Grange Planning Brain

title: Ballarat CBD Structure Plan, Urban Design Framework & Activity Centre Plan (in preparation) council: ballarat state: vic category: strategy classification: MAJOR status: in-progress last_compiled: 2026-04-16 source_docs:

  • ballarat-cbd-draft-urban-design-framework-2021.txt
  • ballarat-cbd-precinct-fact-sheet.txt
  • making-ballarat-central-the-cbd-strategy-2011.txt
  • making-ballarat-central-cbd-action-plan-2017-21.txt
  • bakery-hill-urban-renewal-plan-adopted_parts-1-and-2.txt
  • bakery-hill-urban-renewal-plan-adopted_parts-3-4-and-5.txt
  • housing-strategy-2041.txt
  • council-plan-2025-2029.txt
  • cob-budget-2025-26.txt
  • 24-september-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txt
  • 28-may-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txt
  • 26-february-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txt
  • 25-june-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txt
  • 10-december-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txt
  • 26-november-2025-council-meeting-agenda-part-1.txt

Ballarat CBD Structure Plan, Urban Design Framework & Activity Centre Plan (in preparation)

The Ballarat CBD is the regional capital of the Central Highlands — a five-state-significant heritage precinct and Principal Activity Centre that the housing-strategy-2041 has nominated to absorb approximately 4,000 new dwellings by 2041, more than any other urban renewal area in the municipality, while growing from just 465 residents in 179 households (Source: making-ballarat-central-cbd-action-plan-2017-21.txt) to a substantially denser mixed-use neighbourhood. The CBD Structure Plan currently being prepared (under Council Plan 2025–2029 as a major initiative and project code 654800 “CBD Urban Design Framework”, carryover $128,700 in 2025/26) is the statutory and design instrument that must reconcile four competing imperatives: accommodating that 4,000-dwelling target; protecting the Central Victorian Goldfields UNESCO bid inscription; managing the Yarrowee River flood corridor that runs under Bridge Mall; and delivering a 40 per cent urban forest canopy in a precinct where most street-to-street heights vary between one and five storeys and over 12,000 Heritage Overlay properties constrain development precedent. The structure plan therefore functions as the master instrument that will determine whether a significant share of Ballarat’s infill housing pipeline is deliverable, or whether the 4,000-dwelling CBD figure remains aspirational against a market the Housing Strategy itself concedes “does not yet exist” for apartment-style development. (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt; council-plan-2025-2029.txt; cob-budget-2025-26.txt; ballarat-cbd-draft-urban-design-framework-2021.txt)

The Plan replaces and absorbs three previously-distinct workstreams: a forty-year-old structure-plan tradition beginning with “Making Ballarat Central” (adopted May 2010, refreshed in the 2017–2021 Action Plan); the 2019-adopted bakery-hill Urban Renewal Plan for the eastern gateway precinct; and the Draft CBD Urban Design Framework prepared by Hodyl & Co in February 2021 (marked “CONFIDENTIAL — ISSUED FOR REVIEW” and never formally adopted). By 2025 the Urban Design Framework was being repositioned by Council officers as the Structure Plan’s design-quality chapter, with a separate stream of “CBD Built Form Controls” under Action 1.3.5.2 intended to give the Structure Plan statutory teeth once incorporated into the Ballarat Planning Scheme. This page traces the substance of that pipeline in the depth needed to predict its content, decision points, and risks. (Source: ballarat-cbd-draft-urban-design-framework-2021.txt; bakery-hill-urban-renewal-plan-adopted_parts-1-and-2.txt; 28-may-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txt; making-ballarat-central-the-cbd-strategy-2011.txt)

Background

How this initiative came about

The CBD Structure Plan has four distinct policy parents, each of which set targets or constraints that the current work must reconcile.

