Grange Planning Brain

title: Amendment C115moor - Moorabool Retail Strategy council: moorabool state: vic category: amendment classification: MAJOR status: in-progress last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:

  • agenda-4-march-2026.pdf
  • agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf
  • attachments-4-march-2026.pdf
  • minutes-omc-04-march-2026.pdf
  • minutes-omc-7-may-2025.pdf

Amendment C115moor - Moorabool Retail Strategy

Amendment C115moor is the statutory mechanism for moving the Moorabool Shire Retail Strategy 2024 from an adopted strategic document into the Moorabool Planning Scheme, so future retail and activity-centre decisions are assessed against a formal hierarchy rather than only against broad local policy. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.11) Its practical effect is to shape where everyday retail, neighbourhood activity centres, bulky goods/restricted retail, tourism-related retail, and Ballan town-centre planning work are expected to occur as Moorabool grows. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, pp.12-14)

The amendment had moved beyond exhibition by March 2026: Council resolved on 4 March 2026 to request that the Minister for Planning appoint an independent Planning Panel to consider all submissions, with officer authority to keep negotiating with submitters and refer late submissions to the Panel. (Source: minutes-omc-04-march-2026.pdf, pp.9-10)

Background

The starting point was the older Retail Strategy 2041, prepared by Macroplan Dimasi and adopted in 2016. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.15) After that strategy, the Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework and Ballan Strategic Directions identified significant residential growth areas with capacity for an additional 13,521 residents in Moorabool, creating the need for more retail provision and additional town centres. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.15)

Council began a shire-wide retail assessment in 2022, at the same time as preparing a Bacchus Marsh town-centre structure plan that flowed from the 2018 Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.12) The Retail Strategy was informed by targeted engagement with the Ballan and District Chamber of Commerce, the Moorabool Local Business Advisory Committee, Bacchus Marsh Town Centre Structure Plan drop-in sessions, and meetings with retail sector participants. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.12) Community feedback on the draft strategy produced three stated themes: broader retail and service diversity in centres, centres accessible by public transport, walking and car and close to where people live, and general clothing retail within Moorabool. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.12)

Council adopted the Moorabool Shire Retail Strategy 2024 on 4 September 2024. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.12) On 7 May 2025, Council resolved to seek ministerial authorisation to prepare Amendment C115moor and, once authorised, to exhibit it under the Planning and Environment Act 1987. (Source: minutes-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.12) Conditional authorisation was received from the Minister for Planning on 8 August 2025. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13) Public exhibition ran from 24 October 2025 to 30 November 2025. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13)

Analysis

Statutory Mechanism

C115moor is not a rezoning amendment in the source material provided; it is a policy-translation amendment that changes planning scheme clauses so the retail strategy can influence future planning permits and future amendments. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, pp.12-13) In simple terms, the strategy is the rulebook idea and C115moor is the process of putting that idea onto the planning scheme shelf where decision-makers must look for it. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13)

The amendment proposes to amend Clause 02.03-1 Strategic Directions to describe Bacchus Marsh as a Major Activity Centre and update directions for Ballan and small towns and settlements. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13) That matters because the Municipal Planning Strategy is a high-level interpretive layer: naming Bacchus Marsh as a Major Activity Centre gives later retail and commercial proposals a clearer strategic reference point. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13)

The amendment also proposes changes to Clause 11.03-1L Activity Centres by inserting an updated retail-centre hierarchy and adding Ballan town-centre strategies. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13) The mechanism is a hierarchy: a proposal is not assessed only by whether it can physically fit on a site, but also by whether its scale and role match the centre type identified for that location. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13)

C115moor proposes to amend Clause 17.02-1L Business by adding strategies for Bungaree and Gordon and expanding the existing bulky goods strategy. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13) It also proposes to amend Clause 17.04-1L Tourism with strategies derived from the Visitor Economy Strategy 2024, which means retail planning is being linked to visitor activity in smaller settlements as well as to residential catchments. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13)

The amendment proposes to amend Clause 18.01-3L Sustainable personal transport to support a pedestrian-bicycle link between a future Ballan South neighbourhood activity centre and Inglis Street. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13) This is a small but important spatial dependency: the future Ballan South centre is not just a commercial land-use question, because the amendment also expects a movement connection back to the established town-centre spine. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13)

C115moor would also update the Schedule to Clause 34.01 Commercial 1 Zone to revise maximum leasable floor-area requirements based on the Retail Strategy assessments. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13) The source extracts do not provide the actual floor-area numbers, so this analysis cannot test whether the proposed caps are conservative, generous, or internally consistent with the retail demand assessment. (Source: attachments-4-march-2026.pdf, pp.28-66)

Growth-Area Retail Sequencing

The amendment is directly tied to residential growth in Bacchus Marsh and Ballan. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.15) The May 2025 report states that previously identified growth areas could accommodate 13,521 additional residents, and that this population growth requires greater retail provision including additional town centres. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.15)

