Grange Planning Brain

title: Amendment C161mith - Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan council: mitchell state: vic category: amendment classification: MAJOR status: approved last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:

  • web-research-L1-amendment-c161-page-dtp.txt
  • web-research-L1-amendment-c161-planning-schemes.txt
  • web-research-L1-beveridge-north-west-icp-dtp.txt
  • web-research-L1-beveridge-north-west-icp-vpa-approval-gazetted.txt
  • web-research-L1-beveridge-north-west-icp-vpa.txt
  • web-research-L1-part-a-submission-2022-c158-c161-quarry-vpa.txt

Amendment C161mith - Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan

Amendment C161mith is the funding mechanism for the Beveridge North West Precinct Structure Plan, converting the precinct structure plan’s infrastructure list into a statutory contribution system for roads, intersections, bridges, community facilities, sports reserves and public-purpose land. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.3) The approved November 2024 ICP applies to a 1,279.35 hectare precinct, levies residential development across 768.18 net developable hectares, and raises an estimated $242.542 million through a combined standard and supplementary monetary levy. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.1, 4)

The practical planning issue is that this is not only a charge schedule: it is the delivery logic for urbanisation in Beveridge North West. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.3, 6) The ICP also equalises 124.70 hectares of inner public purpose land across the contribution base, so parcels with more than their proportional share of public land receive land credits while parcels with less pay equalisation amounts. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.17-19)

Background

The Beveridge North West PSP and ICP sit within the Northern Growth Corridor and were described by the VPA in April 2022 as applying to approximately 1,279.35 hectares south of Wallan, north-west of Beveridge township, east of Old Sydney Road, west of the Hume Freeway, north of Camerons Lane and south of the Hadfield Road reservation. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, pp.8-10) The draft amendments were intended to enable approximately 16,000 dwellings, 1,800 jobs, town centres, infrastructure and an open space network. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, p.8)

The PSP work commenced in 2013, with standard background reports prepared in 2013-14, further studies in 2019, public exhibition of Amendment C106mith in September 2019, a Panel hearing in July 2020, and release of the Panel report in October 2020. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, pp.13-14) In March 2021 the Minister for Planning directed the VPA to prepare a new plan responding to the C106mith Panel recommendations, and the VPA commenced work on the supplementary levy ICP in the same month. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, p.14)

Amendment C161mith was prepared alongside Amendment C158mith, with C158mith incorporating the PSP and C161mith incorporating the supplementary levy ICP through proposed Schedule 3 to the Infrastructure Contributions Overlay. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, pp.11-12) The November 2024 ICP states that it has been incorporated in the Mitchell Planning Scheme through Schedule 3 to Clause 45.11 and listed as an incorporated document under Clause 72.04. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.3)

Analysis

Levy Architecture and Cost Recovery

The monetary component is built from two layers: a standard levy and a supplementary levy, both calculated by multiplying net developable area by the relevant levy rate. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.1) The approved ICP identifies 768.18 net developable hectares of residential development, a standard levy rate of 256,650 per hectare, a supplementary levy rate of 59,085 per hectare, and a total residential levy rate of $315,735 per hectare after rounding. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.1)

The standard levy is expected to raise 197.154 million and the supplementary levy is expected to raise 45.388 million, producing a total monetary contribution estimate of 242.542 million. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.1) Against the VPA's stated planning assumption of approximately 16,000 dwellings, this equates to roughly 15,159 per dwelling as a broad precinct-scale indicator, although the legal levy is imposed per net developable hectare rather than per dwelling. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.1; Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, p.8)

The supplementary levy is the key structural feature of C161mith. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.1) The ICP explains that projected infrastructure costs exceed the revenue available from the standard levy and that some transport infrastructure needs higher-cost treatment because sodic and dispersive soils require construction above the VPA benchmark infrastructure and costs guide. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.1) The earlier VPA submission similarly linked the supplementary levy to mitigation measures recommended through the sodic soils evidence and costed through infrastructure design work. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, p.63)

Transport Infrastructure Dependency

Transport infrastructure is the largest functional dependency in the ICP because the precinct relies on arterial roads, intersections, culverts and creek crossings to convert broad PSP land-use intent into developable stages. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.6-10) The ICP funds standard transport projects with an apportioned value of 112.405 million and a cost rate of 146,325.23 per net developable hectare. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.9) The supplementary transport program adds 45.388 million at 59,085 per net developable hectare. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.10)

The standard transport list includes arterial road works, signalised intersections, pedestrian crossings, culverts and a pedestrian bridge over Kalkallo Creek. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.8-9) The supplementary transport list is narrower and includes BN-RD-02, BN-RD-03b, BN-IN-06, the supplementary share of BN-IN-07, and BN-BR-03. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.10) This means the supplementary levy is not a general contingency: it is tied to specific non-standard transport items. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.10)

