title: Stanley Park Public Conservation and Resource Zone and Amendment C126macr council: macedon-ranges state: vic category: amendment classification: MINOR status: unknown last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:
- 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf
- 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf
Stanley Park Public Conservation and Resource Zone and Amendment C126macr
Amendment C126macr is important less as a growth or land-supply instrument than as a governance boundary around Council-managed conservation land: the available corpus shows it applied the Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ) to bushland reserves including Stanley Park, then became a point of dispute when the draft Open Space Strategy 2026-2036 classified Stanley Park within a visitor-catchment hierarchy (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.176). The practical issue is whether PCRZ zoning should operate as a strict conservation signal that limits open-space amenities, or as a public-land zone that still allows low-impact recreation and public-land-manager works where environmental management plans and Council strategies support them (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.176).
Background
The source set does not include the C126macr explanatory report, exhibited amendment documents, Panel material, approval notice, gazettal notice, or planning scheme maps, so this page cannot verify the amendment’s authorisation, exhibition, adoption, approval, or gazettal dates (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf). The available evidence is indirect but consistent: the December 2025 Biodiversity Strategy action-plan material lists Stanley Park among Council-managed bushland reserves associated with rezoning to PCRZ, and the March 2026 Open Space Strategy officer response states that C126macr applied PCRZ to various bushland reserves (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.187; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.176).
The December 2025 Biodiversity Strategy material identifies Action 1.01 as considering rezoning conservation reserves to PCRZ where applicable to protect natural values, and the refreshed action text refers to rezoning Hobbs Road Reserve, Mount Gisborne, Magnet Hill, Malmsbury Common, Bald Hill, Stanley Park, Sandy Creek and Barringo Reserve to PCRZ (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.187). The action-plan justification states that some reserves had already changed to PCRZ and that further parcels, including Barrm Birrm and newly acquired waterway reserves, may also have value as future PCRZ candidates (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.187). This places Stanley Park within a broader reserve-zoning program rather than a single-site statutory change (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.187).
Analysis
Statutory Effect and Management Mechanism
The available documents show the PCRZ as the zone Council regards as most appropriate for conservation sites, but they also show that Council does not treat PCRZ as a prohibition on all public use (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.176). Officers state that PCRZ allows a range of other uses, including informal outdoor recreation, mining, and camping and caravan park, and that it grants broad permit exemptions to the public land manager, depending on the site manager (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.176). The mechanism is therefore layered: zoning signals conservation purpose, while day-to-day decisions about access, works, tracks, signage, and facilities are filtered through environmental management plans, master plans, the Biodiversity Strategy, the Open Space Strategy, and the planning scheme (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.96, 176).
For Stanley Park, that layered mechanism matters because the Open Space Strategy identifies an existing environmental management plan and infrastructure master plan for Stanley Park in the Macedon and Mount Macedon township section (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.142). The strategy also states that long-term plans for individual reserves are contained in master plans and environmental management plans, and that use and development in open space is governed by the Macedon Ranges Planning Scheme (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.96). In simple terms, the PCRZ is the outer rule, while the reserve-specific plans are the operating instructions for the site (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.96, 142, 176).
Relationship to Biodiversity Strategy
The C126macr-related zoning program sits inside Council’s biodiversity framework, not just its open-space framework (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.187). The December 2025 report says the Biodiversity Strategy was first adopted in December 2018 and established a shared vision for flourishing and connected native plants and animals, accessible natural places, and healthy waterways across the Macedon Ranges (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.158). The same report says the refreshed strategy retained the vision and objectives but updated the strategy for new scientific knowledge, legislative obligations, and emerging issues (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.158).
The refreshed Biodiversity Strategy action plan had 68 proposed actions, down from 96 in the previous strategy, and introduced a formal adaptive-management approach plus a formal database to record monitoring outcomes and management actions (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.160). This is relevant to Stanley Park because PCRZ zoning alone does not measure whether conservation outcomes are improving; monitoring and adaptive management are the tools that test whether the zoning and management regime is actually working (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.160). The report also says frogs were proposed as a new indicator species because they can be monitored through the FrogID app and fill a monitoring gap for aquatic and wetland species, while woodland birds and brush-tailed phascogales were proposed to be retained as indicators from the 2018 strategy (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, pp.160-161). Those indicators do not prove site-specific outcomes for Stanley Park in the available documents, but they show the type of evidence framework Council intends to use across conservation reserves (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, pp.160-161).
