Community Local Law Amendment 2025

Proposed Amendments to the Wellington Shire Council Community Local Law 2021

A recent review of Wellington Shire Council’s Community Local Law 2021 has highlighted some required amendments to the document.

The amendments are required due to:

• Changes to legislation since the local law was introduced;
• Inconsistency with current legislation;
• Updated terminology and;
• Minor editorial errors.

Many of the proposed amendments are necessary to ensure compliance with other legislation and some amendments aim to correct minor anomalies and improve clarity. The community is welcome to provide feedback for Council’s consideration.

Proposed Changes

• People showing signs of being affected by any intoxicating substance (not just alcohol) can be asked to leave or denied entry to a council facility.
• A clause about which genders can use certain toilets or change rooms has been removed because it conflicts with other laws like the Equal Opportunity Act 2010.
• Vaping has been added to the smoke-free areas section, meaning both vaping and smoking will be banned in any area designated under the Local Law.
• The section on removing doors and gasses when discarding old fridges or similar containers now includes a size limit (0.04 cubic metres or more). This has been included to remove uncertainty about the inclusion of smaller containers.
• The allowed number of cats in residential zones has been corrected from 5 to 2, fixing a previous error.
• The reference to the Recreational Vehicle Strategy has been removed and replaced with the specific address of the area where recreational vehicles (dirt bikes) are permitted.
• A standard about how to determine if a vehicle is abandoned has been removed because it's already clearly defined in state legislation.
• Infringement penalties have been reduced to balance out the rise in penalty unit value and keep fines fair and in line with state penalties.
• All gendered pronouns like ‘he’ or ‘she’ have been updated to inclusive terms like ‘they’ or ‘their’ to ensure the local law applies to everyone.
• Minor formatting adjustments have been made throughout, including updates to forms and notices

How to Have Your Say

Use one of the below options to have your say on the proposed changes to the local law:

1. Complete your feedback with the online form.
2. Upload a file (word document, image, voice recording, video, etc.) via the online form below.
3. Hardcopy, please address your submission to the Chief Executive Officer at Wellington Shire Council, 18 Desailly Street (PO BOX 506), Sale VIC - clearly marked as "COMMUNITY LOCAL LAW AMENDMENT 2025".
4. Provide a submission to customer service at either 156 Grant St, Yarram VIC 3971, or 18 Desailly St, Sale VIC 3850.

All submissions must be made by Thursday 31 July.

Supporting documents

Community Impact Statement

Community Local Law Amendment

Consolidated Version - Community Local Law 2021

Public Notice

Frequently Asked Questions