Parent 1: Making Ballarat Central — The CBD Strategy (May 2010). The 2010 strategy (Planisphere with Urban Enterprise, Aspect Studios, AECOM and Village Well) was adopted by Council on 26 May 2010 as a long-term plan “to guide growth and change in the CBD over the next 20–25 years.” It covers a Study Area extending from Bakery Hill (east) to Dawson Street (west), Grant Street (south) and the rail yards around Ballarat Station (north) — an expansion of the Commercial 1 Zone’s “Central Business Area” as defined in then-Clause 22.03. The 2010 strategy divided the CBD into 10 Precincts: (1) Sturt Street Core Retail; (2) Bridge Mall Core Retail; (3) Mair Street Corridor; (4) Peripheral Retail & Office; (5) Local Retail; (6) Commercial & Service Business; (7) Education; (8) Railway Station Mixed Use; (9) Mixed Use (Residential & Commercial); (10) High Density Residential. That 10-precinct disaggregation remains the de-facto block structure against which the new Structure Plan’s character areas will be read. (Source: making-ballarat-central-the-cbd-strategy-2011.txt)

The 2010 strategy’s most important bequest is its statutory incorporation. Action E5 directed Council to “implement the CBD Strategy in the Planning Scheme through an amendment process,” and by 2012 the Strategy had been gazetted as an Incorporated Reference Document in the Ballarat Planning Scheme. The 2017–2021 Action Plan explicitly affirms: “Making Ballarat Central the CBD Strategy 2010 remains an incorporated Reference Document in the Ballarat Planning Scheme.” This means the 2010 strategy — not the 2021 draft UDF, not the emerging Structure Plan — is the instrument currently cited by Council officers assessing planning permits in the CBD. Any successor instrument must therefore either replace or amend the gazetted incorporation. (Source: making-ballarat-central-cbd-action-plan-2017-21.txt; making-ballarat-central-the-cbd-strategy-2011.txt)

Parent 2: Bakery Hill and Bridge Mall Urban Renewal Plan (adopted October 2019). This plan, jointly funded by City of Ballarat and the Victorian Planning Authority (VPA), was prepared using the UNESCO Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) methodology with five background papers: Economic Report; Re-Discovering the Bakery Hill Legacy; Movement and Access Report; Community Engagement Report; Book of Maps. It covers a precinct of 70 hectares (Bakery Hill) containing the 17.8-hectare Bridge Mall sub-precinct at the eastern gateway of the CBD, and establishes design targets for 2050 under three integrating themes: Thriving, Connected, Distinctive. The Bakery Hill Plan took the form of a precinct plan rather than a gazetted instrument — it is adopted but not incorporated in the planning scheme — meaning its most statutorily-significant outcome has been its rolling influence over Council capital works (the $23.3 million Bridge Mall rejuvenation opened April 2025) and its continuing role as a design reference. (Source: bakery-hill-urban-renewal-plan-adopted_parts-1-and-2.txt; making-ballarat-central-cbd-action-plan-2017-21.txt)

The Bakery Hill Plan was itself carrying forward an unfinished commitment from the 2010 CBD Strategy, which had directed at Action 2.1.1: “Prepare a comprehensive master plan for the [Bridge Mall] Precinct which addresses all issues of land use, built form, car parking, access and pedestrian amenity in a holistic manner.” Nine years elapsed between that direction and the adopted Bakery Hill Plan — a pattern of slippage (direction given, comprehensive plan delayed by five-to-ten years) that the current Structure Plan appears to be repeating. (Source: making-ballarat-central-the-cbd-strategy-2011.txt; bakery-hill-urban-renewal-plan-adopted_parts-1-and-2.txt)

Parent 3: Draft CBD Urban Design Framework (Hodyl & Co, February 2021). Commissioned by Council and prepared by Hodyl & Co (lead: Leanne Hodyl, with Bec Fitzgerald, Huei-Han Yang, Alice Fowler), the draft UDF was intended to set “the overall design direction for the city” and explicitly builds on the 2010 CBD Strategy and 2019 Bakery Hill Plan. Its Study Area is narrower than the 2010 CBD Strategy’s — bounded by Dawson Street (west), Eyre Street/Grant Street/Canadian Creek (south), Humffray Street South/North (east) and Ebden Street/Nolan Stre

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Analysis

The Structure Plan’s analytical content must reconcile a specific quantum of land-use, heritage, transport, flood, and governance inputs. The sections below work through each in turn, drawing on the 2010 CBD Strategy, the 2019 Bakery Hill Plan, the 2021 Draft UDF, the 2024 Housing Strategy and Council’s own quarterly performance reports and capital budgets.

