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title: Stonehaven Precinct Structure Plan / Future Growth Identification Area council: golden-plains state: vic category: growth-area classification: MAJOR status: exhibited last_compiled: 2026-05-30 source_docs:

  • Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf
  • Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf

Stonehaven Precinct Structure Plan / Future Growth Identification Area

Stonehaven is not yet documented as an operative Precinct Structure Plan; it is identified in the Growing Places Strategy as a future growth location that would require a new structure planning process before rezoning or urban development could be considered (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.25). Its planning significance is that it sits in the Geelong-facing part of Golden Plains Shire and is being held as a later growth option, conditional on transport capacity, sewer servicing, regional land-supply analysis, and consideration of other growth locations first (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, pp.16-17).

Background

The Growing Places Strategy is Golden Plains Shire Council’s long-term housing and settlement strategy to 2050 and beyond, prepared to direct future housing growth while protecting valued rural, environmental, cultural and landscape attributes (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.2-3). The strategy identifies five Potential Growth Locations: Meredith, Lethbridge, Teesdale, Stonehaven and Cambrian Hill (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.22). Stonehaven and Cambrian Hill are treated differently from the nearer-term locations because they are identified as future growth options only if necessary infrastructure becomes available (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.18).

Council adopted the Growing Places Strategy at its June 2025 Council Meeting and resolved to seek Ministerial approval to prepare, authorise and exhibit Planning Scheme Amendment C106gpla to implement the strategy (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, p.11). The Minister authorised exhibition of Amendment C106gpla in mid-December 2025 with conditions mainly concerning terminology and consistency with State planning provisions (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, p.11). The amendment was exhibited between 23 February 2026 and 13 April 2026, and the 26 May 2026 agenda recommended that all submissions be referred to an independent Planning Panel (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, p.11).

Analysis

Strategic Role and Sequencing

Stonehaven is classified in the Growing Places Strategy as a locality that could become a District Town or Sub Regional Centre, with a substantial-change direction, but only after a new structure plan, transport infrastructure and other services are provided, and after further strategic justification and identification (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.20). This means the strategy does not treat Stonehaven as an immediate land-release area; it treats it as a possible future growth front that must pass infrastructure, demand and sequencing tests before statutory rezoning work can proceed (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.22-23).

The sequencing logic is explicit: Bannockburn remains the primary focus for future growth, Meredith is the next location subject to reticulated sewerage, Lethbridge and Teesdale are additional growth locations subject to infrastructure commitments, and Stonehaven is a later Geelong-facing option because it has not previously been identified in regional or local growth plans (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.22-23). The 2026 post-exhibition officer report reinforces this sequencing by recommending planning scheme wording that requires other growth locations to have been considered first before growth and development in Stonehaven is considered (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, pp.16-17).

The practical effect is that Stonehaven is a reserve growth location rather than a live rezoning precinct in the available evidence base (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.23-25). Any future Stonehaven PSP would need to demonstrate that the earlier growth sequence cannot meet housing needs, or that regional land-supply conditions justify opening a Geelong-facing growth front (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, pp.16-17).

Housing Demand and Land Supply Mechanism

Golden Plains Shire had a Victoria in Future 2023 population projection of 24,892 people in 2021, 27,276 in 2026, 30,166 in 2031 and 34,036 in 2036 (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.7). The same source gives dwelling projections of 9,408 dwellings in 2021, 10,405 in 2026, 11,593 in 2031 and 13,134 in 2036 (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.8). The draft Plan for Victoria housing target cited in the strategy is 11,700 new houses for Golden Plains Shire by 2051 (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.25).

The strategy says the Bannockburn Growth Plan can accommodate more than 8,000 new homes in the South East Precinct Structure Plan, North West Development Plan and South West Development Plan precinct areas, and 13,000 new homes at full development including future investigation areas (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.25). This matters for Stonehaven because the strategy’s own housing-supply logic indicates that Bannockburn can meet the 15-year baseline growth requirement, while a faster take-up of Bannockburn land would bring forward the need for a new growth front before 2040 (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.24-25).

Stonehaven therefore functions as a conditional response to higher-than-baseline demand rather than as the first answer to the municipal housing target (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.24-25). The required regional analysis is especially important because Stonehaven is spatially tied to Geelong’s growth system rather than only to Golden Plains’ internal township hierarchy (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.25).

Transport Dependency

Transport is the primary stated precondition for Stonehaven (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.23). The draft strategy states that the Department of Transport and the City of Greater Geelong advised that the Hamilton and Midland Highways will reach capacity with the planned North Western Growth Area population and growth at Bannockburn (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.16-17). It then states that considering Stonehaven as a growth area is subject to traffic investigations and modelling, and would depend on solutions and potential upgrades to connections within Geelong (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.17).