Several projects also have inter-precinct apportionment, which creates a cross-boundary delivery dependency. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.8-9) BN-RD-01 and BN-IN-01 rely partly on Beveridge Central ICP funding, BN-IN-03 relies partly on Beveridge South West ICP funding, and BN-IN-08 and BN-IN-09 rely partly on the Wallan South ICP. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.8-9) The earlier VPA submission explains that the C106mith Panel supported a pragmatic boundary-road apportionment approach in the northern growth corridor, including allocation of Camerons Lane to Beveridge North West and Hadfield Road to Wallan South. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, p.63)

Community, Recreation and the Funding Cap

The community and recreation program is large in land and facility terms but is constrained by the ICP Ministerial Direction’s standard levy cap. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.10-12) The ICP lists five multi-purpose community centres with four kindergarten rooms each, four sports reserve packages with pavilions, sports fields and hard courts, and no supplementary levy for community and recreation construction. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.12)

The total estimated community and recreation project cost is 115.375 million, equal to 150,192 per net developable hectare, but the capped levy is $101,299 per net developable hectare. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.12) The mechanism therefore creates a known funding tension: the infrastructure schedule identifies a higher project-cost total than the levy can recover for this category. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.12) The VPA’s April 2022 submission recorded that the Ministerial Direction did not contemplate a supplementary levy for community and recreation projects, meaning the ICP could not provide an alternate supplementary funding source for any shortfall in this category. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, p.71)

Land Take, Encumbrance and Net Developable Area

The precinct is 1,279.35 hectares, but the ICP land budget identifies 768.18 hectares as net developable area, or 60.04 percent of the total precinct area. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.28) The largest land-use deduction is open space and landscape-related land: all open space totals 400.37 hectares, or 31.29 percent of the precinct. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.28) Within that figure, uncredited open space and regional open space comprises 321.24 hectares, including 125.98 hectares of waterway and drainage reserve and 195.26 hectares of landscape values. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.28)

This land budget shows why the gross area can mislead if used as the main measure of urban capacity. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.28) Applying the 16,000 dwelling planning assumption to 768.18 net developable hectares implies an average of approximately 20.8 dwellings per net developable hectare, while applying the same dwelling estimate to the gross precinct area implies approximately 12.5 dwellings per gross hectare. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.28; Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, p.8)

The ICP equalises 124.70 hectares of inner public purpose land across 892.88 hectares of contribution land, producing a residential land contribution percentage of 13.97 percent. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.17) That public-purpose land comprises 34.97 hectares of transport land and 89.73 hectares of community and recreation land. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.17)

Parcel Equalisation Effects

The land component materially shifts costs and credits between parcels because public-purpose land is unevenly distributed. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.17-19) The ICP identifies 33.57 hectares of inner public purpose land above the 13.97 percent contribution benchmark, a total land credit amount of 65.659 million, and a matching 65.659 million in land equalisation to be paid by parcels below the benchmark. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.17-18)

The largest land credit parcels are BN-04 at 30.663 million and BN-13 at 29.929 million, reflecting their high public-purpose land shares of 29.20 percent and 30.51 percent respectively. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.18-19) The largest equalisation amounts fall on BN-06 at 13.501 million, BN-05 at 13.361 million, BN-11 at 11.381 million and BN-03 at 8.002 million. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.18-19) The mechanism is intended to prevent public land burdens from falling only on the parcels that physically contain roads, reserves and community land. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.17-19)

Quarry Interface and Deferred Contributions

The quarry interface is the main contested issue linking the PSP, ICP and VCAT proceeding. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, pp.8, 65) The VPA’s April 2022 submission recorded submissions seeking to excise quarry land and buffers from the ICO because a proposed quarry in place for 30 years including rehabilitation would defer about 57 million in contributions, comprising about 14 million from the 49 hectare quarry area and $43 million from the 15 hectare buffer area. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, p.65)

The VPA’s position was that quarry and buffer land should remain in the ICP and that contributions should be levied when the land is developed for residential purposes after rehabilitation. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, pp.65-66) The planning mechanism is therefore deferral rather than exemption: the ICP seeks to preserve future contribution liability so that later residential development does not receive funded infrastructure without making a contribution. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, p.65)

The quarry issue also affects staging because the VPA supported a time-limited quarry and stated that rehabilitation should be to a standard suitable for residential development in accordance with the PSP by 2052. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, pp.44, 73) The November 2024 ICP resolves one part of this issue by stating that extractive industry at WA1473, including access roads and buffer-affected land, is exempt from the infrastructure contribution levy until it is developed for residential purposes. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.22)

