title: Settlement and Bushfire Risk Advisory Committee Review council: greater-bendigo state: vic category: growth-area classification: MAJOR status: in-progress last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:
- agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf
Settlement and Bushfire Risk Advisory Committee Review
The Settlement and Bushfire Risk Advisory Committee Review is the state-level gate that now sits between Greater Bendigo’s strategic growth policy work and its translation into the Greater Bendigo Planning Scheme. The practical effect is simple: before the planning scheme amendment can proceed, the Minister has required an advisory committee to test how settlement policy and bushfire risk should be reconciled. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
This is a major planning initiative because it affects the amendment intended to implement the Managed Growth Strategy and Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategy, both of which shape where future housing growth is directed across Greater Bendigo. The council’s Q2 report records this action as 45% complete, meaning the amendment process had advanced but was not yet resolved when the February 2026 agenda was prepared. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
Background
Greater Bendigo’s Council Plan Mir Wimbul 2025-2029 groups housing under Theme 3, Thriving, and identifies a housing goal that includes leading the shift to 70% of urban development being in infill areas, planning and building key infrastructure for residential growth through existing partnerships, and increasing advocacy for more affordable, crisis, and social housing. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.209)
Within that housing program, action CP 3.3.2 is to progress the planning scheme amendment that implements the Managed Growth Strategy and Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategy into the Greater Bendigo Planning Scheme. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
The key trigger for this page is the council’s report that, on 30 December 2025, the City received advice of the Minister’s decision to appoint an advisory committee to review settlement and bushfire risk so the planning scheme amendment process could progress. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
The agenda places this within a broader municipal growth setting: Greater Bendigo is described in the planning policy assessment as Victoria’s third largest urban centre outside metropolitan Melbourne, with a projected population of 150,000 by 2036 and a population target of 200,000 by 2051. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.88)
Analysis
The Mechanism: A Growth Amendment Has Hit a Hazard Test
The mechanism is that a strategic planning scheme amendment has not simply moved from council policy into statutory implementation; it has been diverted into an advisory committee review because settlement direction and bushfire risk need to be examined together. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
In plain terms, the amendment is like a town map that says where new homes should go, but the Minister has asked for a second check on whether the map puts people in places that are too exposed to bushfire risk. The council can keep progressing the amendment, but the advisory committee becomes the checking room where growth locations and fire risk are tested before the planning scheme changes are settled. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
The under-the-hood issue is not just whether Greater Bendigo needs more housing; the agenda already records a council priority to shift 70% of urban development into infill areas and to plan infrastructure for residential growth. The under-the-hood issue is whether the spatial pattern chosen to deliver that housing policy can also satisfy bushfire-risk planning expectations. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.209)
Settlement Policy Context
The source document identifies Clause 02.03-1 Settlement as recognising strong population growth and describing Bendigo’s settlement pattern as structured around a hierarchy of activity centres within the Urban Growth Boundary. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.88)
The same agenda identifies Clause 11.01-1S Settlement as seeking to focus investment and growth in places of state significance, including Bendigo, and to promote urban renewal and infill development while concentrating retail, office employment, community facilities, and services in central locations. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.89)
Clause 11.01-1R Settlement - Loddon Mallee South is described as recognising Bendigo as the regional city and major population and economic growth hub for the region, with a strategy to facilitate increased commercial and residential densities, mixed-use development, and revitalisation of underutilised sites and land in Bendigo. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.89)
Taken together, the settlement policies point toward a more compact Bendigo: growth is to be focused within the urban structure, activity centres are to do more work, and underutilised land is expected to absorb more residential and mixed-use development. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.88-89)
Bushfire and Emergency-Risk Context
The source document does not provide the advisory committee’s terms of reference, mapped bushfire hazard areas, or the amendment documentation, but it does show that bushfire risk is an active municipal risk-management issue rather than an abstract planning consideration. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.136, 210)