The post-exhibition officer report recommends softening the narrow Hamilton Highway wording into a broader requirement for suitable traffic solutions that ensure movement efficiency and safety in connecting the growth area to the wider transport network (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, p.16). That change is material because it shifts the test from a single-corridor capacity issue to a network-performance issue, which would require future PSP work to examine how Stonehaven connects into Geelong, Bannockburn, regional roads and any public transport network changes (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, pp.16-17).

The strategy also references the G21 Integrated Transport Strategy’s advocacy for revival of passenger rail between Geelong and Bannockburn through Geelong’s Western Growth Area, and notes that a future population at Stonehaven could access that service (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.16). This is not presented as committed infrastructure in the source set, so it should be treated as an enabling public transport concept rather than a confirmed servicing pathway (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.16).

Sewer and Civil Infrastructure Dependency

Sewer servicing is a hard constraint for Stonehaven in the available documents (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.17). Barwon Water advised that existing and planned infrastructure in the Western Growth Area of Geelong cannot accommodate the Stonehaven growth scenario, so a new servicing solution would be required, particularly for sewerage (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.17). The strategy states that this solution would likely need either a new standalone system or a significant upgrade to planned infrastructure (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.17).

This creates a direct cause-and-effect chain: Stonehaven cannot move from future identification to implementable PSP without a servicing pathway, the servicing pathway cannot be assumed from Geelong’s Western Growth Area infrastructure, and the cost and delivery responsibility cannot be assessed without an infrastructure servicing assessment and development contributions framework (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.15-17, 25-26). The strategy states that structure plans, PSPs or development plans must include a Development Contribution framework to fund identified infrastructure and services needed to support healthy communities (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.10).

The source documents do not provide a Stonehaven land budget, net developable area, sewer catchment, pump-station requirement, trunk-main alignment, water supply concept or infrastructure cost schedule (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.25-26). This means no defensible lot yield, DCP levy, staging threshold or servicing-cost analysis can be produced from the present corpus (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.25-26).

Constraints, Character and Required Technical Work

The strategy states that Stonehaven was identified by analysis as generally clear of constraints and appropriate for further investigation as a growth location (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.23). That statement is high-level only and does not substitute for PSP-scale environmental, cultural heritage, drainage, contamination, transport or servicing assessments (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.25-26).

The strategy requires future growth-location planning to include Cultural Values Assessment, Place Name Audit, bushfire risk assessment, stormwater management plan and flood impact assessment, flora and fauna assessment, arborist report, infrastructure servicing assessment, land capability assessment, environmental site assessment, transport impact assessment, historical heritage assessment, buffers assessment, social and affordable housing plan, sustainable development response, development contributions plan, character assessment, and economic and retail assessment (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.25-26). For Stonehaven, this list is not administrative detail; it is the evidence package needed to convert a strategic identification into a statutory plan capable of supporting rezoning and infrastructure funding (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.25-26).

The strategy identifies Stonehaven’s key character elements as rural character, dry stone walls, planted windbreaks, rural fences, open vistas and views to the Barrabool Hills (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.23). It also states that future historical heritage assessment should map and assess dry stone walls by a qualified specialist and incorporate heritage places into urban development in a way that protects and conserves their value (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.26). The design implication is that a future PSP would need to treat dry stone walls and open-view landscapes as structuring constraints, not merely as aesthetic preferences (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.23, 26).

Amendment C106gpla and Contested Issues

Amendment C106gpla is the statutory pathway currently used to implement the Growing Places Strategy into the Golden Plains Planning Scheme (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, p.11). Exhibition generated 11 submissions, comprising five agency submissions and six submissions from or on behalf of landowners (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, p.11). Eight submissions supported the amendment, requested no changes or requested minor changes; one supported the broad objective but sought substantial changes; and one objected (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, p.11).

Stonehaven was directly supported by at least two submissions in the agenda summary: Submitter 4 supported directing growth to Stonehaven and Teesdale, and Submitter 11 supported identifying Stonehaven as a future growth identification area (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, pp.12-13). Submitter 11 also recommended changes to Clause 02.03-3 concerning requirements for considering growth in Stonehaven (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, p.13). Officers recommended corresponding wording that requires other growth locations to be considered first, suitable traffic solutions for wider network efficiency and safety, and analysis of regional land supply and housing demand (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, pp.16-17).

