Planning Permit Amendment
The Planning Permit Amendment concerns the proposed removal of operational noise conditions from the Planning Permit following changes to Victoria's regulatory framework. Understanding the amendment requires readers to distinguish between the original permit requirements, the proposed amendments and the continuing documentary record.
Why Conditions 23–27 matter
Conditions 23–27 established the original planning permit framework for operational wind turbine noise assessment. The amendment proposed that these conditions be removed following the transfer of responsibility for regulating operational wind turbine noise to EPA Victoria under the later regulatory framework.
The amendment is part of the same governing pathway
This page does not treat the planning permit amendment as a standalone planning event. It is read against the existing Planning Permit, the endorsed Noise Compliance Testing Plan, the NZS 6808:2010 framework, the Documentary Verification methodology, and the Trustee's crystallised record.
Requirement
Identify the permit conditions and endorsed documents that formed the operational noise governance structure.
Transition
Read the proposed amendment against the shift to the Environment Protection Regulations framework.
Record
Compare the amendment pathway with the disclosed administrative, FOI and technical record.
The conditions at the centre of the transition record
The record identifies Conditions 23–27 because they form the planning-permit noise pathway that the proposed amendment concerns.
Operational noise limits
Condition 23 is treated as the central operational noise limit condition linked to NZS 6808:2010.
Compliance testing
Condition 25 connects the NCTP, compliance testing, reporting and review pathway.
Complaint evaluation
Condition 26 concerns complaint evaluation and response procedures within the planning-permit framework.
Noise complaint plan
Condition 27 concerns the Noise Complaint Investigation and Response Plan.
Annex E
Annex E records the amendment and regulatory transition chronology in the Trustee's record.
Why the amendment is significant
The amendment record matters because it concerns the same operational noise conditions and endorsed NCTP framework that are central to the record's verification work.
| Record component | Connection to amendment | Reader pathway |
|---|---|---|
| Planning Permit | Conditions 23–27 established the operational noise governance structure. | Framework |
| NCTP | The endorsed methodology is connected to Conditions 24 and 25. | NCTP page |
| Verification Schedule | The verification method reads mandatory requirements against the disclosed record. | Verification |
| SRAM / Annexes | The Trustee record preserves documentary chronology and cross-agency reliance issues. | Documents |
| Annex E | Records amendment, transition and associated administrative chronology. | Document Library · Agency RecordsOmbudsman ComplaintsProfessional Standards |
Trustee Formal Submission — 25 February 2026
On 25 February 2026, the Trustee lodged a Formal Submission concerning the proposed amendment to Planning Permit PL-SP:05:0461.
Purpose of the submission
The submission was confined to regulatory sequencing, statutory coherence and orderly transition between the planning-permit framework and the later EPA regulatory framework.
It expressly did not allege non-compliance. It requested confirmation concerning formal discharge of the permit-based framework, the existence and verification of the replacement Noise Management Plan pathway, and whether deletion of Conditions 24–27 should be deferred until those matters were clarified.
Submission details
| Document | Formal Submission — Proposed Amendment |
|---|---|
| Date | 25 February 2026 |
| Subject | Proposed amendment to Planning Permit PL-SP:05:0461 |
| Focus | Regulatory sequencing and statutory coherence |
| Position | Administrative record; no allegation of breach |
The page records the transition question, not a finding
Verification question: Does the disclosed documentary record enable readers to verify how the proposed amendment affected the governing planning permit framework and the relationship between the original permit conditions and the later EPA regulatory framework?
The record does not determine whether the amendment should or should not be approved. It records that the proposed removal or alteration of permit-based operational noise conditions must be read alongside the existing documentary record concerning those same conditions, the NCTP pathway, post-construction assessment, auditor material, agency custody and FOI disclosures.
Noise Management Plan, auditor and NCTP revision pathway
Condition 27A requires the endorsed NCTP and Noise Complaints Investigation and Response Plan to be maintained until a Noise Management Plan has been prepared and implemented in accordance with regulation 131E. The consolidated primary-document record allows the underlying NMP transition to be followed chronologically.
The record includes the 18 October 2022 NMP and its Final revision history; the NMP's own statements concerning implementation, EPA review and environmental-auditor responsibilities; EPA's later identification of NMP project 0467385 as a document used in assessing compliance; the auditor-verification request and FOI record; the July 2024 withdrawal of the revised-NCTP secondary-consent application; and later EPA and operator correspondence.
The October 2022 NMP contemplated that its NCTP-related content would be superseded by an updated NCTP. The revised NCTP submitted through the later secondary-consent pathway was subsequently withdrawn before endorsement. The compilation preserves that sequence without determining its legal effect.
Related record pages
The amendment record should be read after the Framework and Verification pages, and alongside the specific evidence pages that explain the noise-compliance pathway.
Framework
The governing hierarchy from permit to standard, NCTP, monitoring, auditor and FOI record.
