The City of Casey has prepared a new draft of its Community Local Law, shaped by the feedback of more than 1,000 residents during an extensive community engagement program undertaken in April and May.
At the Council Meeting on Tuesday 19 August, Councillors unanimously endorsed the draft Casey Community Local Law 2025 for public exhibition, and the community is now invited to have their say before the final version is developed.
City of Casey Mayor Cr Stefan Koomen said a key focus of the review of the Local Law has been on genuine community consultation, ensuring our community's voices are considered throughout the process.
'The current Local Law was adopted in 2023, before Councillors returned to Casey. When we were elected, one of the first things we heard loud and clear was the community's concern about elements of it, particularly around private land use. That's why this Council committed to a thorough review, to make sure the new draft is fair, practical and reflects the expectations of our community,' Cr Koomen said.
'We completed an extensive community-wide consultation with an online survey, pop-ups in each of Casey's wards, community workshops and had hundreds of valuable conversations across the community.
'I want to say a big thank you to the more than 1,000 community members who took the time to tell us what matters most to you about the Local Law. We've listened closely and made sure this review reflects the feedback we heard.'
Councils are required to have rules in place to help keep people safe, make sure public spaces are clean and welcoming, support local businesses and to respond to poor behaviour when it impacts others in our community.
The updated draft reflects Council's commitment to ensuring our local laws remain relevant, balanced and reflect the values and priorities of our community. We also undertook a benchmarking process to compare our local laws to those of other councils to ensure they are fair and in line with the sector.
'We're proposing some important changes that directly respond to community feedback,' Cr Kooman said.
'While we've worked hard to ensure the new Local Law reflects our whole community, we know Casey is a large and diverse municipality. What works in one part of our city might not suit another, so we've struck a balance between flexibility for residents and protecting the overall look, feel and safety of our neighbourhoods.'
Some of the key proposed changes to the Local Law include:
- Vehicles and machinery: removal of clause that required a permit to repair, service, dismantle or store unregistered vehicles on private land. Instead, these activities will now be managed through clauses that relate to unsightly land.
- Recreational vehicles: removed permit requirement for using recreational vehicles on private land and instead have introduced noise-based time restrictions in line with EPA regulations.
- Temporary dwellings: update to the clause to allow temporary dwellings to be used on private land for up to two consecutive months without needing a permit. This is an increase from the previous limit of 14 days in any 60-day period.
- Shipping containers: update to the clause to exempt shipping containers from needing a permit if they're already approved under the Casey Planning Scheme or have a Building Permit. Also added clearer definitions for different types of residential areas relating to shipping containers.
- New definitions: some new definitions have been added for terms including "adversely", "amenity" and "detrimental" to make it clearer, more consistent and easier to understand for Council and the community.
- Domestic waste: rules around 24-hour timeframes for bins and the ban on hard rubbish fossicking have been removed. A new law has been added to help prevent people from dumping household waste in public bins.
Cr Koomen encouraged everyone to take a look at the draft, see what's changed and tell us what you think.
'Community feedback has been key in shaping the draft Local Law. We encourage everyone to review it while it's on exhibition and share their views to help us get it right. Your feedback will help us make any final adjustments before the new Local Law is adopted,' he said.
The community can view the draft and share feedback at conversations.casey.vic.gov.au/llreview_25 until Thursday 18 September 2025.
Those who make a submission can choose to speak at a Council Meeting expected to be in October.
After the public exhibition period, Council will review all community feedback before presenting the final draft for endorsement in December, with the new Local Law set to take effect in early 2026.
