Grange Planning Brain

title: Moorabool Shire Planning Relationships council: moorabool state: vic category: relationships classification: MAJOR status: active last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:

  • bacchus-marsh-ugf_final-august-2018_adopted-by-council_20180919.pdf
  • moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf
  • Merrimu-Precinct-Structure-Plan-Draft-for-Public-Consultation-March-2026.pdf
  • Merrimu-Development-Contributions-Plan-Draft-for-Public-Consultation-March-2026.pdf
  • agenda-1-april-2026.pdf
  • moorabool-c108moor-panel-report.pdf

Planning Relationships

Bacchus Marsh Growth Chain

Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework is the parent document for the main eastern and southern growth fronts. It identifies Merrimu Precinct Structure Plan and Development Contributions Plan, Parwan Station, Parwan Employment Precinct and Hopetoun Park North Growth Precinct as strategic outcome areas, while making later PSPs, development plans, infrastructure plans and amendments the actual delivery mechanisms (Source: bacchus-marsh-ugf_final-august-2018_adopted-by-council_20180919.pdf, pp.65-89; Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.9).

The cause-and-effect chain is: Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework establishes the growth logic; Amendment C81 - Bacchus Marsh District Urban Growth Framework gives it planning-policy weight; Merrimu Precinct Structure Plan and Development Contributions Plan turns one growth front into an exhibited urban structure, DCP, PAO and NVPP package; and Amendment C109moor must be approved and gazetted before PSP-scale subdivision and DCP levy collection can operate (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.9; Source: agenda-1-april-2026.pdf, pp.11-13).

Merrimu Precinct Structure Plan and Development Contributions Plan is also the main current housing-yield mechanism. The PSP plans for 8,063 dwellings and 24,189 residents, while the DCP recovers 234.083 million through the development infrastructure levy and 11.007 million through the community infrastructure levy (Source: Merrimu-Precinct-Structure-Plan-Draft-for-Public-Consultation-March-2026.pdf, p.18; Source: Merrimu-Development-Contributions-Plan-Draft-for-Public-Consultation-March-2026.pdf, pp.4,30). If C109moor stalls, the largest current source of planned Moorabool housing capacity remains non-operative (Source: minutes-omc-1-april-2026.pdf, p.8).

The Bacchus Marsh Eastern Link Road is the transport dependency that ties Merrimu Precinct Structure Plan and Development Contributions Plan, Parwan Station and the town-centre pressure problem together. The UGF identifies a major shortfall in Bacchus Marsh north-south movement and frames the Eastern Link Road as a second north-south arterial that links growth precincts to the freeway and relieves pressure on the town centre (Source: bacchus-marsh-ugf_final-august-2018_adopted-by-council_20180919.pdf, pp.55-58,78-82).

For Merrimu, the PSP contains a key section of the BMELR alignment, and Council’s 2026 submission seeks referral to the Minister for an EES decision plus a Public Acquisition Overlay for road reservation (Source: Merrimu-Precinct-Structure-Plan-Draft-for-Public-Consultation-March-2026.pdf, p.7; Source: agenda-1-april-2026.pdf, p.15). The practical mechanism is staged risk: Council seeks a residential lot limit if BMELR is not constructed, with possible external road upgrades needed before further development proceeds (Source: agenda-1-april-2026.pdf, p.15).

Ballan Growth Chain

Ballan Strategic Directions and the Ballan Framework Plan feed Ballan Precinct 5 Growth Area and Ballan Integrated Transport Strategy. Amendment C108moor implements local planning policy identifying Ballan for additional residential growth, while DPO9 would require development plans, servicing plans, transport plans, IWM plans, biodiversity controls and section 173 agreements before full subdivision proceeds (Source: moorabool-c108moor-panel-report.pdf, pp.17-19,82-90).

The infrastructure sequence is tight. The Panel records that initial Precinct 5 development is capped at 60 to 100 lots for sewerage and up to 300 lots for water until augmentation is delivered, and that a transport assessment is required before the 600th-lot stage to identify Old Melbourne Road and Geelong-Ballan Road works (Source: moorabool-c108moor-panel-report.pdf, pp.51-53,82-83). Ballan Integrated Transport Strategy then widens the lens to the whole township by staging road, intersection, active-transport, parking and public-transport actions against population thresholds of about 4,700, 6,700 and 8,700 people (Source: ballan-integrated-transport-strategy-2026.pdf, pp.22-25).

Employment, Buffers And Incompatible Uses

Parwan Employment Precinct, Maddingley Planning Study and Moorabool Industrial Areas Strategy all depend on protecting industrial, waste, mining and agribusiness functions from incompatible sensitive uses. Parwan’s 2015 evidence shows that hydroponics, mushrooms, meat processing and distribution become more supportable when gas, water, sewer, recycled water and road access align (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, pp.87-91,117-119).

Maddingley Planning Study performs a similar compatibility function around the waste and resource recovery hub, coal mining, industrial land, bulky goods and possible education uses. Council adopted the study and moved toward Amendment C119moor, but later Phase 2 and Phase 3 rezonings require further work on biodiversity, bushfire, mining policy, industrial demand, transport, drainage, sewerage, water and electricity (Source: minutes-omc-17-december-2025.pdf, p.20; Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.187-193).

Community Infrastructure And Open Space

Community Infrastructure Planning Framework and Audit, Strategic Community Infrastructure Priorities and Moorabool Open Space Strategy 2025-2030 convert population growth into facility and land requirements. The community infrastructure framework uses provision standards, GIS and CASIMO to test gaps rather than relying only on municipal asset totals (Source: community-infrastructure-planning-process-feb-2020.pdf, pp.4-5,30-32). The open-space strategy then constrains acceptance of poorly configured or encumbered open space in subdivisions by applying fit-for-purpose tests and developer-toolkit actions (Source: 2025-2030-open-space-strategy.pdf, pp.27-28,46-50).

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