Grange Planning Brain

title: Romsey Structure Plan council: macedon-ranges state: vic category: growth-area classification: MAJOR status: adopted last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:

  • 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf
  • agenda-attachments-24-september-2025-council-meeting.pdf
  • final-agenda-attachments-council-meeting-22-october-2025-reduced.pdf
  • web-research-L0-romsey-outline-development-plan-page-76870f10a6.txt
  • odp-romsey.pdf
  • web-research-L0-romsey-dcp-and-structure-plan-project-page-307ba88394.txt
  • mrsc-residential-land-demand-and-supply-assessment-final.pdf
  • romsey-residential-character-study-design-guidelines.pdf
  • romsey-development-contributions-plan-july-2012.pdf
  • web-research-L0-romsey-structure-plan-source-evidence-fd470e5b65.txt
  • romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf
  • romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf
  • romsey-structure-plan-draft-romsey-structure-plan-for-consultation-june-2023.pdf
  • romsey-structure-plan-emerging-options-paper-d22-19991.pdf

Romsey Structure Plan

The Romsey Structure Plan is an adopted council-led structure plan that sets the spatial basis for Romsey to grow from a district town toward a large district town, but its central statutory mechanism remains incomplete because the protected settlement boundary still requires State action under the Macedon Ranges Statement of Planning Policy process (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.7; Source: web-research-L0-romsey-structure-plan-source-evidence-fd470e5b65.txt). The plan is therefore best read as a strategic and staging framework, not yet as a fully operative rezoning package: the downstream planning scheme amendment, updated Development Contributions Plan, residential zone schedules, overlays and settlement-boundary controls are still implementation steps (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.57; Source: final-agenda-attachments-council-meeting-22-october-2025-reduced.pdf, p.96).

Background

Romsey’s previous strategic framework was the Romsey Outline Development Plan, adopted in November 2009 and introduced into the Macedon Ranges Planning Scheme through Amendment C66 in 2012 (Source: web-research-L0-romsey-structure-plan-source-evidence-fd470e5b65.txt; Source: web-research-L0-romsey-outline-development-plan-page-76870f10a6.txt). The ODP planned to 2021 and was later replaced by the Romsey Structure Plan in July 2024, which means the current task is not whether Romsey should have a new settlement framework, but how that adopted framework is translated into statutory controls (Source: web-research-L0-romsey-outline-development-plan-page-76870f10a6.txt).

The adopted plan sits inside the Macedon Ranges Statement of Planning Policy, which came into effect in December 2019 and anticipates Romsey growing toward the lower end of a large district town, between 6,000 and 10,000 people (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.7). The Statement of Planning Policy also changes the mechanics of township expansion: the structure plan provides the basis for a protected settlement boundary, and the plan states that rezoning beyond a town boundary for township growth should not be considered until a PSB has been finalised (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.7).

The plan was prepared through staged consultation and technical work: an Issues and Opportunities Paper in 2018, an Emerging Options Paper in 2022, and a draft Structure Plan in June 2023 (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.12). The draft plan consultation received 416 survey responses and 58 written submissions at the Emerging Options stage, with strong support for town-centre reinvigoration, Five Mile Creek improvements, infrastructure upgrades before further development, and additional community facilities including a secondary school, while respondents were more cautious about settlement-boundary expansion and loss of farmland (Source: romsey-structure-plan-draft-romsey-structure-plan-for-consultation-june-2023.pdf, p.11).

Analysis

Statutory Effect and the PSB Gate

The most important mechanism is the separation between adoption and statutory effect. Council adopted the Romsey Structure Plan at the 22 May 2024 scheduled meeting, subject to adding a 30 metre minimum setback from the eastern boundary of 2131 Romsey Road, and resolved to ask the Minister for Planning to prepare an amendment under section 46AZA(1) of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to insert a Romsey protected settlement boundary into the Macedon Ranges Statement of Planning Policy and make consequential changes to the planning scheme (Source: web-research-L0-romsey-structure-plan-source-evidence-fd470e5b65.txt). Council’s project page states that the request has been made and that Council is awaiting the Minister’s response, with future planning scheme amendments still required to put the structure plan’s strategies and objectives into the Macedon Ranges Planning Scheme (Source: web-research-L0-romsey-structure-plan-source-evidence-fd470e5b65.txt).