1. Land supply, the 4,000-dwelling target and feasibility

The headline number from the Housing Strategy 2041 is unambiguous: “Estimated potential dwelling yield — 4000” for the Ballarat CBD urban renewal area, based on a conservative 35 dwellings per gross hectare density applied across the CBD’s Substantial Change Area. To put this in scale:

  • Current CBD resident population (2017 baseline): 465 residents distributed amongst 179 households (Source: making-ballarat-central-cbd-action-plan-2017-21.txt)
  • Current CBD tertiary student population (2017 baseline): 1,288 tertiary students attending Federation University, ACU, University of Melbourne Ballarat Clinical School, Deakin University and Notre Dame Ballarat Rural Clinical School campuses in or near the CBD (Source: making-ballarat-central-cbd-action-plan-2017-21.txt)
  • Approximate tertiary student catchment referenced in the 2021 Draft UDF: approximately 13,000 tertiary students studying within or in close proximity to the Ballarat CBD (Source: ballarat-cbd-draft-urban-design-framework-2021.txt)
  • Housing Strategy 2041 dwelling-yield target: approximately 4,000 dwellings at 35 dw/gross hectare, implying roughly 114 gross hectares of developable land (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt)
  • Housing Strategy 2041 affordability target for the CBD’s strategic blocks (per the Draft UDF it references): 5% affordable housing on new dwellings on strategic blocks — the only quantified affordable-housing target in Ballarat’s policy framework (Source: ballarat-cbd-draft-urban-design-framework-2021.txt; housing-strategy-2041.txt)

Assuming a household size broadly consistent with the existing CBD figure of 2.6 persons per household (465 ÷ 179), 4,000 new dwellings translates to approximately 10,400 additional residents — a population multiplier of around 23× the 2017 baseline. Even under a conservative assumption of 1.8 persons per household for a predominantly small-apartment precinct, 4,000 dwellings still adds ~7,200 residents, roughly a 15× uplift. This scale of demographic transformation is without precedent in any adopted Ballarat-strategic document and exceeds what the 2010 CBD Strategy’s High Density Residential Precinct (Precinct 10) was expected to contribute within a 25-year horizon. (Source: making-ballarat-central-cbd-action-plan-2017-21.txt; housing-strategy-2041.txt; making-ballarat-central-the-cbd-strategy-2011.txt)

1.1 Market reality check

The Housing Strategy 2041 itself identifies the principal feasibility risk: “the current limited market for apartment-style developments in the City of Ballarat, with only a few existing examples.” The 2017–2021 CBD Action Plan concurs: “The small number of active permits allowing for the construction of residential uses in the CBD indicates that short-term increases in the residential population are likely to remain limited.” Taken together, the 4,000-dwelling yield depends on transforming a commercial/heritage precinct with a very thin apartment-development track-record into Ballarat’s highest-density residential neighbourhood — a market the planning framework is betting on, not responding to. (Source: housing-strategy-2041.txt; making-ballarat-central-cbd-action-plan-2017-21.txt)

The Structure Plan’s central feasibility challenge is therefore not just “where do the 4,000 dwellings go” but “what is the development-feasibility envelope — combined building-form controls, heritage constraints, flood constraints, DCP levies, affordability obligations — at which 4,000 dwellings become constructible by the private sector?” Every additional constraint on that envelope reduces the probability that the 4,000 figure is hit within the 2041 horizon.

