Contaminated land in Victoria: the overlay, the register and the audit
Contamination is invisible at an open for inspection, and in Victoria the official record of it is spread across a planning overlay, an EPA register and the environmental audit system. Here is what each one tells you, how to search them free, and what they cannot tell you.
The Environmental Audit Overlay
The EAO is a planning scheme overlay, Clause 45.03. EPA Victoria describes it as the tool used when potentially contaminated land has been identified through a planning process but assessing it up front was too difficult or inappropriate. Potentially contaminated land includes land used for industry or mining, or for storing chemicals, gas, waste or liquid fuel.
The overlay applies whether or not a planning permit is needed. Before a sensitive use such as a home, child care centre, kindergarten or primary school starts on the land, a preliminary risk screen assessment statement must find that an audit is not required, or an environmental audit statement must find the land suitable. Building work for an existing home that does not disturb the soil is exempt.
The Priority Sites Register and the audit system
The EPA Priority Sites Register lists sites with land or groundwater contamination and an active remediation notice. It is published on Victoria Unearthed, alongside completed environmental audits, groundwater contamination maps, historical landfill data and historical business listings.
A preliminary risk screen assessment, or PRSA, is the first step of the audit system. Only an EPA appointed environmental auditor can prepare one, and it ends in one of three outcomes: contamination unlikely and no audit required; contamination likely but no audit required for the proposed use; or contamination likely and an audit required. A PRSA or audit near an address is a record that someone looked, not a finding about your lot.
To check free, search the address on Victoria Unearthed and VicPlan, read EPA's public registers for licensed businesses nearby, and look at council records and historical aerial photos for past uses. An empty result is evidence, never a guarantee.
Common questions
How do I check if land is contaminated in Victoria for free?
Start with Victoria Unearthed, the state map that brings together environmental audits, groundwater contamination maps, historical landfill data, historical business listings and the EPA Priority Sites Register. Then check VicPlan for an Environmental Audit Overlay. Neither is a full site history; they are the official starting points.
What is the EPA Priority Sites Register?
It lists sites with land or groundwater contamination and an active remediation notice from EPA Victoria to manage the risk to people and the environment. Because a site needs an active notice to appear, land with contamination that has no notice is not on it.
What does an Environmental Audit Overlay mean?
The EAO, Clause 45.03, marks land identified through planning as potentially contaminated. Before a sensitive use such as a home, child care centre or primary school starts, or buildings and works for it begin, a preliminary risk screen assessment statement or an environmental audit statement must clear the land for that use.
What is a preliminary risk screen assessment?
A PRSA checks how likely contamination is and whether a full environmental audit is needed for the proposed use. Only an EPA appointed environmental auditor can prepare the statement, and EPA says it can take several weeks or months depending on the size and history of the site. It does not replace an audit.
Will contamination show up in the Section 32 statement?
The Section 32 statement includes zoning and planning information, which is where an Environmental Audit Overlay would appear. It is not a contamination investigation. EPA suggests buyers find out whether a site could be contaminated, and consider a preliminary site investigation where no earlier assessment exists.
Who is responsible for contamination on land I buy?
Under section 39 of the Environment Protection Act 2017, a person who manages or controls contaminated land has a duty to minimise the risks of harm from it, so far as reasonably practicable, even if they did not cause it. That is why checking before you buy matters.