The legal driver is also explicit. The December 2025 report says Council, as a public authority, must give proper consideration to the objectives of the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 when performing functions that can reasonably be expected to impact biodiversity, including cumulative and indirect impacts (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.162). The report also states that five ecological communities and 63 species listed as threatened under the EPBC Act are known or likely to occur within Macedon Ranges Shire, compared with two communities and 18 species identified in the 2018 strategy (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.162). This means PCRZ management decisions at Stanley Park should be read through a cumulative-impact lens, not only through a reserve-amenity lens (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.162).
Open Space Strategy Conflict
The main live policy conflict is not whether Stanley Park has conservation value; the Open Space Strategy lists Stanley Park among smaller spaces with high landscape, biodiversity and conservation value (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.97). The conflict is how a conservation reserve should be described inside an open-space hierarchy that also deals with recreation, access, investment, and service levels (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.96-97, 174-176).
The consultation record shows 30 written submissions and 51 online survey responses on the draft Open Space Strategy, with 53 percent of survey respondents supporting or strongly supporting the draft, 33 percent neutral, and 14 percent opposed or strongly opposed (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.206; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.9). Conservation and PCRZ issues formed one of the recurring themes, with submissions arguing that the draft did not properly identify PCRZ reserves for conservation and that PCRZ reserves should have a separate designation based on zoning and conservation values (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.207; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.9).
Submissions 22, 23, 25 and 26 are the clearest Stanley Park and PCRZ cluster in the source set (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, pp.217-218). Submission 22 objected to grouping different zones together and argued that PCRZ reserves require a distinct category because of their conservation purpose (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.217). Submission 23 objected to Stanley Park being classified as a destination, argued that this conflicted with the conservation-focused zoning established under C126macr, and sought a separate, more restrictive classification for PCRZ reserves (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.217). Submission 25 argued that classifying Stanley Park as a destination could gradually shift PCRZ reserves from conservation toward recreation use, and Submission 26 raised similar concerns about PCRZ reserves and the treatment of natural areas as underused spaces (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.218).
The March 2026 officer response partly accepted the communication problem but rejected the need for a separate PCRZ category (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.174-176). Officers stated that destination classification was based on existing conditions, size, and features, and was intended to describe a larger catchment rather than promote tourism or visitation (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.174-175). Officers nevertheless supported replacing the term Destination with District/Municipal because the former term had caused confusion and concern among several submitters (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.175). The effect is a terminology correction, not a structural change to the classification framework (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.175-176).
Land, Infrastructure and Service-Level Implications
The available sources do not provide the area of Stanley Park, the mapped extent of the PCRZ, the parcel boundaries affected by C126macr, or any quantified land-take, works-cost, or service-level schedule for Stanley Park (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf). They do provide the broader open-space context: Council owns and manages over 900 hectares of open space, including public parks, waterways, recreation reserves, and bushland conservation reserves (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.97). They also forecast Macedon Ranges Shire to grow by 12,985 people, or 25.17 percent, between 2021 and 2036, with 81 percent of that growth expected in the Gisborne, Kyneton, Romsey and Riddells Creek districts (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.97).
That growth forecast matters indirectly for Stanley Park because the Open Space Strategy is trying to allocate open-space investment across a growing network while conservation groups are asking Council to distinguish conservation reserves from social-recreation reserves (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.97, 174-176). The source documents do not identify Stanley Park as a growth-area infrastructure item, a development contributions item, or a land-acquisition item (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.142, 174-176). Its practical infrastructure issue is therefore not delivery of new urban growth infrastructure, but governance of permissible reserve improvements under PCRZ, the environmental management plan, the infrastructure master plan, and the Open Space Strategy service hierarchy (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.96, 142, 176).
Traditional Owner and Agency Dependencies
The Open Space Strategy consultation exposed a process dependency that is relevant to conservation reserves generally, including PCRZ reserves: DJAARA stated that no direct engagement had occurred with the three Traditional Owner Corporations whose Country intersects with the shire, and requested a formal participatory engagement process before finalisation of the strategy (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.32). DEECA supported the draft strategy but recommended consultation with relevant landowners and managers if an open space is considered for a change of use, and recommended partnering with Traditional Owner groups on open-space matters, particularly with Taungurung for Post Office Creek and Djaara for crown land in Malmsbury (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.219). The source set does not state whether Stanley Park itself has a specific Traditional Owner engagement requirement or cultural heritage management constraint (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf).