This means the plan creates a policy direction before it creates final development rights. The adopted structure plan proposes long-term zone changes including Industrial 3 Zone for future industrial land at Melbourne-Lancefield Road and Greens Lane, Public Park and Recreation Zone for reserved open space, Neighbourhood Residential Zone for new growth areas and many existing residential areas, and General Residential Zone retention around the town-centre substantial-change area (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.57). It also proposes overlay work: DPOs for new growth areas, a town-centre Design and Development Overlay or revised DPO15, removal of redundant DPOs, updating DCPO1 to all land within the township PSB, and DPOs for later areas as they are rezoned (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.57).

The Annual Report confirms that this implementation had not begun by the end of the 2024-25 financial year because it was pending Victorian Government resolution of the PSB under the Statement of Planning Policy (Source: final-agenda-attachments-council-meeting-22-october-2025-reduced.pdf, p.96). In practical terms, the PSB is the first domino: without it, the rezoning sequence, contribution plan update and new development-plan controls remain contingent rather than operative (Source: final-agenda-attachments-council-meeting-22-october-2025-reduced.pdf, p.96; Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.57).

Land Supply, Growth Areas and Staging

The structure plan resolves a land-supply problem identified before the plan was adopted. The residential land demand and supply assessment estimated that Romsey had 488 lots of capacity in existing zoned land and that this represented only 7 to 11 years of separate-dwelling supply depending on the adopted demand scenario (Source: mrsc-residential-land-demand-and-supply-assessment-final.pdf, p.21). That study recommended planning with a medium-term township dwelling demand of 48 to 59 dwellings per year, and also considered a greenfield growth scenario of about 72 dwellings per year because recent greenfield sales rates showed stronger demand (Source: mrsc-residential-land-demand-and-supply-assessment-final.pdf, p.21).

The adopted plan responds by directing new growth mainly to the south and east. Land to the north and west was considered in earlier options but ruled out, with bushfire risk identified as a major reason, while south and east growth was considered more manageable and better placed for infrastructure servicing (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.19; Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.21). The plan estimates that Stage 2 and Stage 3 residential growth areas will deliver around 1,065 lots and provide supply until at least the mid-2030s, with land-supply monitoring required after that point (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.21).

The staging mechanism is explicit. The plan directs Council to monitor housing supply and review whether more land within the PSB should be opened up when supply drops below 400 lots or in 2035 (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.23). That threshold matters because it prevents the whole PSB from operating as an immediate rezoning program; instead, it gives the PSB a long-term settlement envelope while using staging, DPOs and future rezoning decisions to control the rate and form of release (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.23; Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.57).

The final investigation-area scoring explains why the plan changed between the 2023 draft and adopted version. In the draft plan, Areas 1, 2 and 3 were described as best able to meet Romsey’s needs to 2050, with Areas 4 and 5 only possible after 2050 and Areas 6 and 7 unsuitable (Source: romsey-structure-plan-draft-romsey-structure-plan-for-consultation-june-2023.pdf, p.11). In the adopted plan, Areas 1 and 2 remain the strongest areas, Area 3 is precluded by revised advice on separation distances around the Romsey Recycled Water Plant, Areas 4 and 5 are reconsidered, Area 5 is split into 5A and 5B, and Area 5A is considered suitable for inclusion in the PSB (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.61). This is not a cosmetic change: it shows that utility-buffer risk directly altered the settlement geography.

Housing Diversity and Character Controls

Romsey’s housing issue is not only total supply; it is the mismatch between household change and housing stock. The plan records that only 3.3% of housing is semi-detached or flats and apartments, while 52% of housing has four or more bedrooms and 39.2% has three bedrooms (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.18). The mechanism proposed is targeted intensification rather than uniform density: the plan supports medium-density housing within walking distance of the town centre, retention of GRZ in the substantial-change area for 1 to 3 storey townhouse, dual-occupancy and multi-dwelling forms, and NRZ in incremental and minimal-change areas for lower-scale development aligned to character (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, pp.18-19).

