title: Planning Scheme Amendment C263gben - Marong Township Structure Plan Implementation council: greater-bendigo state: vic category: amendment classification: MAJOR status: approved last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:
- Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf
- C263gben Marong Township Structure Plan page
- Council Meeting Agenda - Monday December 15, 2025.pdf
- Council Meeting Agenda - Monday April 20, 2026.pdf
- plans-strategies-and-documents
Planning Scheme Amendment C263gben - Marong Township Structure Plan Implementation
Amendment C263gben is the statutory machinery that converts the Marong Township Structure Plan from a strategic plan into operative planning controls for zoning, overlays, local policy, flood management, heritage protection, bushfire interface design and later development-plan processes. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.13) Its practical effect is to shift Marong from a general township-control model toward a staged satellite-township framework intended to accommodate about 8,000 residents while managing flood, bushfire, freight, employment-land, heritage and rural-interface constraints. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.9, 16)
The amendment was approved by the Minister for Planning with changes and gazetted on 29 May 2025, after Council adopted it on 24 June 2024. (Source: C263gben Marong Township Structure Plan page) The controls are now in effect, but the amendment deliberately leaves several binding implementation questions to later planning processes, especially the Bendigo Regional Employment Precinct, the Marong Western Freight Corridor, development contributions, future precinct rezonings and water-servicing augmentation. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.37, 63, 78-81)
Background
Marong is about 15 kilometres west of the Bendigo city centre, had an estimated 2019 population of about 1,413, and sits at the junction of the Calder, Calder Alternative and Wimmera Highways. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.16) The township has been identified for growth to about 8,000 residents since the Bendigo Residential Development Strategy 2004, with later confirmation in the Greater Bendigo Residential Strategy 2014, The Marong Plan 2011 and the Loddon Mallee South Regional Growth Plan 2014. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.16, 18)
Council adopted the Marong Township Structure Plan on 16 September 2020 after earlier technical work on movement, access, heritage, bushfire and flooding, and after 2018 consultation on the final draft generated 26 submissions. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.18) The Minister authorised Amendment C263gben on 31 October 2022 subject to 12 conditions, including changes to flood provisions, bushfire setbacks, DPO31, FO1, LSIO1, vegetation controls and notice to nominated agencies and Dja Dja Wurrung Aboriginal Corporation. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.18)
The amendment was exhibited from 25 May to 7 July 2023 and received 34 submissions, including 29 opposed or seeking changes. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.7, 19) A Panel was appointed on 1 November 2023, held a directions hearing on 30 November 2023 and a hearing from 12 to 15 February 2024, then released its report on 14 March 2024. (Source: C263gben Marong Township Structure Plan page; Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.7)
Analysis
Statutory Mechanism and Planning Effect
The amendment applies to about 782 hectares within and adjacent to Marong, flood-prone land along Bullock and Fletchers Creeks, and all Low Density Residential Zone land in the Greater Bendigo Planning Scheme. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.15) The key mechanism is not a single rezoning: it is a package of policy, zone, overlay and operational-provision changes that together set the rules for later development plans, private amendments and permit decisions. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.13-15)
The amendment inserts a Marong local policy at Clause 11.03-6L-04, identifies Marong as a large activity centre, updates floodplain policy, and updates walking and cycling mapping for Marong. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.13) It also deletes the Township Zone, Rural Living Zone and Industrial 3 Zone from parts of Marong and replaces them with more specific controls, including LDRZ schedules, MUZ3, NRZ, expanded C1Z, PPRZ and PCRZ. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.13-14)
The overlay mechanism is equally important. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.14-15) The amendment applies Heritage Overlay controls to individual places, Design and Development Overlay schedules to low-density, residential, town-centre and bushfire-interface areas, DPO31 to the mixed-use precinct, FO1 to high-hazard flood land where depths exceed 500 millimetres, and LSIO1 to flood-prone land where depths are up to and including 350 millimetres. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.14-15)
The practical change is visible in later permit assessment. (Source: Council Meeting Agenda - Monday December 15, 2025.pdf, p.46) A childcare application lodged before gazettal was assessed after C263gben changed the site from Township Zone and DPO6 to Neighbourhood Residential Zone and DDO32, and the removal of the DPO6 notice-and-review exemption required notice under section 52 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987. (Source: Council Meeting Agenda - Monday December 15, 2025.pdf, p.46) That example shows the amendment is already altering procedural rights and assessment tests for individual applications, not merely changing strategic wording. (Source: Council Meeting Agenda - Monday December 15, 2025.pdf, pp.46, 53-55)