Waterway management also sits partly outside Council. Officers responded to Single Living Entity submissions by stating that the Open Space Strategy is not intended as a waterway-management tool and that management of water supply and waterways sits primarily with water corporations and catchment management authorities (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.173-174). This matters because some PCRZ reserves may be waterway-linked, and the December 2025 Biodiversity Strategy action plan identifies newly acquired waterway reserves as possible future PCRZ candidates (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.187). For Stanley Park specifically, the available documents do not identify a waterway corridor dependency (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf).
Current Status
The available corpus indicates that C126macr has already had operational effect because officers state that it applied PCRZ to various bushland reserves and because the Biodiversity Strategy action plan refers to some reserves already having changed to PCRZ (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.176; Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.187). The formal amendment lifecycle status remains unverified because the source set does not include C126macr’s planning scheme amendment documents, approval notice, or gazettal notice (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf). As at the March 2026 Open Space Strategy attachments, Council officers proposed to change the open-space hierarchy term from Destination to District/Municipal and add strategic-context text explaining the interaction between Council policies, the planning scheme, environmental management plans, master plans, and related instruments (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.175-176).
Dependencies
- Blocks: The available documents do not show C126macr blocking development approvals, land supply, or infrastructure delivery; its main effect is to frame management decisions for PCRZ conservation reserves including Stanley Park (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.176).
- Blocked by: Further analysis is blocked by missing primary amendment material, including the explanatory report, maps, approval date, gazettal record, and any exhibited or adopted schedule changes (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf).
- Informed by: The available sources connect the issue to the Biodiversity Strategy, the Open Space Strategy 2026-2036, reserve environmental management plans, infrastructure master plans, and the Macedon Ranges Planning Scheme (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, pp.158-164, 187; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.96, 142, 176).
- Implements: The PCRZ action implements Council’s biodiversity objective to protect existing biodiversity and native vegetation on Council-managed conservation reserves (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, pp.164, 187).
- Conflicts with: The conflict is not with a single statutory instrument in the source set, but with community concern that open-space hierarchy language and amenities could dilute the conservation purpose of PCRZ reserves (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, pp.217-218; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.174-176).
Cross-Jurisdictional Links
No cross-council land-use or infrastructure dependency is identified for Stanley Park or C126macr in the available source documents (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf). The wider conservation-governance context involves state and regional bodies because the Biodiversity Strategy references the FFG Act, EPBC Act, Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024-2030, Victoria’s biodiversity strategy, DEECA, catchment management authorities, water corporations, and Traditional Owner groups (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.162; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.32, 173-174, 219). These links are governance dependencies rather than quantified infrastructure dependencies in the available corpus (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf, p.162; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, pp.173-174).
Gaps in This Analysis
This is a source-limited page. The corpus does not include C126macr’s amendment documentation, the planning scheme maps showing the affected land, the incorporated or background documents used to justify the rezoning, any Panel or submissions material for C126macr, the approval notice, the gazettal record, or the current Stanley Park environmental management plan and infrastructure master plan (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf). Because of those gaps, this page cannot quantify the land area rezoned, identify all parcels affected, verify the amendment timeline, assess whether any site-specific controls apply, or compare the amendment’s original stated purpose with current open-space management practice (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf).
The priority gap for _gaps.md is: CORPUS GAP: Amendment C126macr primary statutory record. The likely sources are the Victorian planning scheme amendment archive, planning.vic.gov.au, the Macedon Ranges Planning Scheme amendment records, and Council agenda/minute records from the amendment adoption period. This is an IMPORTANT gap because the initiative is minor in land-supply terms but the missing statutory record prevents verification of the amendment’s legal scope, date, and affected parcels (Source: 17-december-2025-scheduled-council-meeting-agenda.pdf; Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf). A second gap is: Stanley Park environmental management plan and infrastructure master plan, likely held by Council, because the Open Space Strategy confirms both exist but the corpus does not include them (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.142).