1.2 Gross versus net developable area

At 35 dw/gross ha, 4,000 dwellings require approximately 114 gross hectares. The 2021 Draft UDF study area (roughly the Commercial 1 Zone plus adjoining Public Use / Special Use / Residential fragments) covers approximately 2.4 km × 1.4 km at its extremities, within which the developable CBD core is substantially smaller. Within

Section clipped to keep the wiki page within the production size contract. Source files remain in the repository/extracted evidence corpus.

Current Status

As at April 2026:

  • Policy status: In preparation. Draft Structure Plan + UDF + ACP has not been released for exhibition. Discussion Paper (Stage One) not yet issued.
  • Budget status: $128,700 carryover in 2025/26 for project 654800 “CBD Urban Design Framework” (approved at 24 September 2025 mid-year budget review).
  • Council Plan status: Listed as Major Initiative under Prosperity goal, 2025–2029 Council Plan (adopted 25 June 2025). Strategic Objective 1.3.5 “Support the development of the CBD and key precincts…to promote a lively and thriving community”; Action 1.3.5.2 “Prepare a Central Business District (CBD) and Bridge Mall Built Form Guidelines” at 90% complete as of Q3 FY2024-25.
  • Related amendments: Heritage Overlay on Bridge Mall approved by Council March 2025 (precedes and sequences-before the CBD Built Form Controls and Structure Plan amendment).
  • Relationship to adjacent amendments: Will ultimately require its own planning scheme amendment to implement as a new incorporated document + C1Z schedule + CBD DDO; this amendment is likely to be bundled with the Housing Strategy 2041 omnibus amendment or prepared as a standalone implementing amendment depending on sequencing decisions.

Next anticipated milestones (author’s projection, not from source):

  • Q4 FY2025-26 (April-June 2026): Completion of built form guidelines; release of Discussion Paper.
  • FY2026-27 (July 2026 – June 2027): Stage One engagement; technical background studies (flood, transport) complete; Draft Structure Plan released.
  • FY2027-28: Stage Two engagement; Council adoption; planning scheme amendment authorisation sought.
  • FY2028-29: Amendment exhibition, panel, adoption, gazettal.

This timeline assumes no Panel-triggering submissions or State-government-requested modifications; realistically the gazettal is more likely in 2029-2030 than 2028.

Dependencies

Blocks:

  • Planning scheme amendment to implement housing-strategy-2041 Change Areas framework in the CBD
  • CBD Built Form Controls (Council Plan 2025–2029 Major Initiative)
  • Any substantial CBD development application seeking density beyond current DDO/HO guidance (permit assessment currently lacks contemporary design framework)
  • Residential Zones Review application to CBD-edge General Residential / Residential Growth Zone land
  • Future Developer Contributions Plan for CBD (should one be pursued per 2010 Strategy Action E7)

Blocked by:

  • CBD flood mitigation investigation project (Council Plan 2025–2029 deliverable) — must complete and feed results back into the Structure Plan’s land-use budget
  • Ballarat 11 Waterways Flood Modelling (Water Technology, 2024) outputs and their translation into updated flood overlays (C217ball or successor)
  • Ballarat CBD Movement and Transport Analysis (2024–2025) and DTP Ballarat Bus Network Review outputs
  • Ballarat Regional Strategic Transport Assessment (budget line item carryover $100,000 for 2025/26)
  • Bridge Mall Heritage Overlay amendment (now gazetted, March 2025)

Informed by:

Implements:

  • State-government housing policy (Plan for Victoria, Housing Statement)
  • housing-strategy-2041 Implementation Plan “Continue to develop the Ballarat CBD Urban Design Framework and Structure Plan”
  • ballarat-strategy-2040 spatial vision for intensification in historic CBD
  • ballarat-strategy-2040 10-Minute City and Complete Neighbourhoods framework
  • Ballarat Urban Forest Action Plan 40% canopy target

Conflicts with / in tension with:

  • Central Victorian Goldfields UNESCO World Heritage bid intactness/authenticity requirements (intensification vs heritage)
  • heritage-plan design-sensitivity imperatives in HO precincts
  • car-parking-strategy (2007) — outdated car-centric parking provision expectations
  • Victorian Planning System limitations on mandatory inclusionary zoning (5% affordable target requires voluntary or public-land mechanisms)
  • VCAT precedent in Liu v Ballarat CC [2020] VCAT 756 — tribunal upheld heritage/character refusals in accessible locations
  • Victorian Planning Authority (VPA): Jointly funded Bakery Hill Plan (2019) and continues to have an interest in the CBD via the VPA’s role in coordinating Statements of Planning Policy and Metropolitan Partnerships. VPA’s recent Northern Growth Area PSP co-design work (see ballarat-north-psp) is a parallel example of VPA–Council co-production.
  • Development Victoria / Regional Development Victoria (RDV): Active stakeholder in Ballarat Station Precinct redevelopment (conference/exhibition centre, hotel, commuter carpark, public plaza per RDV’s published project page). Involvement likely to extend to Strategic Blocks with Crown Land or State-agency interests. RDV also oversaw the $176 million GovHub development at 300 Mair Street, now complete and operational.
  • Department of Transport and Planning (DTP): Bus Network Review (ongoing 2025–2026) sets the transport baseline against which the Structure Plan’s 10-Minute City commitments are tested. The City’s 10 December 2025 submission is the formal interface.
  • Central Highlands Regional Partnership: Regional-coordination body (Ballarat is the major centre of the Central Highlands Region containing six municipalities — Ararat, Ballarat, Golden Plains, Hepburn, Moorabool, Pyrenees — with a regional population of 203,600 of which 54% live in the City of Ballarat). The Structure Plan’s role in Central Highlands regional economy (as the primary employment centre) is underpinned by the Regional Partnership’s Outcomes Roadmap. (Source: ballarat-cbd-draft-urban-design-framework-2021.txt)
  • Corangamite Catchment Management Authority (CCMA): Partner in Ballarat 11 Waterways Flood Study (Water Technology 2024) and the Yarrowee River flood-risk management. The Structure Plan must defer to CCMA mapping and management principles.
  • Federation University: Landowner/institutional-anchor in Education & Research Precinct (SMB Campus, Camp Street Campus) and ACU/Deakin/University of Melbourne/Notre Dame satellite or clinical school partners. The Structure Plan’s student-housing provision requires institutional engagement.
  • Committee for Ballarat / Commerce Ballarat: Business-community advocacy organisations whose submissions historically carry weight in Ballarat strategic planning decisions.
  • Ballarat Heritage Advisory Committee (BHAC): Statutory-adjacent committee (Terms of Reference adopted 25 June 2025) whose endorsement is politically important for heritage-sensitive controls.
  • Adjacent Councils: Moorabool Shire and Golden Plains Shire border the municipality; CBD employment and service-catchment effects reach into GBAC partner councils. Cross-council transport planning (especially bus) is explicitly discussed in the 10 December 2025 bus submission.

Relationships diagram (textual)

Plan for Victoria / Housing Statement (State)
           │
           ▼
[[housing-strategy-2041]] ── sets 4,000 dw target
           │
           ▼
CBD Structure Plan ◀── [[cbd-urban-design-framework]] (2021 Draft)
     │           ◀── [[cbd-strategy]] (2010 incorporated)
     │           ◀── [[bakery-hill]] (2019 adopted)
     │           ◀── CBD flood mitigation investigation
     │           ◀── Ballarat 11 Waterways Flood Study
     │           ◀── Bus Network Review
     │
     ▼
Planning Scheme Amendment
     (C1Z schedule + CBD DDO + Incorporated Document)
     │
     ▼
CBD Built Form Controls active in development assessment
     │
     ▼
4,000 CBD dwellings by 2041 (or short thereof)

Gaps in This Analysis

The following gaps materially limit this analysis and are fuller-documented in _gaps:

  1. The Structure Plan itself has not been exhibited. This analysis is a forecast based on the Draft UDF (2021), Housing Strategy 2041 (2024), 2010 CBD Strategy, and the Bakery Hill Plan (2019), together with Council’s quarterly performance reports and capital budgets. The actual Discussion Paper, Draft Structure Plan, and Structure Plan will contain specifics (precinct boundaries, height numbers, Strategic Block schedules, DCP methodology) that refine or override the forecasts.

