Plan for pokies

By Kath Gannaway
YARRA Ranges Shire is looking to introduce a range of conditions on where gambling machines can operate in the shire.
The shire will place a draft planning scheme amendment on display for public comment this week.
There are currently two venues in the Yarra Valley which operate gambling machines – Healesville RSL with 50 machines and Upper Yarra RSL which currently operates 20 machines, but was granted approval by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for an increase when their current expansion works are completed.
The Terminus Hotel confirmed they would be looking for planning permission from the shire to install 45 machines in conjunction with a re-development of the site to include resort-style accommodation and restaurants.
The amended policy would apply to permit applications to install new machines and would guide the decisions around where machines could be located, as well as the impact they might have on local communities.
Yarra Ranges councillor Jeanette McRae said the amendment would require a full assessment of existing socio-economic conditions and the projected impact of new gaming machines.
She said while the council had a strong policy of opposition to allowing more gambling machines in the shire they believed there were existing opportunities for them to be used in a recreational sense with a corresponding need to minimise the negative impact on communities.
“Currently, a planning permit is required for gaming machines but there is no guidance in the Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme on how discretion can be exercised within the allowable areas,” she said.
“A net figure of around $35 million is lost across the shire annually.”
She said the amendment aimed to provide clear guidelines for future applications.
“We have our social planning policy on gambling, but that does not have any legal basis – this will give us something which gives us that legal basis to work on.
The draft amendment proposes that gaming machines would be located outside residential zones. It seeks to avoid concentrating a number of venues in one area and specifies that gaming venues must be more than 400 metres from shops selling goods which cater for day-to-day needs of communities, education, health and welfare facilities, a railway station or transport interchange or another gaming venue.
They would also be required to be more than 1.5 kilometres from an area identified as being socio-economically disadvantaged.
Other considerations would include amenity impact, design aspects and hours of operation with a requirement that a gambling venue not operate more than 16 hours a day.
Cr McRae said changes to State Government policy on gambling required local councils to provide for the ability for new gaming facilities.
“We feel very strongly however that these need to be located in appropriate areas and when we receive these applications we need to have the ability to assess them at a local level, not just at a shire-wide level,” she said.
The draft amendment is available for inspection at the shire’s Community Links at Healesville, Yarra Junction and Lilydale and at www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/planning/publicinspection. Submissions must be made in writing.