I’ve been told my property is ‘susceptible to landslides’, and an interim Erosion Management Overlay (EMO) has been placed on it. What do I really need to know?
If you own one of the 33,091 properties across the Mornington Peninsula that have had the interim EMO7 applied to your land in January 2026, or one of the 3,340 newly identified properties across the Yarra Ranges Shire Council to have interim EMO3 or interim EMO4 applied to your land in December 2025, here is how it will affect you.
First things first
An Erosion Management Overlay (EMO) is a type of planning control that is applied to land to protect areas prone to erosion, landslip, debris flow and other land degradation. The aim of this tool is to minimise land disturbance and prevent unsafe development (including buildings and earthworks) in these areas. Largely, the effect of an EMO is to require proposed earthworks and proposed development to be assessed and signed off by a qualified geotechnical engineer (and for this assessment to be peer-reviewed by a further geotechnical engineer) at the planning permit application stage.
In the preceding 12 months, two Victorian local governments have introduced interim EMOs:
- Yarra Ranges Shire Council has introduced the interim EMO3 & EMO4 as an update on mapping that it prepared an adopted in the 1990s. Its interim EMO3 has been applied to land identified with landslip susceptibility. Its interim EMO4 has been applied to land identified with debris flow susceptibility.[1]
- Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has introduced the interim EMO7 to land within the Shire that has been identified as being highly susceptible to landslides.
Landslides in Victoria
Victoria has many areas prone to landslides. The Victorian State Emergency Service considers landslides to be regular occurrences within Victoria.[2]
Recent severe weather events (post bushfires or because of flash flooding) have resulted in large-scale landslide events with over 180 landslides experienced along the length of the Great Ocean Road in 2016, and over 190 landslides within the Grampians National Park in 2011. In November 2022 and January 2025, a more localised landslide occurred in the Mornington Peninsula Shire suburb of McCrae.
Despite this, there is no State or Federal body responsible for assessing landslide risk, responding to landslide events or managing the cumulative risk of landslides. Most landslide risk assessments completed in Victoria have been commissioned by local government. This is because local government, by operation of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Act), are “responsible” for erosion within the bounds of their municipalities.
In the case of McCrae, the Board of Inquiry into the McCrae landslide (BOI) concluded that a burst water main owned by South East Water was the cause of the McCrae landslide. It found the burst water main released approximately 40 million litres of water (the equivalent of 16 Olympic swimming pools) into the escarpment above where the landslip occurred, over an approximate five-month period. This total inundation of the escarpment caused the soil at the top of the escarpment that was sitting on the granitic bedrock beneath to separate from it, and the land to slide down the escarpment.
So, while an active EMO over this part of McCrae would not have done anything to prevent the McCrae landslide, the learnings of the BOI are that a Shire-wide geology, slope and landslide susceptibility study across the entire municipality is required.[3]
How come I wasn’t given any notice of the EMO before it was applied to my property?
The BOI recommended an interim EMO schedule be implemented urgently to land that has been identified as highly susceptible to landslides within the Mornington Peninsula Shire (Recommendation # 27). Land within the Shire that is considered to be ‘highly susceptible to landslides’ was identified in desktop assessment work undertaken in the Landslide Susceptibility Assessment, Stage 2, Mornington Peninsula Shire, Victoria (Cardno Lane Piper, 2012) (2012 Cardno Report).[4]
The Minister for Planning used special powers available to her under the Act to apply these interim EMOs to private properties without the usual public exhibition process. This was based on an urgent need to apply the EMO to landslide-susceptible areas to ensure landslide risk can be appropriately managed under the planning scheme. Urgently applying the EMO without a public exhibition process was a key recommendation from the BOI (Recommendation # 28).
Similar rationale was relied upon in the case of Yarra Ranges Shire.
These controls are described as ‘interim’. When will they expire?
The Mornington Peninsula Shire interim EMO7 will expire on 7 January 2027, initially. It is likely to be extended prior to this. Best estimates at this stage are that a municipal-wide landslide susceptibility assessment and subsequent planning scheme amendment proposing permanent EMO controls is likely two to four years away.
The Yarra Ranges Shire Council interim EMO3 and interim EMO4 will expire on 7 October 2027 or until permanent controls are finalised.
For both municipalities, property owners and residents will be given notice and afforded the opportunity to make a submission on any future proposed permanent EMOs which will eventually replace the interim EMOs.
I am not planning to do any developments in the future. How will this amendment affect me?
It shouldn’t. If you’re not planning to undertake any new development or works on your property (including removing vegetation), you do not need to take any action if the interim EMO is applied to your land.
If you change your mind and do decide you wish to carry out any works while the interim EMO applies to your land (like earthworks or vegetation removal) you will need to check if a planning permit is required for these works. This is discussed below.
Will the imposition of an interim EMO affect my property value?
Planning controls for landslides have been implemented across several local government areas in Victoria. There is no direct evidence to suggest the implementation of an EMO or subsequent amendments has had any impact on property value. However, an EMO may impact the development potential of affected properties because it requires proposed development to be designed to minimise landslide risk to life and property.
How will this affect my insurance?
Most home insurance policies exclude landslide, unless it is triggered by a storm. Homeowners should review their individual Product Disclosure Statement and contact their insurance provider directly to understand what their insurance covers and if the imposition of an interim EMO will increase their insurance premium.
