 2051 under Plan for Victoria. The council expects much of that to land in Lakes Entrance, where zoned land is already available.
Chris Stephenson, the council's general manager of projects and planning, said the changes would deliver long-overdue clarity for the community. "We've seen the pace of development over the years, and these proposed changes peel back some of the complex planning controls, which will allow landowners to develop much more easily," he said.
The overlay system is the practical reason for the delay. Each overlay adds its own assessment, its own evidence requirements and its own approval step. For a single landowner preparing one lot, that work can cost more than the lot is worth, which is why parcels have stayed empty despite being zoned for housing since 2014.
How to make a submission
The amendment is on public exhibition. A submission is a formal written response to a proposed planning change, and it becomes part of the record that decision makers consider.
Submissions close at close of business on Monday 21 September 2026. Anyone lodging one must reference amendment number C161egip, give their full name, address and contact details, and set out their position on the proposal.
Responses can be sent by email. They can also be posted to Strategic Planning, East Gippsland Shire Council, PO Box 1618, Bairnsdale VIC 3875, or delivered in person at any council service centre.
Full project documentation is available through the Your Say East Gippsland portal. The council's own site, East Gippsland Shire Council, carries contact details and service centre locations.
Landowners inside the precinct have the most direct interest, because the amendment determines what they must resolve before subdividing or building. Residents in established parts of town also have a stake, since new housing brings demand for roads, drainage and community facilities.
Anyone preparing a response should be specific. Submissions that identify a particular lot, road or drainage line carry more weight than general statements about growth.
Where the process stands
At its meeting on 19 May 2026, the council voted to progress the amendment and authorised its chief executive officer, Fiona Weigall, to submit the planning scheme documentation to the Victorian Minister for Planning for the exhibition and authorisation phase.
That step is part of the standard planning process. Authorisation allows an amendment to be placed on exhibition and later considered for approval. It is a procedural milestone, not an endorsement of any individual development application.
After submissions close, the council will consider the responses it receives. The amendment then continues through the state process, where a panel or the minister may consider unresolved issues. No decision date has been published.
For anyone weighing the change, the practical questions are straightforward: whether the remaining controls are enough to manage drainage, vegetation and contamination risk, and whether removing overlays will actually bring lots to market at prices local buyers can meet.
Lakes Entrance and the wider region
The growth area sits within the East Gippsland local government area, which covers a long stretch of coast and forest from around Bairnsdale eastwards. Lakes Entrance is one of its larger towns and the most likely to absorb new residential supply.
Housing supply matters in a region where tourism, fishing and services all rely on workers being able to live near their jobs. If zoned land stays dormant, those workers compete for a limited pool of existing homes.
The precinct's scale gives the amendment weight beyond one town. Around 1,500 lots could eventually come forward, which would reshape demand for schools, health services and road maintenance across the district.
The result will also be read closely by other councils holding zoned land they cannot activate. A simpler overlay structure in one growth area gives them a working example to point to.
Readers comparing this region with others across the state can use the Victoria local guide to see how localities are profiled.
Works Cited
"Jumpstarting Local Development." Lakes Post, 12 Sept. 2026, https://lakespost.com.au/21169/jumpstarting-local-development/.
East Gippsland Shire Council. "East Gippsland Shire Council." East Gippsland Shire Council, n.d., https://www.eastgippsland.vic.gov.au/.
Proimos, Alex. "Lakes Entrance, Victoria." Wikimedia Commons, n.d., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lakes_Entrance,_Victoria_(6758720673).jpg.