Verification
The documentary method used to test whether requirements can be independently followed.
NCTP
The endorsed compliance testing plan at the centre of the permit noise pathway.
K15aa
The benchmark evidentiary page for background sound and receiver-group methodology.
SAC
The attended-listening and special audible characteristics record.
FOI Register
The custody and disclosure pathway supporting the administrative record.
Primary documents and further reading
This page is a guide. The detailed record remains in the executed documents and source material.
- Planning Permit PL-SP/05/0461-2
- Planning Permit PL-SP/05/0461/C
- Noise Compliance Testing Plan (NCTP)
- Noise Management Plan (NMP), 18 October 2022
- Noise Management Plan — Primary Document Record, 23 August 2026
- Formal Submission – Proposed Permit Amendment, 25 February 2026
- Annex E – Planning Permit Amendment and Regulatory Transition Record
- Supporting Record and Analytical Memorandum v1.3
- Documentary Verification Schedule
Agency Records
The record includes a public gateway to the documentary records of EPA Victoria, the Department of Transport and Planning, Moorabool Shire Council and the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner. The agency pages identify correspondence, Freedom of Information material and source documents presently published within the record.
Meteorological monitoring facilities — earlier permit, final amended permit and disclosed record
The earlier permit expressly described the authorised wind energy facility as including two permanent meteorological monitoring facilities and associated equipment. The final amended permit issued on 15 May 2026 no longer contains that wording in the permit-allowance description.
The 15 May 2026 amendment history recorded on the final permit describes the amendment as concerning Condition 23, deletion of Conditions 24 to 27 and insertion of Condition 27A for the transition of operational wind-turbine-noise regulation. The published amendment pathway therefore preserves a separate documentary question: whether the change to the meteorological-monitoring-facility wording formed part of the exhibited amendment scope and what reconciliation supported its appearance in the final permit.
Final amended permit
The final amended permit retains the wind-farm description but does not reproduce the earlier express wording concerning two permanent meteorological monitoring facilities.
Its amendment history describes the 15 May 2026 amendment as amending Condition 23, deleting Conditions 24 to 27 and adding Condition 27A so operational wind-turbine noise could be regulated under the Environment Protection Regulations 2021.
Observed removal and Council response
On 12 February 2025 the Beneficiary emailed Council while the asserted third Elaine meteorological mast was being removed, recording that it was “currently being pulled down, today”. On 20 February Council replied that it understood from LLWF that a temporary meteorological mast had recently been decommissioned and that no planning permit was required to remove it. Follow-up correspondence on 21 and 24 February sought the separate authorising basis for the mast's earlier presence and duration.
The published copies redact only the Beneficiary's email address; the remaining correspondence is preserved.
Formal authorisation search — Elaine meteorological monitoring facility
Moorabool Shire Council FOI decision SR.139279 records a refined request for any formal approval, consent, authorisation or endorsement issued or recorded by Council in relation to the establishment or operation of the Elaine Meteorological Monitoring Facility under Planning Permit PL-SP/05/0461-2.
The decision records that Council searched electronic files, drives and databases within Community Planning & Development, with the Special Projects Support Officer and Special Projects Lead spending a combined 10 hours searching. Council identified correspondence, but recorded that those documents fell outside the refined FOI scope. Its decision states that no documents meeting the terms of the request were identified.
Administrative clarification and reconciliation record
Following issue of the amended permit, the Trustee developed a dated administrative clarification pathway concerning Transitional Condition 27A, the relationship between the publicly exhibited amendment material and the final permit instrument, the responsible-authority wording, the meteorological monitoring facility wording and the documentary treatment of the October 2022 Noise Management Plan.
The correspondence was confined to administrative clarification and record purposes. It did not seek enforcement action, review of the Department's decision or another administrative outcome.
| Date | Administrative record | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 7 April 2026 | The Trustee recorded the Department's earlier reliance position and sought clarification as to whether that position was maintained after receipt of the Supporting Record and Annex material. | Open notice |
| 15 May 2026 | The Department issued the determination correspondence and amended permit material, identifying James Landy as the contact for questions. | Open correspondence |
| 18 May 2026 | The Trustee issued the Notice — Request for Administrative Clarification and Reconciliation concerning Transitional Condition 27A and the differences between the exhibited amendment and final permit instrument. | Open notice |
| 26 May 2026 | A status enquiry sought only updated information or an indicative timeframe. | Open complete thread |
| 26 June 2026 | The Trustee recorded that no acknowledgement or substantive response had been received and advised that it would proceed on the administrative record then available, while remaining open to later clarification. | Open final update |
| 12 July 2026 | The Department was advised that the Permit Amendment and Noise Management Plan public-reference pages had been published for information only. No response or action was requested. | Open correspondence |
| 10 August 2026 | The Trustee wrote to the Minister for Planning seeking a substantive response to the outstanding administrative matters, including the basis upon which compliance with Condition 23(a) had been regarded as demonstrated or satisfied and the documentary basis for DTP's reliance position. | See complaint record |
| 18 August 2026 | A follow-up sought acknowledgement of the 10 August correspondence. | See complaint record |
| 24 August 2026 | The 14-day period afforded from 10 August expired. The Trustee records that no acknowledgement or substantive response had been received from the Minister or DTP addressing the matters raised. | See complaint record |
| 25 August 2026 | The Trustee lodged a formal complaint with the Victorian Ombudsman concerning DTP's administration of the Ministerial Planning Permit, the documentary foundation for its stated NZS 6808:2010 compliance position and the 2026 permit amendment. | Open Ombudsman complaint |
Questions preserved by the record
- How Transitional Condition 27A was reconciled with the Noise Management Plan framework.
