Grange Planning Brain

title: Goornong Wastewater Servicing Report council: greater-bendigo state: vic category: infrastructure classification: MAJOR status: in-progress last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:

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

Goornong Wastewater Servicing Report

The Goornong Wastewater Servicing Report is a live infrastructure input to the Goornong structure-planning work program, not a completed servicing strategy in the available corpus (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). Its planning significance is that Council reports the wastewater servicing work and the goornong-flood-study as underway before the Goornong planning work can be finalised, which makes wastewater and flood evidence part of the sequencing pathway for settlement planning in Goornong (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

Background

The only available source is the City of Greater Bendigo Council Meeting Agenda for February 16, 2026, which includes the Q2 Council Plan 2025-2026 progress report as Attachment 9.6.1 (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.191-194). That Q2 report sits under the City of Greater Bendigo Council Plan Mir Wimbul 2025-2029, which Council adopted on June 16, 2025 (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.193).

The relevant action is CP 3.2.3, which is to progress the structure plans for Elmore, Goornong and Huntly (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). The Q2 progress table records CP 3.2.3 as in progress, 50% complete, with a responsible officer of Manager Strategic Planning and a due date of June 30, 2026 (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

The same action reports that 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.208). For Goornong, the reported position is narrower: the goornong-flood-study and the Wastewater Servicing Report were underway, and completion of those studies was identified as the next step before the Goornong draft work could be completed (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

Analysis

Wastewater as a Structure-Planning Gate

The agenda does not publish the Goornong Wastewater Servicing Report itself, but it places the report inside CP 3.2.3, the Council Plan action for progressing the Elmore, Goornong and Huntly structure plans (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). That placement matters because it shows the wastewater report is not a stand-alone operational study in the available record; it is being used as an evidence input to settlement and structure planning for Goornong (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

In plain terms, the structure plan is the drawing of how the town should grow, while the wastewater servicing report is one of the checks on whether the pipes, treatment pathway, or servicing arrangement can support that growth (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). The available agenda does not state the preferred servicing solution, the existing wastewater capacity, the number of lots that could be serviced, the cost of augmentation, the authority responsible for delivery, or the trigger points for staged works (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

The consequence is that the current planning record can confirm a dependency but cannot quantify it (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). If the completed wastewater report identifies adequate existing capacity, the Goornong structure-planning work would have a materially different implementation pathway than if it identifies a need for trunk sewer, pump station, treatment, or disposal upgrades; however, the available source does not identify which of those servicing conditions applies (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

The same CP 3.2.3 progress note groups the Goornong Flood Study and the Wastewater Servicing Report together as underway inputs to the Goornong work program (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). This means Goornong’s structure-planning pathway is being held open until both water-related investigations are advanced, with one study addressing flood conditions and the other addressing wastewater servicing (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

The agenda also records climate resilience work in Goornong, including community emergency and resilience planning underway in Goornong, Heathcote, Epsom/Huntly, Junortoun, Maiden Gully and Marong with external grant funding (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.203). The Annual Environment Report attached to the same agenda also records delivery of community resilience and emergency planning workshops in Marong and Goornong during 2024-2025 (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.136).

This context does not prove a direct technical link between wastewater infrastructure and flood mitigation, but it does show that Goornong is being considered through both settlement-planning and climate-risk workstreams in the same Council reporting cycle (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.136, 203, 208). The agenda separately states that delivery of the Goornong Flood Study and waterway-flood-mitigation-management-plans was current and future work funded with co-funding from the Australian Government Disaster Ready Fund Round 2 (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.137).

Relationship to Managed Growth and Housing Policy

The Council Plan progress report places Goornong structure planning under Theme 3, Thriving, and Goal 3.2, Our city and towns are vibrant and liveable (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.206-208). The adjacent housing goal, Goal 3.3, includes priorities to lead the shift to 70% of urban development being in infill areas and to plan and build key infrastructure for residential growth through existing partnerships (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.209).