The residential character evidence supplies the control logic behind that approach. The 2012 character study translated eight existing character areas into five preferred character areas so that planning controls could distinguish between areas that should absorb change and areas where spacious, garden-dominated character should remain central (Source: romsey-residential-character-study-design-guidelines.pdf, pp.2-3). The adopted structure plan carries this forward by proposing a new neighbourhood character policy for Romsey, residential schedules, and local building-system linkages so that some residential zone schedule standards apply even where single dwellings do not require a planning permit (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.57; Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.58).

Employment, Town Centre and Movement

The plan treats employment and movement as linked problems. Romsey’s town centre has about 4,900 square metres of retail floorspace, and a new supermarket and associated shops will add about 3,500 square metres, but the centre also has a vacancy rate of about 12% of building floorspace and more than 2 hectares of vacant commercially zoned land (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.25). The plan therefore does not simply expand retail land; it seeks to consolidate the town centre, encourage pedestrian-oriented built form, and limit new local activity centres in growth areas to no more than 400 square metres of retail floorspace so that they serve neighbourhood needs without displacing the main centre’s role (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, pp.25-26).

Romsey is also identified as a commuter settlement with 2.3 resident workers for every local job, so the plan proposes a 15 hectare employment precinct on the south side of Greens Lane and rezoning to Industrial 3 Zone (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.27). The same precinct, however, sits within the broader buffer and land-use-compatibility debate around the Romsey Recycled Water Plant, so the plan requires a 5 metre landscaped buffer around the employment precinct and a 30 metre setback of residential lots from the eastern boundary of 2131 Romsey Road (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.27; Source: web-research-L0-romsey-structure-plan-source-evidence-fd470e5b65.txt).

Movement actions focus on repairing a car-dependent structure. The plan identifies Melbourne-Lancefield Road as the primary north-south arterial and describes Romsey as highly car dependent because of low development intensity, limited local economic opportunities, fragmented pedestrian networks and few separated cycling options (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.35). Its implementation actions include reviewing the DCP to fund movement upgrades, investigating 40 km/h speed limits in the town centre, installing safer crossings near Barry Street and Main Street, developing a Barry Street shared path concept, upgrading Greens Lane for pedestrians, bicycle riders and heavy vehicles, and ensuring future DCP collection for movement and access infrastructure (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, pp.35-39).

Infrastructure Funding and the DCP Reset

The existing Romsey DCP is no longer aligned to the adopted settlement plan. It was prepared for a 2012-2027 horizon, projected 667 additional dwellings, 36,165 square metres of business floorspace and 52,060 square metres of industrial floorspace, and included 14 infrastructure projects across roads, open space, open-space land and planning (Source: romsey-development-contributions-plan-july-2012.pdf, pp.10-13). Its project list totalled 7.866 million, with 710,570 attributed to external demand, and included the Melbourne-Lancefield Road and Barry Street intersection upgrade, Knox Road upgrade and seal, trunk shared paths, bus shelters, Metcalfe Drive works, drainage-reserve open space, a soccer pitch and the Greater Romsey All Abilities Park (Source: romsey-development-contributions-plan-july-2012.pdf, pp.23-24).

The old levy structure shows why an update is material. Residential development charges ranged from 971.82 per dwelling in Area 001 to 5,730.27 per dwelling in Area 008, while business and industrial charges were expressed per 100 square metres of floorspace and applied mainly to the relevant commercial and industrial charging areas (Source: romsey-development-contributions-plan-july-2012.pdf, pp.16-18). Those figures are 2012 rates and are tied to the old ODP geography, not the adopted PSB, new employment precinct, new open-space network, Greens Lane upgrade, Barry Street works, future school reservation, new stormwater expectations or revised buffer constraints (Source: romsey-development-contributions-plan-july-2012.pdf, p.16; Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.57).