  2. The CBD flood mitigation investigation report is not available. Without this, the net-developable-area calculation cannot be done with confidence for the eastern CBD and Bridge Mall/Yarrowee precinct parcels.

  3. The Ballarat 11 Waterways Flood Study (Water Technology 2024) is not in the corpus. The Housing Strategy 2041 references it; the Structure Plan depends on its outputs.

  4. The Ballarat CBD Movement and Transport Analysis (2024–2025) is not in the corpus. Referenced in the 10 December 2025 bus submission; bears on the Structure Plan’s 10-Minute City and transport-corridor commitments.

  5. The Ballarat Skyline and Views Study is not in the corpus as a standalone document. The Draft UDF summarises it (12 designated views, 37 assessed, typologies Panoramic/Linear/Framed) but the underlying view-corridor mapping and the Skyline Study’s specific height recommendations are unavailable.

  6. The 2021 Draft UDF’s Implementation Plan chapter is missing. The Draft was released with this chapter incomplete (“to be added following consultation feedback”). The Implementation Plan is the critical bridge between UDF principles and statutory content.

  7. The CBD Precinct Fact Sheet is undated — it references the Housing Strategy 2041 but its publication date and engagement sequence are not stamped. The Discussion Paper it previews has not been located.

  8. Ballarat Heritage Precincts — Statements of Significance 2006 incorporated document is referenced but not in the corpus.

  9. Clause 22.03 historical text and current local planning policy for the CBD is not in the corpus; analysis of Clause 22.03’s language and the specifics of how the 2010 Strategy was implemented in the scheme is therefore limited.

  10. No draft planning scheme amendment text for the CBD Structure Plan is available. The amendment number (if designated) is not in the corpus. The likely amendment number will be in the Cxxxball series, based on Council’s amendment numbering.

  11. Bakery Hill Plan Parts 3, 4 and 5 (Distinctive theme; Key Projects; Making It Happen) were extracted but not read in detail for this page; they contain further detail on Yarrowee Parklands, Victoria Street Landmark Entry, Peel Street Redevelopment Site that is directly relevant to the Structure Plan’s Bridge Mall Precinct content.

  12. Parking audit data for the CBD. The 2010 Strategy refers to traffic counts and existing on/off-street parking inventories but these underlying data are not in the corpus.

  13. Private-market feasibility studies for CBD apartment development. The Housing Strategy 2041 acknowledges a “limited market” but no specific apartment-yield feasibility study is in the corpus; this is a material input to whether 4,000 dwellings is deliverable.

  14. Statements of Planning Policy (SPPs) relevant to Ballarat CBD. The SPP framework under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 is a potential vehicle for CBD-wide statutory controls; whether one has been prepared for Ballarat CBD is unclear from the corpus.

See _gaps for the corpus-level register of missing documents with sourcing guidance.