Land Supply, Growth Precincts and the 8,000-Person Target
The structure plan identifies existing and future low-density areas below 8 dwellings per hectare, existing or recently subdivided residential land at an average 11 dwellings per hectare, township core and mixed-use areas for medium-density housing, and four future growth precincts requiring further planning and rezoning. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.64) The Panel accepted that Precincts 1, 3 and 4, together with monitored future expansion areas, could support the 8,000-person township vision without immediately resolving Precinct 2A as residential land. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.68-69)
Precinct 2A is the main land-supply pressure point. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.57-59) YourLand argued Precinct 2A should be designated residential and gave evidence that it could yield about 355 dwellings and accommodate about 886 residents. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.59) The Panel accepted that Precinct 2A has residential attributes, including proximity to open space, future residential areas, the town centre and the Calder Alternative Highway gateway, and that it is not particularly constrained by flooding or bushfire. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.61)
The Panel nevertheless supported keeping Precinct 2A within the BREP investigation area because regional employment planning and freight-corridor planning were advanced enough to affect the precinct’s proper land-use outcome. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.61-63) This means C263gben does not close off residential use for Precinct 2A, but it prevents the Marong structure plan from pre-empting the BREP process. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.57, 62-63)
Precinct 1 is constrained by the Scott’s Gallus Lane broiler farm and the unresolved freight and employment interfaces. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.34-39, 66-68) The structure plan uses a 1 kilometre broiler-farm buffer to define the western edge of future residential development, and the Panel found that buffer appropriate unless a more detailed odour assessment justifies variation. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.34, 38-39) The future westward expansion of Precinct 1 is therefore a conditional growth option, not current residential supply. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.67-68)
Precinct 4 is a similar monitoring case, but the issue is an eastern extension rather than an odour buffer. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.69-71) The Panel considered expansion to Salvarezza Road, Birchalls Road and Calder Highway to be logical, but did not support immediate inclusion because the change had not been exhibited and biodiversity and bushfire issues were unresolved. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.70-71)
Employment Land, Freight and Interface Dependencies
The amendment sits directly beside two larger infrastructure-and-employment decisions: the Bendigo Regional Employment Precinct and the Marong Western Freight Corridor. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.53-56) The VPA is leading spatial planning for BREP after being appointed in February 2022, and the BREP investigation area covers about 294 hectares immediately south of Marong. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.55, 60)
The BREP and freight corridor affect Marong because they may define the future edge between housing, employment land, industrial buffers and bypass infrastructure. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.61-63) The Panel found that the BREP should be large enough to avoid compromising the planning exercise, even though its final land-use mix may not require all land to become industrial. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.61-62)
The freight-corridor issue is a sequencing dependency. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.63) The Panel supported confirming the Western Freight Corridor alignment before rezoning Precinct 1 or the western part of Precinct 2, but recommended removing wording that required the corridor to be a committed project before rezoning. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.63) The mechanism is important: alignment certainty is required for orderly precinct design, but a construction commitment should not freeze residential planning for years. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.63)
The Marong Business Park is a separate employment-land issue. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.60, 63) The Panel noted the business park was rezoned to Comprehensive Development Zone in August 2017, covers 313 hectares, and remains uncertain in the short to medium term because it is still farming land and owners were understood to have no immediate development intentions. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.60) The Panel supported showing the business park for context but not including it within the township boundary on Plan 3 while it remains physically separated and its delivery uncertain. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.63)
Environmental, Heritage and Hazard Controls
Flood control is a core statutory output of the amendment. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.14-15, 21-22) The Marong Flood Study filled a previous gap in detailed flood knowledge for Bullock Creek and modelled flood extents, levels, depths and velocities for design events. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.16) NCCMA supported applying FO1 and LSIO1 and considered the Floodplain Plan sufficient to guide development through performance-based assessment criteria. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.21) The Panel did not examine the flood controls in detail because there were no unresolved objections, but it observed that the controls were supported by modelling and by the floodplain manager. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.21-22)
