Digital Planning Grants Program April 2023
Application Guidelines
Contents
1. Background and Context_____________________________________________________________________2 1.1. Program Overview____________________________________________________________________________2 2. Eligibility___________________________________________________________________________________2 2.1. Who can apply?______________________________________________________________________________2 2.2. What type of projects are eligible for funding?______________________________________________________2 2.3. What type of projects are not eligible for funding?___________________________________________________3 3. Application Process_________________________________________________________________________3 3.1. What are the funding details?___________________________________________________________________3 3.2. Key dates___________________________________________________________________________________3 3.3. What information is required in an application?_____________________________________________________3 3.3.1. Application Outline________________________________________________________________________4 3.3.2. Supporting Documentation_________________________________________________________________4 3.4. What are the assessment criteria?_______________________________________________________________4 3.5. How are applications submitted?________________________________________________________________5 3.6. What are the funding conditions?________________________________________________________________5 3.7. What is the notification process?_________________________________________________________________5 4. Additional Information_______________________________________________________________________5 4.1. Requests for further information_________________________________________________________________5 4.2. Privacy_____________________________________________________________________________________6 4.3. Application checklist__________________________________________________________________________6
1. Background and Context
The Digital Planning Grants program is designed to support councils to uplift and integrate land use planning systems and services. The Digital Grants Program is an initiative of the Department’s Planning Reform program.
The Digital Grants Program will provide grants to local councils to assist with improving digital planning services and capability. The funding aims to support more efficient service delivery in local government, to improve the planning experience for community and better integrate planning services with State government.
1.1. Program Overview
The Digital Planning Grants program has been informed by a Digital Planning Survey conducted in late 2021 and
completed by all 79 Victorian councils. This provided a baseline of the current IT landscape, digital maturity, opportunities and barriers to enhancing online planning services in Victoria. All councils shared insights on digital strategy, systems and tools, data and digital capabilities to inform opportunities to improve customer experience and reduce delays in the planning system. Integration between systems, both within council and with other organisations, is a common challenge and councils rely on manual data entry and duplicated efforts to record, store and share planning data.
Recent council engagement through Better Planning Approvals and Regional Planning Hub in 2022 has validated opportunities for digital planning uplift in local government and identified potential planning projects where digital grants funding may deliver efficiencies.
2. Eligibility
2.1. Who can apply?
Applications are sought from Victorian councils who seek to develop digital solutions to make it easier to provide Planning related guidance, information, and services.
Applications for collaborative solutions and shared outcomes delivering benefit across multiple councils will be highly regarded.
2.2. What type of projects are eligible for funding?
Grants will be available for projects across three priority areas:
1 Assistance to councils to implement the Planning Permit Activity Reporting system (PPARS upgrade), integrate with State government planning services or improve the quality of planning data and reporting on the performance of the planning system
2 Implementation support for Better Planning Approvals digital tools to maximise adoption of best practice permit processes
3 Local planning tools or solutions aimed at improving the digital planning experience for council planners and communities
The following types of projects are considered eligible for funding:
Standardisation of online planning application forms and application data
Digitisation of manual planning processes such as planning permit advertising, public notices and/or mail outs
Digitisation of planning related community consultation and engagement
Improving online planning guidance materials to make the planning system more accessible to applicants and
Procurement of new data to support planning including 3D models, lidar capture of existing buildings, mesh blocks, vegetation overlays or other relevant data sets
Procurement of 3D modelling and visualisation services to support local planning activities
Integration of planning systems and data with other systems within council or State government.
In developing applications, councils should consider the extent to which the project will uplift digital planning services and contribute to improving a connected ecosystem for planning in Victoria.
2.3. What type of projects are not eligible for funding?
Activities that will not be eligible for funding through the program include:
Council projects that have already commenced
Resources or staff salaries unless directly related to implementation of digital planning improvements
Recurrent operating costs, for example existing technology licencing, support costs or upgrades
Any activities establishing expectations of ongoing funding
Activities located outside the State of Victoria
Activities approved for funding under other grant programs
Political campaigning or advocacy activities for political parties
3. Application Process
3.1. What are the funding details?
Funding will be awarded through an expression of interest process where all applications will be considered on merit and evaluated against the program assessment criteria in Section 3.4 of this document.
Applicant contributions to the projects will be considered and can be financial or in-kind. Participant councils are expected to have the capacity and commitment to fund the ongoing implementation beyond delivery.
Grants up to $300,000 will be considered.
3.2. Key dates
The Digital Planning Grants program timelines are noted in the Table 1 below.