The main contested issue in the broader amendment was not Stonehaven itself but whether Batesford should also be identified as a growth location (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, pp.14-15). Officers did not recommend adding Batesford because the existing Batesford Structure Plan still includes an undeveloped Future Rural-Residential Stage 4 area estimated to provide 154 additional lots, and because a rural break is identified between Batesford and the Gheringhap Employment Precinct to protect industrial buffer distances (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, p.14). This matters for Stonehaven because it shows Council is defending the selected growth-location sequence rather than adding every landowner-nominated location during amendment exhibition (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, pp.14-15).

Current Status

As at the 26 May 2026 Council Meeting agenda, Amendment C106gpla had completed exhibition and officers recommended referring all submissions to an independent Planning Panel under section 23(1)(b) of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, p.11). The same agenda records that the amendment was exhibited from 23 February 2026 to 13 April 2026 and that 11 submissions were received (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, p.11).

No source document in this manifest confirms that a Stonehaven PSP has commenced, been exhibited, been adopted or been approved (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.25-27; Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, pp.11-20). The current evidence supports describing Stonehaven as a future growth identification area requiring later PSP work, not as an active PSP with a settled boundary, yield, land budget or infrastructure schedule (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.20, 23, 25-26).

Dependencies

  • Blocks: Stonehaven does not presently block identified nearer-term growth locations because the strategy sequences Bannockburn first, Meredith next subject to sewer, and Lethbridge and Teesdale subject to infrastructure commitments (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.22-23).
  • Blocked by: Stonehaven is blocked by the need for suitable traffic solutions, a sewer servicing solution, a new structure plan, additional technical studies, and regional land-supply and housing-demand analysis (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, pp.16-17; Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.23, 25-26).
  • Informed by: The available documents identify the Growing Places Strategy, the Housing Needs Assessment, the Service Limitation and Civil Infrastructure Analysis, transport advice from the Department of Transport and the City of Greater Geelong, and Barwon Water servicing advice as inputs to the Stonehaven position (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.8, 15-17, 23).
  • Implements: Stonehaven’s identification implements the Growing Places Strategy’s long-term settlement framework and is proposed to be reflected through Amendment C106gpla (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, p.11; Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.20, 27).
  • Conflicts with: The available documents do not identify a direct policy conflict, but they do identify sequencing tension with other growth locations because Stonehaven should only be considered after other growth locations have been considered for development (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf, pp.16-17).

Stonehaven is cross-jurisdictional in practical planning terms because the strategy describes it as extending from the planned future growth of Geelong rather than as an isolated Golden Plains township expansion (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.23). The transport dependency is linked to the Hamilton and Midland Highways, the planned North Western Growth Area population, growth at Bannockburn, and potential upgrades to connections within Geelong (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.16-17). The sewer dependency is linked to Barwon Water and the Western Growth Area of Geelong because Barwon Water advised that existing and planned Western Growth Area infrastructure cannot accommodate the Stonehaven growth scenario (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.17).

The strategy also links Stonehaven to regional public transport planning by noting that a future population at Stonehaven could access a revived passenger rail service between Geelong and Bannockburn if that service were delivered through Geelong’s Western Growth Area (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, p.16). The source set does not include the G21 Integrated Transport Strategy, Barwon Water servicing plans, Geelong Western Growth Area servicing documents, or Department of Transport modelling, so these cross-jurisdictional dependencies cannot be quantified from the present corpus (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.16-17).

Gaps in This Analysis

This analysis is constrained because the manifest contains only two source documents: a council agenda item on Amendment C106gpla and a draft text/maps version of the Growing Places Strategy (Source: Council Meeting Agenda Final - 26.05.2026.pdf; Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf). The source set does not include a Stonehaven PSP, PSP boundary plan, land-use budget, development contributions plan, transport impact assessment, sewer servicing assessment, drainage and flood modelling, cultural heritage assessment, biodiversity assessment, contamination assessment, economic and retail assessment, or submitted agency documents (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.25-26).

The missing documents prevent calculation of gross area, net developable area, lot yield, dwelling density, infrastructure cost, DCP levy, land-take for open space or drainage, road-upgrade triggers, sewer-capacity thresholds, and staging dependencies (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.15-17, 25-26). The most important corpus gaps to record in _gaps are the Growing Places Strategy Informing Document, the Housing Needs Assessment 2022, the Service Limitation and Civil Infrastructure Analysis 2024, Barwon Water servicing advice for Stonehaven and the Western Growth Area, transport advice or modelling for the Hamilton and Midland Highways, and any future Stonehaven PSP technical study package (Source: Att 08.09 Growing Places Strategy Draft Text and Maps.pdf, pp.5, 8, 15-17, 25-26).

Graph View