Resources:Email Templates
Requesting a councillor to put forward a Notice of Motion
What is a Notice of Motion (NoM)? A NoM is submitted by an individual councillor when they intend to move a motion at a future council meeting. It is a formal mechanism by which a proposed council resolution is debated and voted on by the full council at that meeting. For a motion to proceed to debate, a motion must be seconded by an additional councillor. If a majority of councillors vote for the motion, it will become an official, minuted position of the council.
Where has this worked? Cr Karen Sherry of Hume City Council submitted a NoM to be included in the agenda of a council meeting on 10 August 2026 (NOM26/22). The NoM was added to the agenda, and on the 10 August council meeting was seconded by Cr John Haddad. The motion was unanimously accepted by council, and became an official position. The recommendation to be fulfilled by Hume City council writing to state government to request a moratorium on new data centre approvals (and expansions) specifically until a Parliamentary Joint Select Committee Inquiry is completed.
How is this effective? While a resolved council motion cannot bring about a moratorium by itself, it is a pathway that converts community concern into official government-to-government advocacy. Also, councils having a citable position on a moratorium builds momentum. That makes subsequent councils easier to convince, which was evidenced in the Climate Emergency Declaration campaign.
Email Template
I am writing to request that you put forward a notice of motion for the next scheduled council meeting. The motion should detail that [Council name], by writing to the relevant ministers and premier, calls on the state government to:
- Introduce an immediate moratorium on approvals for new data centres and on existing centre expansion until the following consultative and investigative processes are concluded, and recommendations implemented to protect communities and our environment;
- A Parliamentary Joint Select Committee Inquiry, held into the impacts of data centres on local communities, jobs, economy and environment, water and energy security, and achievement of emissions reduction targets, with recommendations of any inquiry that could permit stronger protections for Victorian communities and our environment to be fully implemented;
- Convene, either as part of inquiry or another means, a joint local and state government taskforce to analyse and report on the full range of implications for local communities, including:
- Energy and water use, and impact on supply and cost to residents.
- Fire and other environmental hazards including noise, air, light, heat and water pollution.
- Requiring companies to pay a bond or fund upfront to cover the costs of preventing and cleaning up environmental and health risks including, fire, explosion, water or soil contamination and e-waste.
- Adequate provision for the e-waste produced.
- Exploring any planning scheme amendments that would allow for stronger environmental (EEC) thresholds and community consultation.
- Exploring compliance mechanisms.
- Support partnerships with Traditional Owners to form part of social licence expectations and ensure compliance with all Treaty obligations.
- Protect residents from rising cost burdens and environmental impact of any data centre expansion, by ensuring energy needs are met through renewable energy, as per the recommendations of the Climate Council’s Paper: ‘Powering the digital economy,’ which sets out the roadmap for a Flexible Contracting Framework for data centres that helps bring additional renewable generation into the market and meet the demand from data centres as they come online.
- The release of the Sustainable Data Centre Action Plan.
- The provision of a clear Social Benefit Framework that ensures immediate (and legacy) benefits are provided to local communities, which should be backdated to include communities already impacted by data centres to deliver measurable benefits to host communities.
[Name]
Request for Publicly Available Planning Documents
Victorian planning law requires certain planning documents to be made available for public inspection. This includes planning permits and plans forming part of a permit, as well as other documents at various stages of the planning process.
The template below can be used to request planning documents directly from the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) or the relevant local council without lodging a Freedom of Information (FOI) request in the first instance. This may be particularly useful where limited documentation for an approved or fast-tracked development is available online.
Where possible, request electronic copies by email or download link. If the authority considers that particular documents cannot be provided through the public-access provisions of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic), the template asks it to identify those documents and explain the applicable access process or fee before you proceed.
Who should I send this email request to?
Send the request to the responsible authority for the planning application or permit. For many major Victorian data centre developments, the Minister for Planning is the responsible authority, meaning the request should be directed to the Department of Transport and Planning rather than the local council. Other data centre applications may still be administered by the relevant council.
You can check whether an application is being handled by the Minister by searching the Ministerial Permits Register. If it does not appear there, check the relevant council’s planning register or the planning permit itself. The wiki also houses information on proposed data centre sites, and their associated permits - check whether the site you are concerned about is present in either Data Centres in Greater Melbourne or Data Centres in Regional Victoria.
If the Minister for Planning is the responsible authority: send your request to DTP Development Assessment at development.assessment@transport.vic.gov.au. You can also submit a planning enquiry through Planning Victoria’s online enquiry portal.
Email Template
Dear [Planning Team / Responsible Authority],
I am seeking access to planning documents relating to:
Property: [address] Planning permit/application: [permit or application number, if known] Proposal: [brief description, if useful]
I understand that the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic) requires various planning documents to be made available for public inspection.
Could you please provide access to the following documents, to the extent that they are held and subject to the public availability requirements of the Act:
- the planning permit, including any amended permit;
- all endorsed plans, drawings and other documents forming part of the permit;
- the planning permit application and associated plans, reports and supporting documents;
- any amended or substituted plans or documents associated with the application or permit;
- any relevant assessments, reports or other documents submitted in support of the proposal; and
- the relevant entry in the register of planning permit applications.
I would prefer to receive electronic copies by email or download link where possible.
If electronic copies cannot be provided, please advise how I can access or inspect the relevant documents in accordance with the public availability requirements of the Planning and Environment Act 1987.
If you consider that any of the documents requested above are not subject to those requirements, or that a fee applies to accessing them, please identify which documents this applies to and advise of the relevant access process or fee before proceeding.
This request is for access to documents available under the Planning and Environment Act 1987, rather than a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 at this stage.
Thank you for your assistance.
Kind regards,
[Name]