For Bacchus Marsh, the Retail Strategy assessed existing and future catchments and found that the existing and planned activity-centre hierarchy could provide shops and services at the regional level. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17) That conclusion relies on a network including neighbourhood activity centres in new suburbs, expansion of Darley Plaza, the recently opened Maddingley Village, and Bacchus Marsh town centre. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17)

The Bacchus Marsh greenfield areas specifically named in the authorisation report are Merrimu, Parwan Station and Underbank. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17) The mechanism is timing: these areas need neighbourhood centres planned early enough that residents are not isolated from daily services, but the retail network also needs to avoid overprovision of retail space. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17)

For Ballan, the amendment supports substantial growth and expects the existing centre to mature into a more comprehensive retail centre. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17) The constraint is not only demand; the report says larger and well-located development sites in Ballan are limited, so expansion must be planned carefully to avoid drawing activity away from the existing main street centre. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17)

The proposed Ballan South neighbourhood activity centre is therefore a staged planning problem. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17) If it arrives too early or at too large a scale, the source material identifies a risk that it could negatively affect the existing main street shopping precinct; if it arrives too late, future southern growth-area residents may lack convenient daily services. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17)

Bulky Goods, Small Towns and Tourism Retail

The amendment includes a new clause direction for bulky goods/restricted retail, identifying a general location south of Bacchus Marsh, a land-size requirement for short-to-medium-term needs, and design guidance for assessing development applications. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17) The source extract does not provide the land-size figure, the mapped general location, or the design standards, so the actual land-budget and built-form implications cannot be quantified from the manifest documents. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17)

Small towns and settlements are treated differently from Bacchus Marsh and Ballan. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17) The amendment encourages investment in smaller towns both for local retail access and tourist retail offerings, which suggests a policy role for modest local services rather than a centre hierarchy dominated only by the main growth settlements. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17)

The proposed insertion of the Visitor Economy Strategy 2023-2027 into Clause 72.08 as a background document strengthens this tourism-retail link. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13) The source extracts do not include the Visitor Economy Strategy itself, so the analysis cannot identify which towns, routes or visitor markets are intended to support tourism-linked retail. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13)

Submissions and Contested Issues

The amendment received 11 submissions during exhibition. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13) The reported submitter mix was one resident, two government agencies, three landowners or commercial proponents supporting the amendment, four landowners or commercial proponents seeking changes, and one industrial landowner concerned that the amendment should wait until completion of Amendment C119moor - Maddingley Planning Study. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, pp.13-14)

The submission themes show that the amendment is contested less as a retail strategy in the abstract and more as a distribution mechanism for future commercial activity. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.14) Support was recorded for identifying new neighbourhood activity centres in greenfield residential areas, while objection was also recorded to identifying new neighbourhood activity centres in greenfield residential areas in Bacchus Marsh. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.14)

Ballan submissions raised concerns about growth impacts on heritage, character and traffic. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.14) That aligns with the amendment’s own mechanism: a future Ballan South centre and planned Ballan town-centre work must be sequenced so new retail capacity does not undermine the existing main street or worsen unresolved access and character issues. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17)

Several submissions requested changes for individual sites, including identifying sites for future commercial rezoning or otherwise facilitating development. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.14) This is a predictable pressure point for a retail hierarchy amendment because even when it does not rezone land directly, it can influence which locations are later considered strategically suitable for commercial zoning or centre expansion. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, pp.13-14)

The Department of Transport and Planning Transport branch requested ordinance changes and gave advice for Council’s consideration. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.14) Officers recommended minor ordinance changes to resolve issues raised by that agency submission, but part of the submission remained unresolved as at the 4 March 2026 report. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.14)

Council officers considered that the number of competing submissions meant Council could not simply change the amendment in the requested manner. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.14) The officer recommendation was therefore to refer submissions to a Panel, because the retail hierarchy was supported by adopted strategic work and because ordinance changes were proposed where appropriate. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, pp.14-15)

Relationship to Other Moorabool Planning Work

C115moor is linked to the Bacchus Marsh Town Centre Structure Plan, which was adopted in September 2024 and is expected to be implemented through a future planning scheme amendment. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13) This means C115moor does not complete the statutory work for Bacchus Marsh town centre; it creates the broader retail-policy setting while a later amendment is expected to handle the more detailed town-centre implementation. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13)

The amendment is also linked to future Ballan town-centre work. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13) C115moor proposes to remove the Retail Strategy update from Clause 74.02 Further Strategic Work and add an urban design framework or structure plan for Ballan town centre. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13)

The Maddingley relationship is unresolved in the source material. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.14) One industrial landowner submitted that C115moor may prejudice the outcomes of C119moor - Maddingley Planning Study, but the extract does not provide the submission text, the site, the industrial land issue, or the specific way C115moor might affect C119moor. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.14)