Bushfire control is handled through design and development controls rather than only through the Bushfire Management Overlay. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.29-34) The Terramatrix bushfire report found Marong was not in an extreme bushfire-risk landscape but could be exposed to fast-running grass and scrub fires, and the controls require setbacks of 19 metres from grassland and agricultural land, 20 metres from roadside vegetation and 33 metres from woodland vegetation, with a maximum exposure level of 12.5 kW/m2. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.29-31) The Panel accepted DDO31, DDO32, DDO35 and DPO31 as appropriate mechanisms, with flexibility for site-specific BAL reporting. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.33-34)
Heritage protection is broader than the two contested places considered in detail by the Panel. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.46-51) The exhibited amendment proposed Heritage Overlay controls for nine places, including Adams Street Palms, 1320 Calder Highway, 1329 Calder Highway, 12 Leslie Street and the Bullock Creek railway bridge. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.46) The Panel supported HO940 for 1329 Calder Highway and HO945 for 12 Leslie Street because both met local historic and rarity thresholds, while also recognising that future alterations and additional development may still be possible through permit processes. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.50-51)
A later corrections amendment shows one heritage implementation defect remained after C263gben. (Source: Council Meeting Agenda - Monday April 20, 2026.pdf, p.111) The April 2026 agenda states that 1320 Calder Highway, Marong had been deleted from C263gben because notice to apply the Heritage Overlay was given to the wrong landowner, and that C285gben proposed to progress and finalise its protection. (Source: Council Meeting Agenda - Monday April 20, 2026.pdf, p.111) This is a narrow process defect rather than a rejection of the heritage significance basis. (Source: Council Meeting Agenda - Monday April 20, 2026.pdf, p.111)
Aboriginal cultural heritage remains an analytical and implementation gap within the structure-plan framework. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.44-45) DJAARA did not raise a major concern but warned that relying only on later Cultural Heritage Management Plans may not capture broader cultural values across growth precincts, especially near Bullock Creek. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.44) The Panel agreed that CHMPs are important but insufficient on their own for strategic planning and recommended stronger recognition of Aboriginal cultural heritage values in the Marong TSP. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.44-45)
Infrastructure, Contributions and Servicing
The structure plan identifies roads, bridges, intersections, shared paths, open space, community facilities and drainage infrastructure, but C263gben does not itself deliver or fund all of that infrastructure. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.78-81) Council originally proposed a Marong Development Contributions Plan but shifted to a Development Contributions Framework because BREP planning and consolidated growth-area ownership made a more flexible precinct-by-precinct funding model preferable. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.78-79)
The proposed DCF would nominate township-wide infrastructure funded by new development areas on a dollars-per-hectare basis, including stage 2 of a central Marong community hub, a new sports reserve and pavilion east of Marong, interim Calder Highway and Calder Alternative Highway intersection works, and shared paths connecting new development areas to central Marong. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.78-79) The Panel supported replacing references to a DCP with a Development Contributions Framework and adding a strategy to Clause 11.03-6L-04 requiring infrastructure to be planned and delivered in a timely and orderly way. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.80-82)
Transport delivery remains partly outside Council control. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.79-80) DTP requested that the structure plan and DCF make clear that DTP-attributed projects had not been endorsed or funded by DTP, and VicTrack was unaware of a commitment to construct a new platform, station building, car parking and track upgrades. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.79-80) This means Marong’s structure plan assumes a future transport network that still requires separate agency decisions. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.79-81)
Water supply is also a later-stage dependency. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.21-22) Coliban Water did not object, but advised that Marong’s pumped water-supply system from Sterry Road would require an extension to service development, and that a separate rezoning application for the required site would follow after investigations confirmed the best location. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.22) The Panel did not assess whether water supply would constrain delivery of the structure plan outcomes, leaving the issue to subsequent planning processes. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, p.22)
