title: Amendment C173 - Woodmans Hill Planning Controls council: ballarat state: vic category: amendment classification: MAJOR status: approved last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:
- web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf
- web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-gazette-gazette-vic.pdf
- web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf
- web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf
- web-research-L1-woodmans-current-map31ddo-C173-dtp.pdf
Amendment C173 - Woodmans Hill Planning Controls
Amendment C173 converted the Woodmans Hill eastern approach to Ballarat from a loosely managed highway-edge area into a planning-control precinct governed by a local policy, DDO2 design controls, selected rezoning, and explicit recognition of the future Western Highway/freeway realignment. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) The amendment matters because it uses statutory planning to hold three things together at once: the visual role of a city gateway, the long-term transport corridor, and the tension between highway-facing commercial activity and rural living, agricultural, landscape and koala-habitat values. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf)
Background
The amendment was prepared by Ballarat City Council as planning authority and made at the request of Ballarat City Council. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) The affected land extends along both sides of the Western Highway between Ballarat’s eastern municipal boundary and the first major turn-off into Ballarat, covering approximately 220 hectares over a 3.3 kilometre corridor. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf)
The statutory trigger was the Woodmans Hill Gateway Precinct Master Plan, which followed the Ballarat Entrances Strategy 2006 recognition of Woodmans Hill as a major entry point to Ballarat. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) The planning problem was not only appearance: the explanatory report links the gateway role to preventing ad hoc development, avoiding land-use conflict with Ballarat’s activity-centre and industrial strategies, protecting high-quality agricultural soils, and responding to the planned Western Highway realignment. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf)
The notice of preparation was published in the Victoria Government Gazette on 22 May 2014, and submissions were due by 5 pm on Monday 23 June 2014. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-gazette-gazette-vic.pdf) The exhibited amendment anticipated a directions hearing in the week commencing 11 August 2014 and a panel hearing in the week commencing 8 September 2014. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf)
Analysis
Statutory Mechanism and Planning Effect
C173 changed the Ballarat Planning Scheme through three linked mechanisms: policy insertion, overlay expansion, and rezoning. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) It amended Clauses 21.03, 21.04-2, 21.04-6, 21.05-1, 21.08, 21.09 and 21.10 so that Woodmans Hill was no longer only a strategic-work item but became a recognised local policy area supported by the Woodmans Hill Gateway Precinct Master Plan as a reference document. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf)
The rezoning component moved land south of the Western Highway between 9413 Western Highway west towards 89 Jacksons Road from Mixed Use Zone to Rural Living Zone. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) In mechanism terms, that reduced the planning-system signal for highway-edge mixed-use activity on the southern side and reinforced a more sensitive rural-living interface where the master plan sought to protect landscape, agricultural and environmental values. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf)
The overlay component extended Design and Development Overlay Schedule 2 over additional high-profile land north and south of the Western Highway. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) The current C173 overlay map identifies DDO2 on Map 31DDO, at a mapped scale of 1:9,992 and printed on 10 September 2015. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-current-map31ddo-C173-dtp.pdf)
The planning effect is that C173 did not simply decide whether Woodmans Hill should be rural or commercial. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) It created a corridor-management framework where built form, noise attenuation, landscape treatment, access, signage and future freeway alignment must be considered together when land use or development is assessed. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
Gateway Design, Built Form and Landscape Control
The central design mechanism is DDO2. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) C173 expanded DDO2 beyond noise attenuation so it also addressed building height, bulk, setbacks, landscaping and advertising signage. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf)
The post-C173 DDO2 objectives require development to help create a distinctive entrance to Ballarat, respond to valued landscape and environmental elements, and consider view lines, vegetation retention, landscaping and defined koala habitat. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) The practical mechanism is that the responsible authority can assess not only land use permissibility but also whether buildings and works contribute to the intended gateway character. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
The overlay also sets measurable spatial controls: buildings within the precinct should be set back at least 20 metres from the Public Acquisition Overlay alignment for the future Western Freeway and 10 metres from all other roads. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) This means the future transport reservation directly shapes the developable envelope of highway-fronting sites, even before the road project is delivered. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
Noise is treated as a corridor-interface constraint rather than a separate amenity issue. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) DDO2 states that development may be required to include noise attenuation measures to the satisfaction of the Roads Corporation for both the existing Western Highway and the future Western Freeway, with the need for attenuation depending on the sensitivity of the use. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
Transport Dependency and Access Constraint
The future Western Highway/freeway realignment is the binding infrastructure variable in the amendment. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) The explanatory report states that VicRoads planned significant road works to realign the Western Highway within Woodmans Hill and that the realignment would affect a number of land holdings. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf)