The adopted structure plan therefore directs Council to update the Romsey DCP based on the new structure plan and to update DCPO1 to apply to all land within the township PSB based on a new contributions plan (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.23; Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.57). Until that occurs, the infrastructure-funding picture is only partly knowable: the old DCP confirms the contribution mechanism and precedent, but it does not quantify the cost or levy impact of the adopted structure plan package (Source: romsey-development-contributions-plan-july-2012.pdf, pp.15-18; Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.57).

Water, Wastewater, Buffers and Environmental Risk

The most consequential unresolved technical dependency is the Romsey Recycled Water Plant. EPA advised that separation distances protect sensitive land uses from amenity and health impacts from air emissions such as odour, dust and noise, and protect infrastructure and industry from encroachment by sensitive uses (Source: romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf, p.2). EPA also stated that the draft plan’s 1,000 metre WWTP separation distance had not been finalised with EPA and that any separation distance needed to meet EPA Publication 1518 or Planning Practice Note 92 processes (Source: romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf, p.2).

Greater Western Water’s submission identifies the operational reason this matters. GWW operates the RRWP about 4 kilometres from the Romsey town centre, the plant has operated since the 1970s, population growth has brought it close to capacity, and GWW is investing in upgrade works to increase treatment and storage capacity and better manage recycled water (Source: romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf, pp.6-7). GWW also stated that the current buffer is broadly 700 metres based on current population, but that the required buffer increases as population increases (Source: romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf, p.8).

The risk is not abstract. GWW warned that progressing the structure plan before the odour analysis and Buffer Area Overlay boundaries are resolved could curtail opportunities in the east and south of the township, and may require the location of potential residential land uses to be modified (Source: romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf, p.9). GWW was also concerned that the proposed secondary school, active open space and Romsey Employment Precinct could encroach into the existing buffer, with the employment precinct potentially allowing uses such as offices, education centres, places of assembly and retail premises that may introduce workers or visitors sensitive to RRWP odour impacts (Source: romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf, pp.9-10).

The adopted plan responds by excluding Area 3 from future urban use because of revised separation-distance advice, by requiring advocacy for Greater Western Water to finalise the separation distance with EPA, by requiring final buffer areas to be incorporated into the planning scheme through a Buffer Area Overlay or similar control, and by requiring growth to be serviced through a dedicated sewerage pump station and rising main back to the RRWP (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.61; Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, pp.44-45). The remaining uncertainty is the exact BAO boundary, capacity timing and servicing design, not the existence of the water authority issue (Source: romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf, pp.8-10).

Open Space, Waterways and Community Infrastructure

Open space is part of the growth mechanism rather than a separate amenity layer. The plan seeks a continuous network joining new urban areas to Five Mile Creek, requires new development areas to prepare stormwater management strategies for Melbourne Water review before finalising open-space locations through DPOs, and identifies the need for a soccer pitch and outdoor netball courts (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.32). The 2026 Open Space Strategy attachment reinforces this by directing open spaces in Romsey growth areas to be developed in accordance with the structure plan, including active, social and civic spaces and protection of waterway environs for drainage, recreation and biodiversity corridors (Source: 25-march-2026-council-meeting-agenda-attachments-updated-version.pdf, p.126).

Community infrastructure is likewise reserved before delivery is guaranteed. The plan directs advocacy to the Department of Education to review secondary-school provision, preservation of a P-9 option on the existing Romsey Primary School site, reservation of space on the south side corner of Tickawarra and Barry roads for a future high school, and a feasibility study into an aquatic facility in the east of the shire (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.40). These actions identify land-use dependencies and advocacy tasks, but they do not evidence funded State delivery commitments for a high school or aquatic facility in the manifest sources (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.40).

Current Status

Council adopted the Romsey Structure Plan in May 2024 and the Romsey ODP page states the ODP has been replaced by the structure plan (Source: web-research-L0-romsey-structure-plan-source-evidence-fd470e5b65.txt; Source: web-research-L0-romsey-outline-development-plan-page-76870f10a6.txt). As at the end of the 2024-25 financial year, Council reported that implementation of the Gisborne and Romsey structure plans had not begun because the Victorian Government had not resolved the protected settlement boundaries under the Macedon Ranges Statement of Planning Policy (Source: final-agenda-attachments-council-meeting-22-october-2025-reduced.pdf, p.96). The operative next steps are State resolution of the Romsey PSB, followed by planning scheme amendments to implement rezoning, overlays, policy, development-plan controls and an updated DCP (Source: web-research-L0-romsey-structure-plan-source-evidence-fd470e5b65.txt; Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.57).

