Are you wanting to start or grow your business in Murrindindi Shire? Council’s ‘Better Approvals’ system has just kicked off – and can help you do just that!
A partnership between Small Business Victoria (SBV) and the Department of Jobs Precincts and Region, the Better Approvals Project has transformed the way Council manages permit applications to provide a more streamlined and customer-friendly approach.
Council’s Mayor Sandice McAulay said the Project has both reduced the time it takes for business owners to obtain a regulatory permit for their business and makes it easier for the applicant to understand the process and steps involved.
‘Over 50 Councils across Victoria have taken part in this state-wide initiative and the results are great – for customers, councils and for economic development’, said Cr McAulay.
‘Council staff and representatives from SBV, came together over the course of about eight weeks to work on the Project and implement the changes. We interviewed business owners to help us understand what’s working and what’s not working when it comes to applying for new permits. The insights we gathered from these interviews really helped us to shape and re-design the permit approval process to make it easier for small business owners to start their business or make changes to their existing operations.
‘The new, simplified process now provides a single point of contact with someone in our Business Partnerships team, who you can chat to about your application, before you’ve submitted it, in a pre-application meeting and throughout the approvals process. We’ve also included a really helpful self-assessment tool on our website that you can fill out to help define what permits you are likely to need’, Cr McAulay added.
‘Previously, applicants were dealing with multiple different departments within Council, including planning, building, local laws and environmental health. This often meant the process wasn’t very streamlined and the steps required weren’t necessarily clear to the applicant from the outset.
‘This new approach and the single point of contact create a much better customer experience and help alleviate a number of issues, in particular the issue of an applicant needing to re-submit an application with further information or detail that’s needed but wasn’t identified at the beginning of the process. And by working with small business owners from the start we can save them time and money by identifying and working through any issues from the outset.