Later material attached to the 15 July 2020 Planning Special Committee agenda records the highway section as not having freeway status and having an 80 km/h speed limit because of intersecting roads. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) The same material states that VicRoads had a medium- to long-term plan, described as a minimum 5-15 years away, to upgrade the section to freeway status through widening, ramps and flyover works. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
The access rule is direct and consequential: VicRoads’ C173 referral position was that access to any development must be via local roads or a service-road arrangement, with no direct access permitted onto the Western Highway. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf) DDO2 carries that rule into the planning framework by requiring access via local roads or a service road and prohibiting direct Western Highway access. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
This access structure changes the practical capacity of land identified for future development. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf) The traffic assessment states that Brewery Tap Road and Western Highway involve complicated turning movements across multiple lanes and that future development before the highway upgrade requires careful assessment, particularly for heavy vehicles. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf)
The traffic evidence also identifies a specific capacity constraint: there is limited capacity for vehicles to turn right out of Brewery Tap Road into Western Highway toward Ballarat. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf) The same assessment states that VicRoads was not supportive of signalising or roundabout-controlling the Western Highway/Brewery Tap Road intersection because of the intended future freeway upgrade. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf)
The consequence is that development before the freeway upgrade is likely to be limited by access management rather than zoning alone. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf) The traffic assessment concludes that low-traffic-generating uses such as car, boat, caravan and farm machinery display, hire and sales would maximise development potential under the pre-upgrade access conditions. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf)
Land-Use Balance: Rural Living, Mixed Use and Future Development Sites
C173’s land-use logic is spatially selective. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) It strengthened rural-living planning signals south of the Western Highway through MUZ-to-RLZ rezoning while leaving room for selected highway-facing activity north of the highway through future site-specific amendments. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf)
The 2020 C225ball material shows how C173 continued to shape later decisions. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) C225ball proposed rezoning four parcels bound by Kokoda Street, Brewery Tap Road, Western Highway and Orchard Lane from Rural Living Zone to Mixed Use Zone. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
Those four parcels comprised Crown Allotment 21 Section 24 at Kokoda Street, Crown Allotment 20 Section 24 at 27 Brewery Tap Road, Lot 2 PS629326M at 27 Brewery Tap Road, and Lot 1 PS629326M at 65 Orchard Lane. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) The site had approximately 657 metres of Western Highway frontage, a depth of approximately 200 metres, and a total area of 11.9 hectares. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
The C225ball material records that C173 and the master plan identified the land west of Brewery Tap Road and the flower farm at 12 Brewery Tap Road as potential future development sites, but that rezoning to facilitate development should occur through proponent-led site-specific amendments. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) This means C173 did not pre-zone all potential highway-related activity; it created a policy pathway that still required later statutory testing. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
The later C225ball officer report also shows the continuing tension in this pathway. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) The site was described as already within a mixed-use environment, adjoining MUZ land to the east, but also proximate to low-density residential and rural-living areas where amenity, access and landscape treatment remained relevant constraints. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
Environmental and Contamination Constraints
The environmental policy basis for C173 is broader than the mapped rezoning area. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) The explanatory report identifies high-quality agricultural soils, especially north of the Western Highway, and sites of koala habitat and native vegetation protected by overlays. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf)
C173 retained existing Bushfire Management Overlay and Vegetation Protection Overlay controls and stated that rezoning a relatively small number of parcels from MUZ to RLZ was not expected to change bushfire risk. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) This makes bushfire an ongoing site-assessment matter rather than the main strategic driver of the amendment. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf)
The later site-specific biodiversity evidence for the land west of Brewery Tap Road is narrower. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf) That assessment concluded that neither Orchard Road nor Brewery Tap Road was suitable as a wildlife corridor, that the proposed development was unlikely to affect habitat or movement of native fauna, and that it was unlikely to affect koala movement associated with the nearby Western Freeway underpass. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf)
The contamination evidence in the later material classified the site as having medium potential for contamination because it was an agricultural use, but soil testing reported 51 samples below relevant thresholds for multiple contaminants including arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and organochlorine pesticides. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf) The planning implication is that contamination was not shown in the available extracted material as a hard blocker, but it remained a due-diligence constraint for more sensitive uses. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf)
