Residents in three North East shires will soon no longer have to visit a council office to find out what building projects their neighbours are undertaking.
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Victorian privacy laws have stymied requests to view planning applications, with Wodonga and Wangaratta offering full online applications online but with details such as the applicant's name redacted.
Applications in Indigo, Alpine and Towong shires, however, can only be viewed in full by fronting up to customer service centres which can be a headache for those in remote areas, but the three councils say they are working towards offering online access to redacted documents.
By contrast, across the border Albury Council offers an online development application tracker revealing full details.
Towong councillor Aaron Scales said while it might be frustrating for some people, in most cases people tended to know what their neighbours were doing.
"That's the bonus of living in small communities," Cr Scales said. "People know what's happening.
"When it's a public notice, it gets sent out to adjoining land owners, but as far as planning applications being available in a redacted form - as Wodonga and Wangaratta have - I tend to agree with that," Cr Scales said.
"Do we really need to know who the applicant is? Isn't it just about what it is? So I think information should be redacted to a degree. Some people, just because they don't like someone, might object and carry on about an application.
"Wangaratta and Wodonga, while they're ahead in the fact that they have them available online now, we're working towards that but I do agree that there certainly should be certain aspects redacted to protect people's privacy and to prevent vexatious objections.
"The reality of it is if something happens in Dartmouth, for example, they go and talk to the person concerned and say, 'hey, what are you doing?' or information gets around by word of mouth."
Another Towong Shire Council spokesman said new planning application software was at design and test stage and expected it to be rolled out this year.
At this point applications can be viewed at council offices at Corryong or Tallangatta.
The spokesman said the council could email application information to residents on request, but it "would take time to redact information".
Alpine Shire Council said it could not email application details now, but would make them available online through its website by mid-2024. Applications can be viewed at its Bright office.
An Indigo Shire Council spokesperson said planning applications were available for viewing only at the shire's customer service centres at Yackandandah, Rutherglen, Chiltern and Beechworth.
"Council will be launching a new planning and building platform in the coming months which will enable applications to be viewed online," the spokesperson said.
