Grange Planning Brain

title: Haddon Structure Plan council: golden-plains state: vic category: growth-area classification: MAJOR status: in-progress last_compiled: 2026-05-30 source_docs:

  • Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf
  • Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf
  • Att 7.6.6 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Track Changes Combined.pdf

Haddon Structure Plan

The Haddon Structure Plan is identified in the Golden Plains strategic work program as a structure plan to be prepared, but the available source set does not include the structure plan document itself, its maps, technical studies, consultation record, or adoption report. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf) The practical planning meaning is that Haddon is recognised as part of the north-west growth question around Ballarat, but the current corpus only supports an analysis of its strategic role and dependencies, not a parcel-level land supply, servicing, infrastructure, or constraints assessment. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

Background

Golden Plains Shire is located south of Ballarat, north-west of Geelong and approximately 70 kilometres south-west of Melbourne, and Ballarat and Geelong are identified as important service centres for the north and south of the Shire. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) The Shire sits across two regional planning areas, with the north in the Central Highlands Region and the south in the G21 Region. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

The planning scheme review records that the Shire had just under 25,000 people by 2021 and had experienced some of the highest percentage population growth rates outside metropolitan Melbourne since the late 1990s. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf) The C102gpla ordinance similarly states that the Shire had 24,985 people in 2021 and that growth is influenced by proximity to Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

The Haddon Structure Plan appears in the planning scheme review as one of three structure plans to be finalised and implemented, alongside the South East Precinct Structure Plan and the Smythesdale Structure Plan. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf) The same review later identifies preparation of the Haddon Structure Plan as a further strategic work item drawn from the Golden Plains Council Plan 2021-2025. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf)

Analysis

Strategic Role in the Settlement System

Haddon is not framed in the available ordinance as the primary northern growth centre; that role is given to Smythesdale, which the scheme identifies as the northern growth centre for Golden Plains Shire. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) Haddon is instead named with Cambrian Hill as a location close to Golden Plains Shire where there may be a connection to services and infrastructure developing from more intense development in the City of Ballarat, and both are identified for further investigation for future growth in the Northern Settlement Strategy. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

That mechanism matters because Haddon’s planning question is not simply whether there is demand for rural-residential or township growth; it is whether growth can be contained, serviced, and coordinated with the Ballarat-facing infrastructure system. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) The north-west settlement policy applies to areas identified in the Golden Plains Northern Settlement Strategy Strategic Directions Plan and directs that growth be facilitated and contained in accordance with that strategy. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

The scheme-wide settlement direction is conservative about outward expansion: it seeks to consolidate townships, direct residential development within township boundaries, maintain a clear distinction between urban and rural areas, and avoid urban development in unserviced areas. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) For Haddon, this means the structure plan should be read as a containment and sequencing tool, not just a growth-enabling map. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

Haddon as a Small Town Rather Than a Primary Growth Centre

The ordinance lists Haddon among the Shire’s small townships and settlements, together with Teesdale, Lethbridge, Linton, Meredith, Ross Creek and Scarsdale. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) For these small towns, the scheme says town structure plans have been prepared for most settlements and establish a basis for future strategic planning decisions in each town. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

The small-town settlement approach is to contain growth within existing settlement boundaries, limit rezoning that forms new residential land, and facilitate infill development as shown on township maps at Clause 02.04. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) This is the clearest current policy signal for Haddon: unless the missing Haddon Structure Plan demonstrates a different evidence base, the default policy posture is infill and containment rather than broad outward rezoning. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

The planning scheme review’s permit geography gives Haddon some measurable activity signal, with Haddon accounting for 71 planning applications, or 4 per cent of applications in the reviewed four-year period. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf) The same review groups Haddon with Teesdale, Lethbridge, Linton, Meredith, Ross Creek and Scarsdale as “small towns” that collectively accounted for 33.44 per cent of planning applications, which the review describes as reasonable because this is where growth is occurring. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf)

