Grange Planning Brain

title: Goornong Structure Plan council: greater-bendigo state: vic category: growth-area classification: MAJOR status: in-progress last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:

  • city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf

Goornong Structure Plan

The Goornong Structure Plan is an in-progress township planning project whose immediate constraint is not a published land-use concept but the technical work needed to understand flood behaviour and wastewater servicing. The Council Plan Q2 report records the Goornong Flood Study and Wastewater Servicing Report as underway, which means the structure plan is still in an evidence-building phase rather than a statutory implementation phase (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207).

The planning significance is that Goornong sits inside a broader municipal growth program that is trying to manage township growth while shifting 70% of urban development toward infill areas. The adopted Managed Growth Strategy establishes that 70% infill direction, and the associated planning scheme amendment was still being progressed in Q2 2025/26 after the Minister decided on 30 December 2025 to appoint an advisory committee to review settlement and bushfire risk (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.122, 209-210).

Background

The Council Plan Mir Wimbul 2025-2029 was adopted on 16 June 2025 and provides the corporate action framework under which the Goornong Structure Plan is being progressed (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.193). The relevant Council Plan action is CP 3.2.3, which groups Elmore, Goornong and Huntly together as township structure plan work under the goal that the municipality’s city and towns are vibrant and liveable (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207).

At Q2 2025/26, CP 3.2.3 was marked “In Progress” at 50%, with the Manager Strategic Planning responsible and a due date of 30 June 2026 (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207). The same progress note says the draft Elmore Structure Plan had finished consultation, that submissions and potential changes were being considered, and that Co-Futures had been engaged for the Huntly Structure Plan with work starting in early 2026 (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207). In contrast, the Goornong entry identifies the Goornong Flood Study and Wastewater Servicing Report as underway, which shows Goornong is behind Elmore in public consultation and behind Huntly in consultant procurement evidence available in this corpus (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.207, 216).

The environmental and hazard setting matters because Council’s Annual Environment Report lists the Goornong Flood Study and Waterway Flood Mitigation Management Plans as current and future work with co-funding from the Australian Government Disaster Ready Fund Round 2 (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.136-137). The same agenda records community emergency and resilience planning as underway in Goornong, Heathcote, Epsom/Huntly, Junortoun, Maiden Gully and Marong, supported by external grant funding (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.202-203).

Analysis

Strategic Role in the Growth System

Goornong is not presented in the source as a metropolitan-style precinct structure plan with a published land budget, yield table, development contributions plan, or staging plan. It is presented as one of three township structure plans being advanced under CP 3.2.3 alongside Elmore and Huntly (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207).

That grouping matters because it places Goornong within the municipality’s township-planning program rather than as an isolated project. Elmore has already moved through draft consultation, Huntly has a consultant engagement, and Goornong is still dependent on flood and wastewater studies, so the three places are at different points in the same planning pipeline (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.207, 216).

The strategic tension is between township growth planning and the municipality-wide infill target. The Annual Environment Report states that the Managed Growth Strategy had been adopted and establishes a 70% infill target for new development (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.122). The Council Plan Q2 report states that the planning scheme amendment to implement the Managed Growth Strategy and Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategy was 45% progressed, with an advisory committee appointed to review settlement and bushfire risk (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.209-210).

The practical planning mechanism is simple: a structure plan can identify where a township should grow, but the Managed Growth Strategy and its amendment set the broader settlement policy test for whether that growth is consistent with municipal housing directions. If Goornong’s structure plan proposes outward township expansion, the justification will need to sit beside the 70% infill direction and the advisory committee’s review of settlement and bushfire risk (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.122, 209-210).

Flood Risk as the First Binding Constraint

Flood risk appears to be the first technical dependency for Goornong. CP 3.2.3 identifies the Goornong Flood Study as underway in the same sentence as the Wastewater Servicing Report, and it does not identify a completed draft structure plan for Goornong (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207).

This matters because flood studies do not merely describe a hazard; they define which land can safely carry future urban uses, what floor levels or development controls may be needed, and where waterway corridors or flood storage functions should be protected. The source agenda shows Council’s local flood policy setting is to direct development into areas with no flooding or low-level inundation risk, avoid high-risk locations, protect floodplain storage, and protect floodplain areas of environmental significance (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.95-96).

The municipality’s climate evidence strengthens the significance of this constraint. The Annual Environment Report states that Bendigo is expected to experience increased maximum temperatures, reduced average rainfall compared with 1960-1990, longer extreme heat periods, a longer and more intense fire season, and more days above 38 degrees Celsius by 2050 (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.122). The same report still treats flood recovery and flood mitigation as active work, including recovery from October 2022 and summer 2023/24 flood and storm events (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.136-137).