I am in the Mornington Peninsula Shire. I do not agree that my land is in an area susceptible to landslides. How can I challenge the application of the interim EMO7?
The 2012 Cardno Report used LIDAR data to calculate the slope-angle on a 2m-by-2m grid across the entire Shire. Slope-angle was a key input in determining the grading (high, medium, or low) of landslide susceptibility. Because the slope-angle has been calculated at such a fine-grain scale, the mapping has picked up many small, localised slopes and other man-made structures and earthworks.
If your property is affected by a small, localised area of ‘red’ landslide susceptibility, and is now included in the interim EMO7, it is quite possible it may be removed from EMO7 because of Stage 2 of Council’s planned update to its landslide planning controls.
The Shire is aware of some anomalies in the mapping used for the interim Erosion Management Overlay, for example, retaining walls and other minor earthworks with an artificially steep slope have been picked up as being highly susceptible to landslides.
The Shire is working to remove these anomalies as a matter of priority and will then ask the Minister for Planning to revise the EMO7 to reflect the refined mapping. In the interim – Council will be supporting residents by waiving application and enquiry fees where EMO7 is the sole permit trigger and further geotechnical analysis and/or permit conditions are not required to address the underlying risk.[5]
Please contact the authors of this article if this applies to you.
What does the Mornington Peninsula Shire interim EMO7 actually say?
Permit triggers
Generally, if your proposed development is within the EMO7, a planning permit will be required to construct a building or construct or carry out works (including earthworks and vegetation removal). This includes constructing a deck to a dwelling. Under EMO7, a permit cannot be granted to construct a deck to a dwelling where the deck has a finished floor level exceeding 800mm above ground level. A permit also cannot be granted under the EMO7 for a rainwater tank with a capacity exceeding 10,000 litres.
Application requirements
If you do require a planning permit under the EMO7, your planning permit application must be accompanied by:
- dimensioned plans including a site plan, elevations, land contours as appropriate, and;
- existing features and any other identified geotechnical hazards;
- existing development on adjacent lots and any other identified geotechnical hazard;
- details and locations of existing vegetation and any proposed vegetation removal; and
- any proposed subdivision layout.
- A Landslide Risk Assessment report by a suitably qualified geotechnical practitioner, meaning a specialist Geotechnical Engineer or Engineering Geologist who is degree qualified.
- An independent peer review of the Landslide Risk Assessment report, prepared by a suitably qualified geotechnical practitioner.
Relevant exemptions
(a) A planning permit will not be required to construct or carry out works if the works are entirely contained on a slope not exceeding 17°, and do not exceed 0.6 metres of excavation or fill below or above natural ground level
(b) A planning permit will not be required to construct or carry out works for a building or structure not used for accommodation and ancillary to a dwelling (shed, outbuilding, art studio etc) if the building does not exceed 10 square metres of floor area, and no excavation is required, and the development would result in not more than two such buildings or structures on the lot.
(c) If, in the opinion of the geotechnical practitioner and the responsible authority, the proposed buildings and works are minor and create minimal or no geotechnical risk, a completed Form D–Geotechnical Declaration– Minor Impact (Appendix D of Practice Note Guidelines for Landslide Risk Management) may be submitted instead of a Landslide Risk Assessment report.
(d) If, in the opinion of the responsible authority, an application requirement is not relevant to the assessment of an application, the responsible authority may waive or vary the application requirements.
Relevant exemption (d) above is the broadest exemption and provides the ability for the Shire to waive the planning permit application requirement for a peer-reviewed Landslide Risk Assessment report, on a case-by-case basis. Please contact the authors for assistance prior to submitting your planning permit application, should this apply to you.
I was planning on undertaking earthworks/development on my property soon. Now that the interim EMO is in force, should I go ahead or should I delay?
Please contact the author with any site-specific questions. We would be delighted to discuss how we can best assist you with your property and project goals for 2026 and beyond.
Assistance
Please contact the authors, or any member of our Planning & Environment team, should you have any questions about this article, or if wish to discuss how we may be able to assist your business and/or projects.
Disclaimer
This information and the contents of this publication, current as at the date of publication, is general in nature to offer assistance to Cornwalls’ clients, prospective clients and stakeholders, and is for reference purposes only. It does not constitute legal or financial advice. If you are concerned about any topic covered, we recommend that you seek your own specific legal and financial advice before taking any action.
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[1] https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Our-services/Planning-building-and-development/Planning/Amendments-to-the-planning-scheme/Amendment-C225C230-Erosion-Management-Overlay-Mapping-Review
[2] https://www.ses.vic.gov.au/documents/8655930/8998580/State+Landslide+Hazard+Plan+-+Version+1_September+2018_final.pdf/a3a25eed-cca8-2d62-541d-3fc74ff4bf38?t=1621732618115
[3] https://www.mccraeinquiry.vic.gov.au/
[4] https://www.mornpen.vic.gov.au/Building-Planning/Strategic-Planning/Planning-Scheme-Amendments/Amendment-C312morn-%E2%80%93-Highly-susceptible-landslide-areas
[5] https://www.mornpen.vic.gov.au/About-Us/News-Media-Publications/Current-Topics/Erosion-Management-Overlay