The Annual Environment Report context states that the adopted managed-growth-strategy establishes a 70% infill target for new development (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.123). The Q2 Council Plan report also records that the planning scheme amendment to implement the Managed Growth Strategy and housing-and-neighbourhood-character-strategy was in progress, 45% complete, after Council received advice on December 30, 2025 that the Minister had decided to appoint an advisory committee to review settlement and bushfire risk (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.210).

The available source does not state whether Goornong is intended to accommodate additional residential growth, consolidate existing township capacity, resolve servicing constraints for existing lots, or inform a boundary decision (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). The important analytical point is therefore procedural: the wastewater report appears to be one of the missing technical inputs needed before Council can settle Goornong’s structure-planning position inside the broader managed-growth framework (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.208-210).

What Cannot Yet Be Quantified

The available agenda does not provide a wastewater catchment map, existing system capacity, projected equivalent-population demand, lot-yield assumptions, capital-cost estimates, augmentation staging, land requirements for infrastructure, environmental approvals, funding source, or delivery agency (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). Because those items are absent, this page cannot calculate the number of dwellings constrained by wastewater servicing, the cost per lot of any required augmentation, the timing risk to structure-plan implementation, or the effect on Goornong’s developable land supply (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

The available agenda also does not identify the wastewater authority, the infrastructure owner, the approval pathway, or whether servicing would rely on reticulated sewerage, decentralised treatment, interim works, or another servicing model (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). Those omissions are material because a structure plan can identify preferred land-use outcomes, but the implementation pathway depends on whether essential infrastructure can be delivered within the planning horizon and whether costs, land, approvals and operating responsibilities are resolved (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

Current Status

As at the February 16, 2026 agenda, CP 3.2.3 was in progress and 50% complete (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). As at the same agenda, the Goornong Flood Study and the Goornong Wastewater Servicing Report were underway (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). The responsible officer for CP 3.2.3 was Manager Strategic Planning, and the due date for the action was June 30, 2026 (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

Dependencies

  • Blocks: The available source indicates that completion of the Goornong wastewater and flood investigations is a prerequisite to completing the next Goornong structure-planning step recorded in CP 3.2.3 (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).
  • Blocked by: The available source identifies the Goornong Wastewater Servicing Report and the Goornong Flood Study as underway, but it does not identify unresolved technical issues inside either study (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).
  • Informed by: The available source directly identifies the Goornong Wastewater Servicing Report and the Goornong Flood Study as relevant inputs to Goornong structure planning (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).
  • Implements: The available source places the work under Council Plan Theme 3, Goal 3.2, which concerns vibrant and liveable cities and towns (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.206-208).
  • Conflicts with: No conflict is identified in the available source (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

The available source identifies co-funding from the Australian Government Disaster Ready Fund Round 2 for the Goornong Flood Study and Waterway Flood Mitigation Management Plans, but it does not identify equivalent state, federal, water-authority, or regional funding for the Goornong Wastewater Servicing Report (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.137). The available source also records that the Bendigo Creek flood modelling update was being undertaken in partnership with the North Central Catchment Management Authority, but it does not state that this partnership applies to Goornong wastewater servicing (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.200).

Gaps in This Analysis

The core gap is the absence of the Goornong Wastewater Servicing Report itself (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). Without that report, the analysis cannot identify the existing wastewater constraint, the preferred servicing option, infrastructure staging, capital cost, delivery responsibility, approval pathway, environmental constraints, or effect on settlement capacity (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

A second gap is the absence of the Goornong Flood Study, which the agenda groups with the wastewater report as an underway input to the Goornong planning work (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). Without the flood study, the analysis cannot test whether wastewater infrastructure siting, growth boundaries, drainage corridors, or developable land assumptions are affected by mapped flood risk (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

A third gap is the absence of the draft or completed Goornong structure plan, because the available source only records that the Goornong work is being progressed under CP 3.2.3 and does not provide land-use maps, township boundaries, dwelling estimates, staging assumptions, or implementation actions (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208). These should be logged in _gaps as important corpus gaps because the available evidence confirms the workstream but does not provide the technical documents needed for full infrastructure analysis (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.208).

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