Current Status

As at the 4 March 2026 Council meeting, Amendment C115moor had completed exhibition and was moving to the independent Planning Panel stage. (Source: minutes-omc-04-march-2026.pdf, pp.9-10) Council resolved to request that the Minister for Planning establish a Panel under section 22 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to consider all submissions. (Source: minutes-omc-04-march-2026.pdf, p.9)

The next statutory steps are a Panel process and Panel report, followed by a Council decision to adopt the amendment, adopt it with changes, or abandon it. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.15) If Council adopts the amendment after the Panel process, it must submit the amendment to the Minister for Planning for approval. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.15)

Council reported that amendment costs, including expert evidence and panel costs, were budgeted through the recurrent budget of Council’s Growth and Development department, and that no significant financial implications were created by the amendment. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.15) This financial statement relates to Council process costs, not to the downstream public or private cost of providing transport links, centre infrastructure, or commercial land supply. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.15)

Dependencies

  • Blocks: C115moor blocks full statutory recognition of the Moorabool Shire Retail Strategy 2024 in the planning scheme, including the updated retail hierarchy, Ballan centre directions, bulky goods/restricted retail guidance, and background-document references. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13)
  • Blocked by: The amendment is blocked by the Panel process and subsequent Council and Ministerial decisions, because Council resolved only to request a Panel and had not adopted or approved the amendment as at 4 March 2026. (Source: minutes-omc-04-march-2026.pdf, pp.9-10)
  • Informed by: The amendment is informed by the Moorabool Shire Retail Strategy 2024, the Moorabool Shire Economic Development Strategy 2023-2027, and the Moorabool Shire Visitor Economy Strategy 2023-2027, all proposed as Clause 72.08 background documents. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13)
  • Implements: The amendment implements the statutory recommendations of the Moorabool Shire Retail Strategy 2024 and aligns with Council Plan 2025-2029 Strategic Objective 3, Priority 3.2, as reported in March 2026. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.15)
  • Conflicts with: The unresolved conflicts identified in the source extracts are competing submitter positions about greenfield neighbourhood activity centres, Ballan heritage-character-traffic impacts, individual site treatment, DTP transport matters, and potential interaction with C119moor. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.14)

The available sources identify the Department of Transport and Planning Transport branch as a government agency submitter whose requested ordinance changes were partly resolved and partly unresolved. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.14) That is the clearest cross-agency dependency in the manifest documents, because transport advice affects how activity-centre locations connect to roads, walking and cycling links, and future centre access. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.14)

No water authority, power authority, adjoining council, or regional infrastructure authority dependency is described in the extracted C115moor material. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, pp.11-16) This does not mean no such dependencies exist; it means the manifest sources are council agenda and minute extracts rather than the full Retail Strategy, technical appendices, Panel material, or infrastructure servicing documents. (Source: attachments-4-march-2026.pdf, pp.21-66)

Gaps in This Analysis

The most important gap is the absence of usable extracted text from the March 2026 attachments for Item 11.1. (Source: attachments-4-march-2026.pdf, pp.21-66) The attachment file identifies Attachment 1 as the summary of submissions and Attachment 2 as C115 ordinance post-exhibition changes, but the extracted text contains page markers rather than substantive attachment content. (Source: attachments-4-march-2026.pdf, pp.21-66)

The full Moorabool Shire Retail Strategy 2024 is also not included as a separate readable source in this manifest. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.13) Without that document, this page cannot quantify retail floor-space demand, centre catchments, expenditure assumptions, trade-area boundaries, maximum leasable floor-area changes, or the land-size requirement for bulky goods/restricted retail south of Bacchus Marsh. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.17)

The exhibited amendment documentation attached to the 7 May 2025 agenda was listed as being under separate cover, but the manifest does not include a readable extracted attachment for that item. (Source: agenda-omc-7-may-2025.pdf, p.14) That limits analysis of the exact ordinance wording originally authorised for exhibition and prevents a precise comparison between exhibited and post-exhibition clauses. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, p.14)

The individual submissions are not available in the extracted source set. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, pp.13-14) The page can count submitter categories and identify broad themes, but it cannot weight the submissions by site area, agency authority, technical evidence, or requested wording changes. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, pp.13-14)

The Panel report is not yet available in the manifest because the amendment had only been referred toward Panel at the March 2026 decision point. (Source: minutes-omc-04-march-2026.pdf, pp.9-10) The decisive unresolved questions are therefore whether the Panel supports the retail hierarchy, whether DTP transport concerns lead to material ordinance changes, whether Ballan South staging is tightened, and whether the Maddingley C119moor interaction requires deferral or clause changes. (Source: agenda-4-march-2026.pdf, pp.14-15)

Current-Status Guardrail

This is a material planning-signal page, but production legal-status advice requires the final approval, gazette, EES/assessment or adopted implementation record to be cited on the page. Until that evidence is present, use this page for mechanism and dependency intelligence rather than final operative-law status.

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