The Annual Environment Report attachment records that the City slashed approximately 1,000 kilometres of roadside vegetation to reduce fire risk, completed a fire mitigation project around Big Hill with other agencies, assessed 11 Bushfire Places of Last Resort sites and installed new signs, and completed the annual private-property fire-prevention inspection program. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.136)
The same attachment records that the City delivered a joint emergency management exercise to test organisational readiness, capabilities, and processes, and that it reviewed and renewed the Northern Victorian Emergency Management Cluster collaboration with surrounding councils. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.136)
The planning implication is that bushfire risk is already being managed through operational actions, interagency work, and emergency planning, while the advisory committee is the statutory planning forum where that risk is likely to be tested against proposed settlement directions. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.136, 210)
What the Advisory Committee Is Likely Testing
The source document confirms the advisory committee’s review subject as settlement and bushfire risk, but it does not disclose its scope, membership, hearing timetable, submission list, or required outputs. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
Based on the confirmed review subject, the core planning test is the relationship between where Greater Bendigo wants to accommodate growth and whether those areas can be justified in bushfire-risk terms. This inference is grounded in the council’s reported amendment purpose, which is to implement growth and housing character strategies, and the Minister’s reported decision to appoint a committee specifically for settlement and bushfire risk. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
The likely cause-and-effect chain is: the Managed Growth Strategy and Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategy identify preferred growth and character outcomes; the planning scheme amendment seeks to give those outcomes statutory effect; the Minister’s advisory committee review tests the settlement pattern against bushfire risk; and the amendment cannot sensibly be finalised until that review is resolved. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
Relationship to Infill, Structure Planning, and Growth Sequencing
The review matters because Greater Bendigo’s housing program is not limited to one amendment action. The same Q2 Council Plan report identifies an explicit priority to shift 70% of urban development into infill areas, which makes the settlement-risk question central to the municipality’s overall housing distribution rather than a narrow technical issue. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.209)
The report also records active structure planning for Elmore, Goornong, and Huntly, with the draft Elmore Structure Plan having finished consultation, the Huntly Structure Plan commencing through a consultant engagement in early 2026, and the Goornong Flood Study and Wastewater Servicing Report underway. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207)
This means the advisory committee review sits beside a wider settlement-management program: one stream is the amendment implementing municipal growth and housing character policy, and another stream is local structure planning for individual settlements. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.207, 210)
The Goornong work is especially relevant to hazard-and-servicing sequencing because the source records both a flood study and a wastewater servicing report as underway before the draft Goornong Flood Study can be completed. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207)
Relationship to Regional Employment Land
The same Council Plan report records that Strategic Planning officers worked with the Victorian Planning Authority and other state agencies on background reports and a planning scheme amendment for the Bendigo Regional Employment Precinct, with consultation underway and the City preparing an organisational submission to the VPA. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.206)
This is relevant because settlement decisions and employment-land decisions interact through transport demand, housing distribution, and infrastructure sequencing. The source does not provide the BREP technical reports, but it does confirm that VPA-led employment-land planning and council-led housing-settlement implementation were both active in early 2026. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.206, 210)
Procedural Status and Delivery Risk
The council report records CP 3.3.2 as In Progress, 45% complete, with a responsible officer identified as the Coordinator Planning Strategy and Policy and a due date of 30 June 2026. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
The practical delivery risk is timing: if the advisory committee review produces recommendations that require changes to settlement boundaries, policy wording, bushfire controls, or supporting evidence, the amendment may need further drafting, consultation, or ministerial consideration before it can be completed. This is an inference from the advisory committee’s role as a review step inserted into the amendment process. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
The risk is not shown as a budget risk in the source because the Q2 report lists financial responsibility for the Council Plan report as not applicable. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.192)
Current Analytical Gap: Thin Source Base
