The Tribunal answered five preliminary questions of law in favour of the applicant landowner, disregarding its non-compliance with cl 36.01-3 of the Frankston Planning Scheme and allowing the review to proceed to a merits hearing. The Tribunal held that the cl 36.01-3 requirement for written consent of the public land manager applies even where land is privately owned and no public land manager exists, and that a responsible authority must refuse a permit in those circumstances; however, VCAT may exercise its broad power under Schedule 1 cl 62 of the VCAT Act to disregard such non-compliance. Critically, a proposed but unadopted planning scheme amendment (here, one that would rezone the land and prohibit the proposed use) is not a relevant consideration at the disregard stage — its weight is properly assessed at the substantive merits hearing. Consent from a former public land manager does not satisfy cl 36.01-3.
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