The application data does not prove that Haddon needs new outward growth land, because the review does not break Haddon’s 71 applications into dwelling, subdivision, buildings and works, rural living, or other permit categories. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf) The safer planning inference is that Haddon is active enough to require a structure plan, but the available evidence does not quantify unmet residential demand, lot yield, or infrastructure triggers. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf)

Infrastructure and Servicing Dependencies

The ordinance states that all towns in the Shire have reticulated water supplied by either Central Highlands Water or Barwon Water, and that Central Highlands Water believes it can service most anticipated growth in its northern service area. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) The identified water-supply exception is the higher land south-east of Scarsdale extending to the area south of Ross Creek, not Haddon. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

Sewerage is a much narrower constraint than water in the available ordinance, because the scheme says sewerage systems are limited to Woodlands Estate near Enfield, Bannockburn and Smythesdale. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) The same infrastructure policy says Council aims to direct development to areas with access to water and sewerage infrastructure, facilitate water and sewerage works in unsewered townships, and improve sewerage infrastructure and treated water supply where lacking. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

For Haddon, the mechanism is straightforward: water capacity may be less limiting than sewer availability, but the current source set does not confirm whether Haddon has reticulated sewer or a servicing strategy. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) Without a Haddon servicing assessment, the structure plan cannot be analysed for development staging, minimum lot sizes, wastewater risk, drainage interactions, or whether infill can be supported without cumulative environmental effects. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

The broader transport context also matters because Golden Plains has a 1,800 kilometre road network, around three-quarters of resident workers travel outside the Shire for work, and the proportion of residents living near public transport is significantly lower than the State average. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) For Haddon, that means any growth scenario should be tested against road access, school and service trips, Ballarat commuting patterns, and public transport limitations rather than treated as a purely local township map exercise. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

Relationship to Ballarat and Cross-Boundary Planning

Haddon’s distinctive strategic issue is its relationship to Ballarat rather than to the Shire’s southern growth system around Geelong. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) The ordinance states that a number of north-west settlements are strongly connected to Ballarat and that locations such as Haddon and Cambrian Hill are identified for further investigation for future growth because of potential connection to services and infrastructure associated with more intense development in the City of Ballarat. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

This creates a cross-jurisdictional dependency: the planning outcome for Haddon may depend partly on infrastructure and settlement decisions made in or near Ballarat, even though Haddon sits within Golden Plains Shire. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) The current corpus does not include City of Ballarat growth area documents, Central Highlands Water servicing plans for the Ballarat fringe, or transport modelling for Ballarat-facing settlements, so the cross-boundary mechanism is visible but not quantified. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

The Central Highlands regional policy direction supports Ballarat as the main centre for regional growth, services and employment, with major growth focused to the west. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) The same regional policy supports directing growth to well-serviced settlements with good access to Melbourne or Ballarat, particularly including Smythesdale. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

Haddon is therefore adjacent to a regional growth pressure system but is not expressly elevated in the available sources to the same policy role as Smythesdale. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) The Haddon Structure Plan should be expected to resolve whether Haddon remains primarily an infill-contained small town or whether specific serviced growth areas are justified by Ballarat-linked infrastructure. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

Statutory Work Program and Amendment Pathway

The planning scheme review recommends including priority strategic work in Clause 74.02, including preparation of the South East Precinct Structure Plan, the Smythesdale Structure Plan and the Haddon Structure Plan. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf) The review also explains that Clause 74.02 is intended to include work likely to commence within the next four years, which is the review period for planning schemes. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf)

The C102gpla ordinance and track-changes ordinance show that the planning scheme review was being translated into updated ordinance content, including updated settlement, infrastructure, economic development and further strategic work material. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) The track-changes version confirms the same policy direction in marked-up form, including Haddon’s identification in the Haddon Structure Plan map sequence and the north-west settlement language linking Haddon and Cambrian Hill to future growth investigation under the Northern Settlement Strategy. (Source: Att 7.6.6 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Track Changes Combined.pdf)

The available source set does not show that the Haddon Structure Plan has been adopted, exhibited, translated into a planning scheme amendment, or used to change zones or overlays. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf) The current status should therefore be treated as an active or pending strategic planning work item rather than an implemented statutory control. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf)