Appendix A — Source document inventory

Source fileRole
ballarat-cbd-draft-urban-design-framework-2021.txtPrimary — Draft UDF (Hodyl & Co, Feb 2021), 6,302 lines
ballarat-cbd-precinct-fact-sheet.txtPrimary — Urban Renewal Program Fact Sheet, 71 lines
making-ballarat-central-the-cbd-strategy-2011.txtPrimary — 2010 CBD Strategy (gazetted incorporated document), 14,406 lines
making-ballarat-central-cbd-action-plan-2017-21.txtPrimary — 2017–2021 Action Plan, 20,581 lines
bakery-hill-urban-renewal-plan-adopted_parts-1-and-2.txtPrimary — 2019 Bakery Hill URP Parts 1–2, 3,653 lines
bakery-hill-urban-renewal-plan-adopted_parts-3-4-and-5.txtPrimary — 2019 Bakery Hill URP Parts 3–5, 3,640 lines
housing-strategy-2041.txtPrimary — Ballarat Housing Strategy 2041 (adopted 2024)
council-plan-2025-2029.txtPrimary — Council Plan 2025–2029 (adopted 25 Jun 2025)
cob-budget-2025-26.txtPrimary — Budget 2025/26
24-september-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txtSecondary — Q1 FY2025-26 budget review (project 654800 carryover)
28-may-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txtSecondary — Q3 FY2024-25 performance (Action 1.3.5.2 at 90%)
26-february-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txtSecondary — Q2 FY2024-25 performance (Action 1.3.2 strategic objective)
25-june-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txtSecondary — Council Plan adoption; Budget adoption
10-december-2025-council-meeting-agenda-with-attachments.txtSecondary — Bus Network Review submission
26-november-2025-council-meeting-agenda-part-1.txtSecondary — CBD cultural services discussion

Appendix B — Key dates and events

DateEvent
26 May 2010Council adopts Making Ballarat Central — The CBD Strategy
2012Amendment gazettes 2010 CBD Strategy as incorporated reference document in Ballarat Planning Scheme
July 2015Ballarat Strategy 2040: Today, Tomorrow, Together adopted (HUL framework committed)
August 2017Making Ballarat Central 2017–2021 Action Plan published
October 2019Bakery Hill and Bridge Mall Urban Renewal Plan adopted (jointly with VPA)
December 2020Draft CBD Urban Design Framework Version D (Hodyl & Co) issued for review
December 2020 – January 2021Community consultation on Draft UDF planned via MySay Ballarat
February 2021Draft CBD Urban Design Framework (Hodyl & Co) published (CONFIDENTIAL — ISSUED FOR REVIEW)
2022Tract Municipal Housing Capacity Assessment prepared
2023SGS Ballarat’s Future Housing 2021-2041 — Needs Housing Analysis
2024Ballarat 11 Waterways Flood Modelling (Water Technology); Ballarat Growth Areas Framework Plan; Ballarat Infill Uptake Analysis (SGS); Ballarat Infill Prioritization Framework (Astrolabe); Neighbourhood Character Study (Ethos Urban); Draft Social and Affordable Housing Action Plan; Draft Industrial Land Strategy; Accessibility and Connectivity Analysis (Tract)
2024Housing Strategy 2041 adopted
2024–2025Ballarat CBD Movement and Transport Analysis; La Trobe Street Precinct Transport Assessment; Ageing Well in Ballarat Transport Study; Shared Micromobility Trial evaluation; Strategic Growth Planning
March 2025Planning Scheme Amendment for Heritage Overlay on Bridge Mall approved by Council
April 2025$23.3 million Bridge Mall rejuvenation opens
25 June 2025Council Plan 2025–2029 adopted; Budget 2025/26 adopted
24 September 2025Mid-year budget review — $128,700 carryover for project 654800
Q3 FY2024-25 (Apr–Jun 2025)Action 1.3.5.2 CBD and Bridge Mall Built Form Guidelines at 90%
10 December 2025Council submission to DTP Bus Network Review explicitly references Draft Ballarat CBD UDF and confirms Structure Plan area aligns with C1Z boundary
2026 (targeted)Completion of CBD flood mitigation investigation project
2026 (targeted)Discussion Paper (Stage One engagement) release
2026–2027 (projected)Draft Structure Plan + UDF + ACP released for Stage Two engagement
2027–2028 (projected)Council adoption of Structure Plan; planning scheme amendment authorisation
2028–2030 (projected)Amendment exhibition, panel, adoption, gazettal
2041Target date for 4,000 dwellings and 40% CBD canopy

End of analytical page. See also the Structure Plan’s related pages for domain-specific deep-dives on heritage, transport, flood, and the urban renewal program. Forecasts contained in this page reflect the analyst’s integration of source material and are not Council statements.

Size Contract Note

This page was compacted for UI and Obsidian readability. The underlying source documents and extracted text remain in the evidence corpus.

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