New dwelling higher than maximum allowed?

Building in Geelong area, the height restrictions are 7.5M which is pretty standard in most places.
Referring to GREATER GEELONG PLANNING SCHEME under DDO14 (which our plan indicates), Schedule 14, Item 2 Buildings and works states:

"A permit is not required for buildings and works other than to construct a dwelling which is more than 7.5 metres above natural ground level (excluding any television antenna, chimney or flue)"

However, under VICTORIA PLANNING PROVISIONS, GENERAL RESIDENTIAL ZONE (GRZ which is shown on our plan), Item 32.08-10 states:

"A building may exceed the maximum building height by up to 1 metre if the slope of the natural ground level, measured at any cross section of the site of the building wider than 8 metres, is greater than 2.5 degrees."

I have checked our block, as it does have a fall of 3.2 metres from front right to back left. The ground profile shows a fall of 1.89 metres from RH to LH side around the middle of the plan, which I then calculated using their formula, and it would seem that our block then has a fall of 5 degrees from RH to LH sides.

The question I have is this:
Which one takes priority, the Victorian Planning Provisions, or Greater Geelong Planning Scheme? We raised the ceilings on our house plan, so the total house height is just over 8.2M, which under the GRZ requires a permit, but under DDO can be exempted.

Thanks for starting this thread.

Here is the guide. Looks like we need a Land Surveyor! Handy, there is one over our back fence (Geelong Land Surveyors), I have emailed him with my information for a quote.






I don't have access to all the required and detailed information. And it's not something you want to have to keep re-doing until you get it right!