- Whether changes to the responsible-authority wording formed part of the exhibited amendment scope.
- Whether changes to the meteorological monitoring facility wording formed part of the exhibited scope.
- Whether a comparison version, assessment memorandum, delegate brief or other reconciliation material was prepared.
OPEN NOTICE — reasons and contemporaneous decision-making record requested
On 9 September 2026, the Trustee issued an OPEN NOTICE concerning the Ministerial decision of 15 May 2026 to amend Planning Permit PL-SP/05/0461. The Notice follows the earlier submission and administrative-clarification pathway recorded on this page and seeks the reasons and contemporaneous Ministerial decision-making record before the Trustee determines whether any application to the Supreme Court of Victoria is necessary or appropriate.
What the Notice seeks
The Notice asks whether a written statement of reasons was prepared or adopted and seeks identification or provision of the contemporaneous material placed before the Minister, including any decision brief, assessment, submissions, legal or statutory analysis, technical material, recommendations and other material relied upon in making the 15 May decision.
It also seeks reconciliation of identified differences between the exhibited amendment material and the final permit instrument, including Condition 27A and the responsible-authority and meteorological-monitoring wording issues already preserved in this record.
Departmental response — later the same day
The Department of Transport and Planning acknowledged the Trustee's 9 September correspondence and the previous related correspondence. DTP stated that “The Department is currently considering the material provided.”
DTP further stated that it did “not anticipate the Department will be in a position to provide you with a response within the next four weeks” and that no further follow-up was required in the meantime unless new information arose.
The response is recorded as an acknowledgement and procedural update. It does not answer the substantive questions in the OPEN NOTICE or provide the requested reasons or contemporaneous Ministerial decision-making record.
Separate Mortlake proceeding — procedural context only
The Trustee's 9 September Notice was issued against the contemporaneous background of a separate Supreme Court of Victoria judicial-review proceeding concerning another Victorian wind-farm planning decision: Mortlake Community Alliance Inc v Minister for Planning & Anor, S ECI 2026 05772, filed 28 August 2026.
That proceeding concerns a different project, different planning permit, different factual circumstances and separately pleaded legal grounds. Nothing in that proceeding establishes any fact, legal error or entitlement to relief concerning the Lal Lal Wind Farm.
Its relevance to this page is procedural only: the separate proceeding includes an application for an extension of time and pleads, among the circumstances relied upon, that the alleged error was not apparent until Ministerial reasons were produced and that those reasons were significantly delayed. The Mortlake originating motion itself is not published on this page.
DTP FOI request — PL-SP/05/0461-3 decision record
On 11 September 2026, while the Trustee's 9 September OPEN NOTICE remained awaiting substantive response, the Trustee made a formal request to the Department of Transport and Planning under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) for the documentary record underlying the assessment and determination of amendment PL-SP/05/0461-3.
The request seeks the final assessment and recommendation, the material provided to the decision-maker, the decision and authority record, DTP's substantive treatment of the Trustee's pre-determination submissions, the documentary basis for the amendment of Condition 23 and deletion of Conditions 24–27, and the development and approval of Condition 27A and other substantive differences between the exhibited amendment and the permit ultimately determined.
It separately seeks identified records concerning meteorological monitoring facilities within the Elaine section of the Lal Lal Wind Farm, including relevant secondary-consent material and any reconciliation of those records during determination of PL-SP/05/0461-3.
Victorian Ombudsman complaint — DTP planning-permit administration
Following repeated requests for administrative clarification and a final 14-day opportunity afforded to the Minister for Planning from 10 August 2026, the Trustee lodged a formal complaint with the Victorian Ombudsman on 25 August 2026.
The complaint concerns DTP's administration of Planning Permit PL-SP/05/0461, including the documentary foundation for DTP's stated position that submitted post-construction assessments demonstrated compliance with NZS 6808:2010, DTP's handling of later documentary and FOI material bearing upon that foundation, the Ministerial responsibilities preserved by the permit, and DTP's administration of the 2026 amendment under section 97J.
The complaint also asks the Ombudsman to examine the administrative record supporting the final amendment, including Condition 27A and identified differences between the publicly exhibited proposal and the final permit instrument.