This page is constrained by the manifest, which provides only one source document: the 16 February 2026 council meeting agenda. The source confirms the Minister’s advisory committee decision, the amendment being affected, the council action status, and adjacent planning program context, but it does not provide the amendment documents, the Managed Growth Strategy, the Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategy, advisory committee terms of reference, submissions, maps, CFA or DTP advice, or bushfire modelling. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.207, 210)
Because those documents are absent, this page cannot quantify which settlements or parcels are affected, how many dwellings are delayed or redirected, which areas are within mapped bushfire hazard controls, what mitigation measures are under consideration, or whether the committee is reviewing all settlement policy or only particular locations. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
Current Status
As at the February 16, 2026 council agenda, the planning scheme amendment to implement the Managed Growth Strategy and Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategy was In Progress and 45% complete. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
The City had received advice on December 30, 2025 that the Minister had decided to appoint an advisory committee to review settlement and bushfire risk to progress the planning scheme amendment process. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
The responsible officer for the relevant Council Plan action was the Coordinator Planning Strategy and Policy, and the listed due date was 30 June 2026. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
Dependencies
- Blocks: The advisory committee review may block finalisation of the planning scheme amendment that implements the Managed Growth Strategy and Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategy if its findings require changes to settlement policy or bushfire-risk treatment. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
- Blocked by: The amendment process is blocked or slowed by the Minister-appointed advisory committee review of settlement and bushfire risk. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
- Informed by: The available source confirms links to the Managed Growth Strategy, Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategy, settlement policy, and bushfire-risk considerations, but it does not include the primary technical evidence behind those matters. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.88-89, 210)
- Implements: The amendment is intended to implement the Managed Growth Strategy and Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategy into the Greater Bendigo Planning Scheme. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
- Conflicts with: No formal policy conflict is documented in the available source, but the Minister’s advisory committee decision indicates that settlement outcomes and bushfire-risk management require further review before the amendment can progress. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
Cross-Jurisdictional Links
Greater Bendigo’s emergency-management work is not wholly internal: the Annual Environment Report records renewal of the Northern Victorian Emergency Management Cluster collaboration with surrounding councils. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.136)
The source also records work with other agencies on a fire mitigation project around Big Hill, which resulted in additional fuel reduction burns and confirmation of agency actions to protect critical infrastructure. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.136)
For settlement planning, the source records City work with the Victorian Planning Authority and other state agencies on the Bendigo Regional Employment Precinct, showing that state-agency coordination was active in parallel with the settlement-and-bushfire advisory committee process. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.206)
Gaps in This Analysis
The primary gap is the absence of the advisory committee’s terms of reference, directions, hearing timetable, submissions, background reports, and final or interim advice. Without those documents, the review’s geographic scope, statutory questions, evidence base, and likely amendment changes cannot be analysed. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
The second gap is the absence of the Managed Growth Strategy and Housing and Neighbourhood Character Strategy documents themselves. Without those documents, this page cannot quantify the settlement hierarchy, proposed infill distribution, housing-capacity assumptions, neighbourhood character controls, or locations where bushfire risk may change the preferred growth pattern. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
The third gap is the absence of bushfire-specific technical evidence, including mapped hazard areas, CFA advice, bushfire landscape assessments, evacuation analysis, and any planning scheme controls proposed or contested through the amendment. Without those documents, the analysis can identify the review mechanism but cannot assess which settlements, interfaces, or development types carry the greatest planning risk. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.136, 210)
The fourth gap is the absence of amendment documentation, including amendment number, explanatory report, instruction sheet, proposed ordinance, planning scheme maps, and submissions. Without those documents, the amendment lifecycle cannot be placed precisely beyond the source’s statement that the process was In Progress and affected by the Minister’s advisory committee decision. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)
These should be logged in _gaps as a critical corpus gap because the available source confirms a major statutory review but does not include the primary documents needed to produce parcel-level, settlement-level, or control-level analysis. (Source: agendas-and-meeting-minutes-city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210)