Staging and Administration

The ICP staging bands are short term at approximately 0-7 years, medium term at 7-15 years, and long term at 15 years and beyond. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.6) The staging tables are not hard construction dates because the ICP states that the collecting and development agencies may consider alternative staging where works in kind, road network priorities, community need or contribution availability justify a different sequence. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.13)

Mitchell Shire Council is both collecting agency and development agency under the ICP. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.20) The monetary component and any land equalisation amounts are payable to Council, and Council is responsible for administration, enforcement, land credit payments, infrastructure provision and acquisition of any outer public purpose land identified by the ICP. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.20)

Current Status

The substantive source set includes a November 2024 ICP that states the document has been incorporated in the Mitchell Planning Scheme through Schedule 3 to Clause 45.11 and Clause 72.04. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.3) The manifest also includes two DTP/planning-schemes HTML captures for Amendment C161mith, but those captures contain only a JavaScript application shell and do not provide a readable approval notice, explanatory report or gazettal text. (Source: web-research-L1-amendment-c161-page-dtp.txt; Source: web-research-L1-amendment-c161-planning-schemes.txt)

Dependencies

  • Blocks: Urban subdivision and development sequencing depends on delivery or programmed delivery of the ICP transport, community and recreation infrastructure needed to service the Beveridge North West PSP. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.3, 6, 13)
  • Blocked by: Some contributions from WA1473 extractive industry land and buffer-affected land are deferred until residential development occurs after quarry use and rehabilitation. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.22)
  • Informed by: The ICP was prepared with the Beveridge North West PSP and drew on PSP background reports, infrastructure design and costing work, sodic soils evidence, transport modelling evidence, the Ministerial Direction and VPA benchmark cost material. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.3-4; Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, pp.63-64)
  • Implements: Amendment C161mith implements the statutory infrastructure funding component of the Beveridge North West PSP through Schedule 3 to the Infrastructure Contributions Overlay. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.3)
  • Conflicts with: The main unresolved planning tension identified in the source record is the timing relationship between a time-limited quarry, post-quarry rehabilitation, deferred ICP collections and infrastructure delivery. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, pp.65-66)

The ICP has direct inter-precinct funding links with Beveridge Central, Beveridge South West, Wallan South and future northern growth-corridor infrastructure planning. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.8-10) BN-RD-01 and BN-IN-01 are linked to Beveridge Central ICP funding, BN-IN-03 is linked to Beveridge South West ICP funding, and BN-IN-08 and BN-IN-09 are linked to Wallan South ICP funding. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.8-9)

The VPA Part A submission records whole-of-government input from the Department of Transport, Department of Education and Training, Melbourne Water, Department of Jobs Precincts and Regions, Yarra Valley Water, DELWP Melbourne Strategic Assessment, DELWP Land Management and EPA for the draft amendments. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, pp.8-9) This indicates that C161mith is not a council-only funding instrument but part of a coordinated state, council and servicing-authority planning process. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, pp.8-9)

Gaps in This Analysis

The manifest does not include the final gazettal notice, final explanatory report, final ordinance, final incorporated PSP, Ministerial reasons for approval, or the MAC report, so this page relies on the November 2024 incorporated ICP for current statutory content and the April 2022 VPA Part A submission for contested issues. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, p.3; Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, pp.65-71) The manifest includes three duplicate captures of the same November 2024 ICP text and two non-substantive planning-portal HTML shell captures, so the analytical base is thinner than the source count suggests. (Source: web-research-L1-beveridge-north-west-icp-dtp.txt; Source: web-research-L1-beveridge-north-west-icp-vpa-approval-gazetted.txt; Source: web-research-L1-beveridge-north-west-icp-vpa.txt; Source: web-research-L1-amendment-c161-page-dtp.txt; Source: web-research-L1-amendment-c161-planning-schemes.txt)

Critical missing documents for a fuller assessment are the final Beveridge North West PSP, the MAC report and recommendations, the final approval/gazettal package, the Cardno infrastructure designs and costings, the Jacobs sodic soils assessment, the transport modelling, the quarry permit decision material, and the Mitchell Shire implementation or capital works program for ICP delivery. (Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, pp.13-14, 63-64) Without those documents, this analysis can quantify the approved ICP mechanism but cannot independently test whether the listed projects, costs, apportionments, staging assumptions or quarry-related deferral settings remain technically sufficient. (Source: Beveridge North West Infrastructure Contributions Plan.pdf, pp.6-13; Source: Beveridge North West PSP C158mith ICP C161mith VCAT Proceeding P1745 2020 Part A Submission.pdf, pp.65-71)

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