Discontinuing rights of way, roads and reserves

Many local properties are bordered by one or more of our 260 laneways and property, known as a either right of way (ROW), road reserve (RR) or drainage reserve (DR).

Discontinuance application

If you would like to purchase land contained within a ROW, RR or DR, an application must be made. There is a non-refundable application fee.

Contact our Property Services team on (03) 9490 4222 or at property.services@banyule.vic.gov.au for a discussion before submitting an application.

Apply for a discontinuance

We will contact you within 10 business days.

After you apply

We will investigate your situation and assess the feasibility of the discontinuance and sale of land proposal. 

Before we make a final decision, the proposal will be publicly advertised. The public is invited to respond to the proposal, and we must consider all feedback.

If we find that a discontinuance is possible, the land will be allocated and valued in accordance with our Right of Way Policy(PDF, 95KB).

If we find that the ROW, RR or DR is no longer required for public use, we may discontinue it and either sell or retain the land.

A notice of our decision is then published in the Victoria Government Gazette for public inspection. We may then offer the land for sale to a bordering land owner.

About the process

We have the power under the Local Government Act to discontinue a right of way/road and sell the resultant land to adjoining property owners at market value.

 

Discontinued land will only be sold to adjoining owners where their land borders ours.

 

With regards to road discontinuance requests, we will only discontinue the whole or a significant section of the right of way, rather than a small section at a time due to the lengthy process involved. These projects can take up to 12 months to complete.

 

We will not consider any discontinuance request that creates a landlocked parcel of land.

History

Most ROWs were created over 80 years ago as part of original land subdivisions.


Over time, the use of rights of way and the need for them can change temporarily or permanently.


Unused roads and reserves may be identified as unnecessary for our future needs and could potentially be discontinued and sold to adjoining property owners.

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