8 September 2025

Our long term strategy, Plan for Victoria is a plan to guide future growth and change over the next 25 years. We released the plan in February following the most extensive community-led consultation ever undertaken for a strategic plan in Victoria. Now, we’re taking the next step in implementing the plan into Victoria’s planning system.

The Planning Policy Framework (PPF) is a blueprint for Victoria’s planning schemes. It contains policies and provisions that control land use and development. The PPF integrates state, regional and local policy in the one place. Including key elements of Plan for Victoria in the PPF will mean all planning decisions across the state will be strategically guided by the plan.

Amendment VC283 to the Victoria Planning Provisions and all planning schemes has updated the PPF to give effect to Plan for Victoria’s key strategic directions.

Plan for Victoria key inclusions in the PPF

Including an Acknowledgement of Country

Wherever you are in Victoria, you are on the Country of Traditional Owners. For too long, our planning system has not formally acknowledged this.

The Acknowledgement of Country formally recognises that Plan for Victoria’s actions will have direct impacts to Country, and Traditional Owners’ inherent rights to speak and make decisions for Country.

This change recognising Victoria’s Traditional Owners connection to Country and the Government’s commitment to ongoing engagement with Traditional Owners and First Peoples to restore and strengthen their rights in Victoria’s planning scheme.

More information on Acknowledgement of Country can be found at Plan for Victoria.

Including the People's Panel vision for Victoria

Plan for Victoria is guided by a vision statement written by a People’s Panel of Victorians.

We are adding the People's Panel's vision for Victoria to the PPF. Once the vision is included in the PPF, it will guide the direction of all planning activities across the state.

The People’s Panel included 49 Victorians from across the state, who wrote a vision together to reflect the aspirations of today’s and future generations of Victorians.

More information on the People's Panel Vision can be found at Plan for Victoria.

Introducing housing targets

We’re implementing Plan for Victoria’s housing targets into the PPF to make sure we build enough homes in the right places to meet Victoria’s needs.

We want all Victorians to have the choice of a well-designed home at an affordable price and close to daily needs.

In February, after detailed consultation with councils and communities, we announced housing targets for each local council in Victoria. Housing targets are crucial for housing affordability and choice. They ensure we can build enough homes to meet Victoria’s needs.

The housing targets specify how many homes municipalities must provide capacity for in their planning schemes to support Victoria’s future population.

Introducing a tree canopy target for urban areas

Increasing tree canopy cover will make our communities greener, cooler and more liveable.

We are introducing a 30% tree canopy cover target in urban areas across Victoria to help make our urban areas greener, cooler, and more environmentally resilient.

Action 12 of Plan for Victoria is to ‘Protect and enhance our canopy trees’. We are doing this by including Plan for Victoria’s 30% tree canopy target in the PPF. This will broaden how decision makers consider tree canopy when making planning, design and landscaping decisions.

Replacing Plan Melbourne and the regional growth plans

Plan for Victoria has superseded Plan Melbourne as Victoria’s state-wide strategic land use plan. It has also superseded the eight regional growth plans that applied across Victoria.

Strategic land use in Victoria was previously guided by Plan Melbourne and regional growth plans. We have now removed reference to these plans in the PPF.

More information

Find out more at Plan for Victoria.

Page last updated: 09/09/25