Contested Issues and Panel Logic
The available corpus does not include the standalone C173 Panel Report as a separate source document, but the 2020 agenda extracts several panel findings. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) The agenda records that submissions during C173 raised both support and objection to identifying the subject land for future development, including traffic impacts, noise and amenity. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
The extracted panel finding was that identifying the subject site for future development was strategically justified and warranted. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) The panel accepted that amenity and off-site impacts could be managed through later planning processes, including future rezoning and permit conditions. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
The quoted panel reasoning is important because it explains why C173 is best understood as a staged control framework rather than a final development permission. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) The panel considered uses such as a service station, convenience restaurant or takeaway-food premises, and agricultural and machinery display, hire and sales as potentially capable of being accommodated, while relying on future landscaping and access provisions to manage impacts on nearby low-density and rural-living lots. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
Current Status
C173 has been implemented in the Ballarat Planning Scheme, with later council material stating that the Woodmans Hill Gateway Master Plan was introduced into the planning scheme in September 2015 through Amendment C173. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) The C173 Map 31DDO extract was printed on 10 September 2015, and the DDO2 schedule material in the 2020 agenda records C173 changes dated 17 September 2015. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-current-map31ddo-C173-dtp.pdf) (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
C173’s ongoing status is therefore not a pending amendment but an operative planning framework that continues to influence later site-specific amendments such as C225ball. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
Dependencies
- Blocks: C173 blocks uncoordinated highway-edge development by requiring future proposals to respond to DDO2, gateway-design objectives, noise attenuation, access limits and the future Western Freeway alignment. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
- Blocked by: Full realisation of the corridor plan is constrained by the unfunded Western Highway/freeway upgrade and by VicRoads/Regional Roads Victoria access requirements. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf)
- Informed by: The amendment was informed by the Ballarat Entrances Strategy 2006, the Woodmans Hill Gateway Precinct Master Plan, VicRoads referral input, traffic evidence, environmental constraints and panel consideration of submissions. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
- Implements: C173 implements the Woodmans Hill Gateway Precinct Master Plan through local policy, planning scheme map changes, DDO2 changes and reference-document status. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf)
- Conflicts with: The principal planning tension is between highway-related mixed use activity and nearby rural living, low-density residential, landscape, agricultural and environmental values. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
Cross-Jurisdictional Links
The amendment depends on state transport authority decision-making because the Western Highway/freeway corridor is a state-controlled transport route and VicRoads/Regional Roads Victoria set the access position for future development. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf) The long-term freeway upgrade would affect land holdings within the precinct and would change local access through road widening, ramps, flyover works and future interchange arrangements near Brewery Tap Road and Old Melbourne Road. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
The available documents do not identify a direct dependency on an adjacent council, water authority, sewer authority or regional infrastructure program. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) The clear cross-agency relationship is between City of Ballarat, the Department of Transport/Regional Roads Victoria, and the planning scheme controls that manage private land affected by a future state road corridor. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-traffic-biodiversity-city-ballarat.pdf)
Gaps in This Analysis
The standalone C173 Panel Report is not included as an individual source document, although the 2020 agenda states the attachment set included a 48-page C173 Panel Report and quotes selected panel findings. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) This limits the ability to count submissions, categorise submitters, test the full panel reasoning, or identify all recommended changes from exhibition to approval. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
The standalone Woodmans Hill Gateway Precinct Master Plan is not included as a clean individual source document in the manifest, although extracts and references appear in the explanatory report and 2020 agenda. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-explanatory-report-dtp.pdf) (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf) This limits fine-grain analysis of the master plan’s land-use budget, full precinct subareas, design principles and all recommended planning scheme changes. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
The approval gazette for C173 is not in the manifest; the available gazette source is the 22 May 2014 notice of preparation. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-gazette-gazette-vic.pdf) The approval status is inferred from later planning scheme material dated September 2015 and from later council reporting that C173 introduced the master plan into the Ballarat Planning Scheme in September 2015. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-current-map31ddo-C173-dtp.pdf) (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-c173-panel-agenda-city-ballarat.pdf)
The map extract is text-poor and does not provide parcel-by-parcel overlay geometry or affected lot areas. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-current-map31ddo-C173-dtp.pdf) This prevents precise calculation of how much land was newly included in DDO2, how much developable area is affected by the 20 metre future-freeway setback, and which individual titles carry the strongest design or access constraints. (Source: web-research-L1-woodmans-current-map31ddo-C173-dtp.pdf)