For Goornong, the cause-and-effect chain is therefore: flood study first, spatial structure second, planning controls and infrastructure sequencing third. If the flood study identifies high-risk land, the structure plan will need to avoid or constrain that land; if the flood study identifies manageable low-risk inundation, the structure plan may be able to use design controls, minimum floor levels, waterway setbacks, and drainage infrastructure to manage risk (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.95-96, 207).

The available source does not provide flood extents, design flood levels, affected parcels, drainage assets, retarding basin locations, flood warning requirements, or waterway corridor dimensions for Goornong. That means this page cannot quantify net developable area loss, lot-yield impacts, infrastructure costs, or staging triggers from flooding.

Wastewater Servicing as the Second Binding Constraint

The Wastewater Servicing Report is the second named technical dependency for Goornong. The Q2 Council Plan report says the Goornong Flood Study and Wastewater Servicing Report are underway, which indicates the township structure plan cannot yet be assessed against a completed servicing pathway in the available corpus (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207).

The mechanism is direct: reticulated wastewater capacity determines whether additional residential, commercial, or community land can be serviced without unacceptable public health, environmental, or infrastructure impacts. A structure plan may show preferred growth areas, but subdivision and development cannot proceed at scale if wastewater treatment, pump stations, trunk mains, or connection capacity are unresolved.

The available source does not identify the wastewater authority, existing capacity, required augmentations, estimated costs, delivery timing, or whether servicing would be staged by catchment. Because those details are missing, this page cannot identify which parts of Goornong are serviceable first, which areas may be deferred, or whether servicing costs could materially affect the form of the final structure plan.

Relationship to Climate Resilience and Emergency Planning

Goornong is named in both township structure planning and emergency resilience work. The Council Plan Q2 report places Goornong in CP 3.2.3 for structure planning, while CP 2.2.2 says community emergency and resilience planning is underway in Goornong and five other localities with external grant support (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.202-203, 207).

The Annual Environment Report also records emergency planning and resilience workshops in Marong and Goornong, and it identifies delivery of the Goornong Flood Study and Waterway Flood Mitigation Management Plans as current and future work (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.136-137). This creates a useful planning relationship: the structure plan should not be read only as a land-use document, because the same locality is also being examined through flood mitigation and emergency-preparedness work (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.136-137, 202-203, 207).

The practical implication is that Goornong’s future settlement pattern should be tested against emergency access, evacuation, flood warning, vulnerable land uses, community facilities, and safe shelter planning. The available corpus does not include a Goornong emergency plan, floodplain mapping, or community resilience findings, so this page can identify the relationship but cannot test whether the future structure plan has integrated those findings.

Comparative Pipeline: Elmore and Huntly

The source shows Elmore, Goornong and Huntly moving through different stages of township structure planning. Elmore’s draft structure plan had finished consultation, Huntly’s consultant had been engaged and was starting the project in early 2026, and Goornong’s named work was its flood study and wastewater servicing report (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207).

The contracts register adds more detail for Huntly by recording CT000770 for the Huntly Structure Plan Project, awarded to CoFutures Pty Ltd, signed on 4 January 2026, priced at 148,580 excluding GST, with a 12-month term and an option of one by two years against a 200,000 excluding GST budget (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.216). No equivalent Goornong structure plan consultant contract appears in the extracted contracts awarded under delegation page, so the available evidence supports a narrower conclusion: Huntly had a disclosed consultant contract in this agenda, while Goornong’s disclosed workstream was technical flood and wastewater investigation (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.207, 216).

This difference matters for governance and sequencing. Elmore has reached community feedback analysis, Huntly has a procured project team, and Goornong is still resolving technical prerequisites that may determine what a draft plan can responsibly propose (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.207, 216).

What Cannot Yet Be Quantified

The available source does not include a Goornong land use plan, structure plan map, population forecast, dwelling yield, employment land estimate, open space schedule, transport assessment, drainage strategy, wastewater infrastructure schedule, cultural heritage assessment, bushfire assessment, biodiversity assessment, or submissions register. Because those documents are missing, this page cannot calculate gross-to-net developable area, dwelling capacity, infrastructure cost per hectare, public open space land take, road hierarchy land take, flood storage impacts, or sequencing triggers.

