Council refuses planning approval for 120 residential development in Bright

Alpine Shire Council has knocked back planning approval for a proposed 120 residential dwelling development in Bright. Councillors last week endorsed a recommendation from its planning department to refuse a planning permit sought by Chapel Street Developments for the proposed multi-million dollar project on a 1.9 hectare block of land on the northern side of Toorak Road. There were nine grounds for refusal, including council being required to refuse the permit because referral authority North East Water (NEW) has objected to the application due to insufficient capacity within the existing reticulated sewerage network to service the development, which falls in the Special Water Catchment Supply Area. With NEW's water treatment plant for Bright and Porepunkah currently operating at capacity, subdivision applications proposing more than five lots are being assessed individually, based on available system capability. A proposed $20 million upgrade of the plant - with design scheduled for 2026–27, construction commencing in 2027–28 and commissioning expected in 2028–29 - aims to increase capacity to accommodate more than 1000 new sewer connections for residential growth in Bright and Porepunkah over the next 25 years. Inadequate bushfire mitigation measures, traffic management concerns and a number of other non-compliance planning issues were also cited as grounds for permit refusal. Councillors were told the application's Bushfire Management Statement and Bushfire Management Plan had been reviewed by the CFA and found to inadequately address relevant bushfire planning requirements, including access, water supply, defendable space, vegetation management and other risk mitigation measures. And the Traffic Impact Assessment Report submitted in support of the application had been reviewed by the Department of Transport and Planning and was found to be inadequate to satisfactorily assess the traffic and transport impacts of the proposal, including matters relating to network capacity, trip generation, traffic distribution and peak period assumptions. Under the plan submitted to council, the multi-dwelling residential development is to comprise 10 three-storey building blocks containing 120 dwellings on the residential zoned land, which has a bushfire management overlay (Clause 44.06) under the Alpine Planning Scheme. The 90 two-bedroom and 30 three-bedroom apartments are to be designed with open plan living, kitchen and dining areas and include private open space in the form of a balcony, or an open porch at ground level. Each building is to contain a dedicated entry foyer with stair access, as well as lift access proposed within three of the 10 buildings. The total building area is proposed to cover 4747 square metres - occupying just under a quarter of the site, which will have a central communal courtyard and additional planted areas. The development is to be accessed via two vehicle access points from Toorak Road and there are 180 car parking spaces proposed along the internal road network.

Council refuses planning approval for 120 residential development in Bright

Council refuses planning approval for 120 residential development in Bright

Myrtleford Times, Wednesday, 2 September, 2026

Alpine Observer, Wednesday, 2 September, 2026

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