Table 1: Digital planning grants program timelines
Activity Date
Applications open Wednesday 5 April 2023
Applications close Friday 5 May 2023
Applicants notified By email by Friday 19 May 2023
Activities commence Once Funding Agreement is signed by all parties
Activities completed and acquittal reports submitted In accordance with the Funding Agreement
3.3. What information is required in an application?
Applications will consist of two components which must be provided for an application to be deemed eligible for assessment.
3.3.1. Application Outline An application must include:
A detailed proposal of the project scope and what it will deliver
Details of the funding request including value of any co-funding or in-kind contribution
Success measures to demonstrate the benefits and uplift in digital planning services within council 3.3.2. Supporting Documentation
Applicants are required to provide the following documentation to support their application and demonstrate viability of project implementation:
A delivery plan including a schedule of project milestones, resources and costs to deliver
Details of project governance and management to monitor end to end project delivery
Confirmation of any current support provided by other Victorian government grants programs
3.4. What are the assessment criteria?
All applications will be checked to make sure that the applicant and their proposed project/activity are eligible for funding.
If eligible, applications will be assessed against the program criteria and weightings outlined in Table 2 below:
Table 2: Digital planning grants assessment criteria
Digital Planning Grants Assessment Criteria
Criteria Description Weighting
Digital maturity uplift Degree to which proposal will enhance digital maturity across key dimensions assessed during Digital Planning Survey:
1. IT landscape 2. Data and reporting 3. Digital capability 4. Strategic Direction
20%
Benefit Extent and scale of local benefits including:
- assessment against costs
- process efficiency through digitisation of manual planning processes and
- improving community experience
30%
system (PPARS upgrade), integrate with State government planning services or improve the quality of planning data and reporting on the performance of the planning system
- Implementation support for Better Planning Approvals digital tools to maximise adoption of best practice permit processes
- Local planning tools or solutions aimed at improving the digital planning experience for council planners and communities
Capacity & capability to deliver
Degree to which the proposal demonstrates the applicant’s capacity and ability to deliver a high-quality project outcomes. Applicants should include a project plan that outlines:
- Project governance arrangements - Resources to manage project
- Stakeholder engagement/management
20%
3.5. How are applications submitted?
The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) will be supporting the administration of this program. All applications must be lodged via the DEECA Grants Online portal, accessible from the Digital Planning Grants program website. DEECA will then share all applications with the Department of Transport and Planning for assessment and contracting.
If you require technical assistance submitting your application online, email [email protected].
No hard copy applications will be accepted. Late and incomplete applications will not be considered. Applications submitted to the attention of:
Program Manager - Digital Planning Grants Department of Transport and Planning [email protected]
Applications must include the required documents outlined in Section 3.3 of this document. Supporting documents must be in an accessible file type such as Word, Excel, PDF or JPEG. The maximum file size for each file is 10MB.
You will receive an email confirmation when you submit an application online. Please quote the date of this email confirmation in all communications with the Department relating to your application.
3.6. What are the funding conditions?
Successful applicants must enter into a funding agreement with the Department of Transport & Planning to deliver the project services. The Victorian Common Funding Agreement is used for funding agreements with not-for-profit
organisations and Local Government Authorities. It is recommended that applicants review the terms and conditions before applying. Information about the Victorian Common Funding Agreement is available online at
https://www.vic.gov.au/victorian-common-funding-agreement#vcfa-forms.
3.7. What is the notification process?
Successful and unsuccessful applicants will be notified by email after the assessment process is completed. All decisions are final and are not subject to further review. Unsuccessful applicants can ask for feedback on their application.
4. Additional Information
4.1. Requests for further information
The Digital Planning team may contact applicants to seek further clarification of information submitted. Some applicants may be requested to submit further information following initial assessment of applications by the Department.
Further information regarding the program is available on the Digital Planning Grants program web page. If you require additional information please email the program manager
4.2. Privacy
The Department of Transport and Planning and Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action are committed to protecting your privacy. We collect and handle any personal information about you or a third party in your application, for the purpose of administering your application and information the public of successful applications.
In order to administer your application effectively, we may need to disclose your personal information with others within the Victorian public service for the purpose of assessment, authorisation and reporting. If you include personal
information in your application, please ensure the contents of this privacy statement are understood.
You can find the DTP privacy policy at https://dtp.vic.gov.au/privacyYou can find the DEECA privacy policy at https://www.deeca.vic.gov.au/privacy
4.3. Application checklist
It is recommended that applicants read these guidelines and the information about the program at Digital Planning Grants program web page before submitting an application. The following checklist can be used to support your application:
Read these guidelines carefully?
Check your organisation is eligible for this grant funding?
Check your project or activity is eligible for funding?
Check that you will comply with all relevant laws and regulations in delivery of your activity?
Prepare the appropriate supporting documents?