The available source also does not identify whether the Goornong Structure Plan will require a planning scheme amendment, whether it will alter zones or overlays, or whether it will be implemented through local policy, rezoning, development plan controls, or infrastructure contributions. The only statutory implementation evidence in the corpus relates to the separate amendment for the Managed Growth Strategy and Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategy, which was being progressed after the Minister’s 30 December 2025 decision to appoint an advisory committee on settlement and bushfire risk (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.209-210).

Current Status

As at the Q2 2025/26 Council Plan report included in the 16 February 2026 council agenda, CP 3.2.3 was “In Progress” at 50% and due by 30 June 2026 (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207). The Goornong Flood Study and Wastewater Servicing Report were underway at that point, and the source does not record a completed Goornong draft structure plan, exhibited structure plan, adopted structure plan, or planning scheme amendment for Goornong (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207).

The broader Managed Growth Strategy implementation amendment was also in progress, with the City receiving advice on 30 December 2025 that the Minister had decided to appoint an advisory committee to review settlement and bushfire risk before the amendment process progressed (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.209-210). That advisory committee process is relevant because any township growth direction for Goornong will need to sit within the municipality’s settlement framework and bushfire-risk review (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.209-210).

Dependencies

  • Blocks: A robust Goornong land-use framework cannot be settled until flood behaviour and wastewater servicing capacity are understood, because the source identifies the Goornong Flood Study and Wastewater Servicing Report as the active prerequisites for the Goornong workstream (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207).
  • Blocked by: The structure plan is blocked by completion and integration of the Goornong Flood Study and Wastewater Servicing Report, and it may also be affected by the advisory committee review of settlement and bushfire risk for the Managed Growth Strategy implementation amendment (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.207, 209-210).
  • Informed by: The known inputs are the Goornong Flood Study, the Wastewater Servicing Report, Waterway Flood Mitigation Management Plans, community emergency and resilience planning, the Managed Growth Strategy, and the Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategy (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.136-137, 202-203, 207, 209-210).
  • Implements: The project implements Council Plan CP 3.2.3 under the Council Plan goal for vibrant and liveable towns, and it sits beside the Council Plan housing priority to lead the shift to 70% of urban development in infill areas (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.207, 209).
  • Conflicts with: The available source does not document a direct policy conflict, but it identifies a potential planning tension between township growth planning and the municipality-wide 70% infill target established by the Managed Growth Strategy (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.122, 207, 209).

The source identifies external funding and agency relationships that matter for Goornong. The Goornong Flood Study and Waterway Flood Mitigation Management Plans are linked to Australian Government Disaster Ready Fund Round 2 co-funding, which means flood-risk work is not solely a local council exercise (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.136-137).

The wider flood program includes partnership work with the North Central Catchment Management Authority on Bendigo Creek flood modelling, and the Waterway Flood Mitigation Management Plans include agency and community workshops plus Aboriginal Waterway Assessments (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.199, 201-202). The agenda acknowledges that the City of Greater Bendigo is on Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurung Country, which is relevant to future structure planning where waterway, cultural heritage, and settlement decisions intersect (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.194-195).

The source does not identify the wastewater authority or any state transport agency role for Goornong. Those missing cross-jurisdictional details are material because servicing and access agencies can determine whether a structure plan can be implemented within its preferred staging timeframe.

Gaps in This Analysis

This page is based on one council agenda and therefore cannot meet the full analytical depth expected for a major growth-area page. The agenda confirms the Goornong Structure Plan workstream and its immediate flood and wastewater dependencies, but it does not include the draft structure plan, flood study, wastewater servicing report, land-use budget, infrastructure schedule, consultation findings, or implementation amendment (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207).

Critical missing documents for _gaps.md are:

  • Goornong Flood Study: needed to map flood extents, hazard categories, floor-level implications, waterway corridors, flood storage requirements, and developable-area effects.
  • Goornong Wastewater Servicing Report: needed to identify servicing capacity, augmentation requirements, staging constraints, responsible authority, cost order, and delivery timing.
  • Draft Goornong Structure Plan: needed to assess land-use directions, proposed settlement boundary, housing capacity, open space, movement network, community infrastructure, and implementation pathway.
  • Community engagement material: needed to identify local issues, agency submissions, landowner issues, and whether flood, wastewater, transport, bushfire, or character matters are contested.
  • Managed Growth Strategy and implementation amendment package: needed to test how Goornong’s township planning aligns with the 70% infill target, settlement hierarchy, housing distribution, and bushfire-risk review (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.122, 209-210).

Until those documents are available, the defensible conclusion is narrow: Goornong is an active township structure planning project, but the available evidence shows it is still being shaped by flood and wastewater investigations rather than by a published spatial plan or statutory amendment (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207).

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