Community infrastructure is planned but not fully committed. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.82-84) The structure plan identifies a possible future education facility and neighbourhood sports facility in Precinct 4, but the Department of Education sought wording that reflected no commitment to a new or relocated primary school. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.82-83) The Panel supported reserving the strategic possibility because Marong may add more than 6,000 residents, while recognising that later development-plan and contribution arrangements must resolve landowner burden and delivery timing. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.83-84)
Current Status
Amendment C263gben is complete and in effect after gazettal on 29 May 2025. (Source: C263gben Marong Township Structure Plan page) The approved amendment implemented the Marong Township Structure Plan, Marong Flood Study and Marong Heritage Citations by rezoning land, expanding Commercial 1 Zone land, applying overlays for development character and bushfire, applying heritage controls to new places, applying FO and LSIO flood controls, and identifying new residential growth areas for later rezoning. (Source: C263gben Marong Township Structure Plan page)
The immediate next work is not another decision on C263gben itself, but implementation through development plans, future rezonings, the BREP planning process, the Development Contributions Framework, infrastructure funding agreements, water-servicing planning and related corrections such as the proposed C285gben Heritage Overlay for 1320 Calder Highway. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.78-82; Source: Council Meeting Agenda - Monday April 20, 2026.pdf, p.111)
Dependencies
- Blocks: The amendment blocks ad hoc township expansion by requiring future growth precincts to proceed through later planning, rezoning, development-plan, infrastructure and hazard-assessment steps. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.64-65)
- Blocked by: Full implementation is blocked by unresolved BREP planning, Western Freight Corridor alignment, development-contributions arrangements, water-supply augmentation, precinct-level contamination checks, bushfire assessments, drainage design and agency funding decisions. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.22, 37, 63, 78-81)
- Informed by: The amendment is informed by the Marong Township Structure Plan, Marong Flood Study, Marong Heritage Citations, Terramatrix bushfire work, GTA movement and access work, GTA intersection analysis, Alluvium stormwater work and later Panel evidence. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.16, 18, 78)
- Implements: The amendment implements long-standing Greater Bendigo and regional settlement policy that identifies Marong as a satellite township for growth to about 8,000 residents. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.16, 18)
- Conflicts with: The main tensions are between local residential land supply and regional employment land, between residential expansion and broiler-farm protection, and between township growth timing and transport/water infrastructure commitments. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.34-39, 57-63, 78-81)
Cross-Jurisdictional Links
The amendment depends on state and regional actors beyond Council. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.19, 55, 79-80) VPA planning for BREP, DTP planning for the Western Freight Corridor, NCCMA floodplain management, CFA bushfire advice, EPA odour-buffer and contamination advice, Coliban Water servicing advice, and VicTrack rail-position evidence all shape whether the structure plan can move from policy to staged development. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.19, 21-22, 33-39, 55-57, 79-80)
Council’s broader document portal lists the Managed Growth Strategy among major strategies, but the captured page does not provide the strategy content needed to test how C263gben aligns with current municipal growth sequencing. (Source: plans-strategies-and-documents) This is relevant because the amendment’s growth timing depends on supply monitoring, future precinct take-up and later decisions about additional growth west of the township. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.71-74)
Gaps in This Analysis
The available corpus is strong on the Panel Report and council-status page, but thin on the underlying technical reports. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.16, 18, 78) The Panel Report references the Marong Township Structure Plan, Marong Flood Study, Marong Heritage Citations, Terramatrix bushfire report, GTA movement and intersection reports, Urban Enterprise economic assessment, Alluvium stormwater strategy, contamination assessment and BREP technical reports, but the manifest provides the Panel Report rather than those reports as standalone source texts. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.16, 18, 35, 41, 53, 78)
Because the underlying reports are missing, this page cannot independently quantify net developable area, lot yield by parcel, basin land-take, intersection costs, DCF levy rates, water-augmentation cost, sewer capacity, exact open-space land burden or per-precinct infrastructure apportionment. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.78-81) The most important corpus gaps are the final approved Marong Township Structure Plan, the Development Contributions Framework package, the Alluvium Stormwater Strategy, the GTA transport reports, Coliban Water servicing material, the VPA BREP project material, and the final Western Freight Corridor alignment work. (Source: Greater-Bendigo-C263gben-Panel-Report.pdf, pp.22, 55-57, 78-81)