Dependencies

  • Blocks: Final rezoning of new growth areas, application of the new PSB, broad DCPO1 update, new DPOs for staged growth land, and full statutory recognition of the township framework plan (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.57; Source: final-agenda-attachments-council-meeting-22-october-2025-reduced.pdf, p.96).
  • Blocked by: Victorian Government resolution of the PSB, final RRWP buffer/BAO work, GWW servicing capacity and sewer pump-station/rising-main planning, and preparation of a new DCP aligned to the adopted plan (Source: web-research-L0-romsey-structure-plan-source-evidence-fd470e5b65.txt; Source: romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf, pp.8-10; Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, pp.44-45).
  • Informed by: The 2009 ODP, 2012 residential character study, 2012 DCP, residential land demand and supply assessment, Emerging Options Paper, draft Structure Plan consultation, and EPA/GWW submissions (Source: odp-romsey.pdf, pp.75-80; Source: romsey-residential-character-study-design-guidelines.pdf, pp.2-3; Source: romsey-development-contributions-plan-july-2012.pdf, pp.10-18; Source: mrsc-residential-land-demand-and-supply-assessment-final.pdf, p.21; Source: romsey-structure-plan-emerging-options-paper-d22-19991.pdf, pp.52-59; Source: romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf, pp.2-10).
  • Implements: The settlement role assigned to Romsey in the Macedon Ranges Statement of Planning Policy and local settlement planning for compact growth within a defined boundary (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, pp.7-8).
  • Conflicts with: Potential sensitive-use encroachment into the RRWP buffer, possible industrial-use limits if the employment precinct sits inside a future BAO, and community concerns about farmland loss and township character change (Source: romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf, pp.9-10; Source: romsey-structure-plan-draft-romsey-structure-plan-for-consultation-june-2023.pdf, p.11).

The structure plan depends on State and agency decisions outside Council’s direct control. The Minister for Planning controls the requested Statement of Planning Policy amendment for the protected settlement boundary, EPA is required for separation-distance and buffer methodology, Greater Western Water controls the RRWP servicing and odour-analysis pathway, Melbourne Water is identified for waterway setbacks and stormwater strategy review, DTP is identified for public transport advocacy, and Regional Roads Victoria is relevant to Main Street and road-upgrade outcomes (Source: web-research-L0-romsey-structure-plan-source-evidence-fd470e5b65.txt; Source: romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf, p.2; Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, pp.31-39; Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, pp.44-45). The Romsey-Lancefield non-urban break is also a cross-town settlement issue because the plan directs rural-zone retention and 40 hectare minimum lot sizes between the towns (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.30).

Gaps in This Analysis

The structure plan, ODP, DCP, agency submissions, residential land supply assessment, character study, project page and relevant council-report evidence are present in the manifest, so those items should not be treated as missing (Source: web-research-L0-romsey-structure-plan-source-evidence-fd470e5b65.txt; Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf; Source: romsey-development-contributions-plan-july-2012.pdf). The remaining gaps are narrower: the manifest does not include the Minister’s final PSB decision material or gazettal instrument, the final GWW odour analysis and BAO package, the updated post-2024 Romsey DCP and levy model, final planning scheme amendment documents, or detailed technical reports behind transport, bushfire, utilities, community infrastructure and drainage assumptions where those reports are listed on the project page but not included as extracted documents in this compile manifest (Source: web-research-L0-romsey-structure-plan-source-evidence-fd470e5b65.txt; Source: romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf, pp.8-10). These gaps limit exact quantification of post-adoption infrastructure costs, lot-yield deductions from drainage/open-space land take, final development contribution rates, and the precise spatial effect of the future RRWP buffer (Source: romsey-structure-plan-final.pdf, p.57; Source: romsey-structure-plan-submissions-epa-greater-western-water.pdf, p.9).

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