Renders of Ryman Healthcare’s planned Mulgrave retirement village.

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Baby Boomers are missing out on their golden years as planning red tape delays new retirement villages from emerging, despite increasing demand from ageing Victorians.

By 2040, there will be nearly 1 million Victorians over the age of 75, making up about 11 per cent of the population.

And to accommodate this growing cohort, one group is urging the state government to give retirement village operators the same planning incentives as residential developers to speed up the construction of new retirement communities, including a planning fast track that bypasses local councils.

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A Retirement Living Council (RLC) report revealed that nearly 70 per cent of development applications lodged for new retirement villages are taking more than a year to be determined, and 23 per cent are taking more than two years.

It highlighted a perceived over-reliance on the Victorian Civil and Administration Tribunal (VCAT) for decision making on development applications, with “negative community influence” causing councils to be reluctant to approve projects.

Mr Gannon said they were in a race to house the nation.

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RLC executive director Daniel Gannon said they were in a race to house the nation, and all levels of government needed to make sure they were “retirement ready”.

“We now know that 67 per cent of retirement village development applications take more than 365 days to complete assessment, while 23 per cent take more than 730 days,” Mr Gannon said.

“Given Victoria’s over-75s cohort will increase by 83 per cent over the next decade and a half and retirement villages are effectively operating at full capacity, this is alarming and unacceptable.”

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Mr Gannon called for retirement village projects to be included in state’s housing target.

He added the government’s goal of building 800,000 new homes, as stated in Victoria’s Housing Statement, over the next decade may be closer to reality if this was the case.

“More red tape and complexity in planning systems won’t help build the homes that older Australians need, but they can dampen supply very easily,” he said.

“Given the proven benefits that age-friendly communities deliver for older Australians, governments should be throwing the kitchen sink at approving more of them – and fast.”

Ryman Healthcare’s planned Mulgrave retirement village.

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Ryman Healthcare Australia chief executive Cameron Holland said that too often proposed retirement communities were recommended for approval by council planners only to be blocked by councillors, triggering appeals to VCAT.

“Councillors decline the application to appease local objectors knowing their decision will be overturned by VCAT on appeal, which is invariably what happens,” Mr Holland said.

“When development applications that tick all the boxes are turned down by councils, it adds time, cost, and stress for everyone involved in the process.”

The RLC also stated that retirement home supply was so low that there was no room to allocate 10 per cent of new developments to affordable housing, as set out in Victoria’s Housing Statement.

He noted that the nation was facing an aged care and housing crisis that required a wholesale policy response from every level of government.

“Unfortunately, that response won’t even go close to fixing the problem if the planning settings are not right,” he said.

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