Existing Statutory Fragment: Taylors Road Haddon Restructure Plan

The ordinance includes an incorporated restructure plan for Taylors Road, Haddon: “Restructure Plan No. 2 – Taylors Road Haddon”, prepared by Golden Plains Shire Council in June 2007. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) The planning scheme review also identifies “Restructure Plan No. 2 – Taylors Road Haddon” as an incorporated document. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf)

This is important because a restructure plan usually deals with legacy subdivision or fragmented land patterns, which is a different planning mechanism from a whole-town structure plan. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) The source set does not include the Taylors Road Haddon restructure plan itself, so it is not possible to identify the affected lots, consolidation logic, dwelling constraints, or how that incorporated document should be reconciled with the future Haddon Structure Plan. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

Current Status

The Haddon Structure Plan is listed in the planning scheme review as strategic work to be prepared and implemented, and the available sources do not provide an adoption date, exhibition date, amendment number, panel process, or gazettal outcome for a Haddon-specific structure plan. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf) The appropriate current status is therefore “in-progress” or “pending”, with the key next step being publication or retrieval of the actual Haddon Structure Plan and any supporting technical work. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf)

Dependencies

  • Blocks: A defensible Haddon-specific planning position on township boundary changes, infill capacity, rezoning, servicing, and infrastructure sequencing is blocked until the Haddon Structure Plan and supporting technical assessments are available. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf)
  • Blocked by: The available evidence indicates likely dependencies on the Northern Settlement Strategy, Central Highlands Water servicing, Ballarat-facing infrastructure, and any Haddon-specific constraints analysis. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)
  • Informed by: The available source set identifies the Northern Settlement Strategy 2019, the planning scheme review, the proposed C102gpla ordinance, and the existing Haddon Structure Plan map sequence in Clause 02.04 as relevant inputs. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)
  • Implements: The work program implements the Golden Plains Council Plan 2021-2025 action to prepare the Haddon Structure Plan and the planning scheme review recommendation to include priority further strategic work in Clause 74.02. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf)
  • Conflicts with: The main policy tension is between investigating future growth around Haddon because of Ballarat-linked infrastructure and the scheme-wide direction to contain small-town growth, limit new residential rezoning, and avoid unserviced urban development. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

Haddon is explicitly linked to the City of Ballarat growth context because the ordinance states that services and infrastructure associated with more intense development in Ballarat may create connections for locations such as Haddon and Cambrian Hill. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) This means any complete Haddon analysis should read Golden Plains documents together with City of Ballarat growth planning, Central Highlands Water servicing programs, and regional transport planning for Ballarat-facing settlements. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

Gaps in This Analysis

The most important gap is the absence of the Haddon Structure Plan itself, despite the planning scheme review listing it as a further strategic work item. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf) Without that document, this page cannot quantify township boundary changes, lot supply, expected dwelling yield, open space needs, road upgrades, drainage assets, bushfire exposure, biodiversity constraints, cultural heritage constraints, or sequencing triggers. (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf)

The second gap is the Northern Settlement Strategy 2019, which is repeatedly referenced as the strategic basis for north-west growth and for Haddon’s future growth investigation role. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) Without the strategy document and its Strategic Directions Plan, it is not possible to map Haddon’s investigation area, compare Haddon with Cambrian Hill or Smythesdale, or test whether the structure plan is implementing an already-set direction or still resolving strategic options. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

The third gap is infrastructure evidence, especially Central Highlands Water servicing material and any transport assessment for Haddon or the Ballarat fringe. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) The available ordinance states the general water and sewer policy position but does not provide Haddon-specific capacity, augmentation timing, sewer feasibility, road intersection performance, or public transport implications. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

The fourth gap is the incorporated “Restructure Plan No. 2 – Taylors Road Haddon”, which is listed in the scheme but not included in the manifest. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf) Without that plan, the relationship between legacy restructure controls and the broader Haddon Structure Plan cannot be resolved. (Source: Att 7.6.5 - Golden Plains C102gpla Ordinance Combined_1.pdf)

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