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title: Amendment VC148 - Planning Policy Framework Changes Affecting Moorabool Amendments council: moorabool state: vic category: amendment classification: MINOR status: unknown last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:

  • moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf

Amendment VC148 - Planning Policy Framework Changes Affecting Moorabool Amendments

Amendment VC148 matters to Moorabool because it changed the policy container while Amendment C81 was already at Panel stage, requiring the final amendment package to be checked against the newly integrated Planning Policy Framework rather than only the pre-VC148 State Planning Policy Framework and Local Planning Policy Framework structure used through exhibition and hearing (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.5). The practical effect was not a new land-use proposal, but a translation and consistency risk: the policy directions for Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework implementation had to survive the move from the old SPPF/LPPF architecture into the reformed Victoria Planning Provisions (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5, 20-21).

Background

The only source document in the corpus is the Panel report for Moorabool Planning Scheme Amendment C81, dated 9 August 2018 (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf). Amendment C81 sought to implement the Bacchus Marsh District Urban Growth Framework 2017 by updating the Municipal Strategic Statement, deleting outdated strategy references, and adding current adopted strategies including the Bacchus Marsh Integrated Transport Strategy 2015, Moorabool Industrial Areas Strategy 2015, Moorabool Shire Council Retail Strategy 2041, and Moorabool Shire Economic Development Strategy 2015 (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.1). Amendment C81 did not rezone land, and instead provided a strategic framework for later amendments that would determine exact precinct boundaries and rezone land for master-planned urban development (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.2).

VC148 arrived late in that process: it was gazetted on 31 July 2018, after the exhibition, submissions, and Panel hearing for Amendment C81 had already occurred (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.5). The Panel recorded that VC148 made reforms to the Victoria Planning Provisions, including a new integrated Planning Policy Framework, and retained references in its report to the pre-VC148 Moorabool Planning Scheme to avoid confusion (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.5). The Panel then gave Council a specific implementation instruction: the final form of Amendment C81 should be consistent with the changes resulting from VC148 (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.6).

Analysis

Mechanism: VC148 changed the filing system, not the growth areas

The simplest way to understand VC148 in this source is that Moorabool had packed Amendment C81 into one set of folders, then the State changed the folder system before the package was finally put away. The contents still dealt with Bacchus Marsh growth, buffers, transport, infrastructure, and precinct sequencing, but the final amendment had to be checked against the new integrated policy structure created by VC148 (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6).

This distinction matters because C81 was not a rezoning amendment and did not introduce new overlays or other controls (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.2, 10). Its statutory work was mainly policy work: it amended MSS clauses 21.01, 21.02, 21.03, 21.04, 21.05, 21.07 and 21.11, inserted the Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework plan into Clause 21.07, and updated reference documents (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.1). A policy-structure reform such as VC148 is therefore directly relevant to C81, because the amendment’s effect depends on how strategic directions are expressed inside the planning scheme (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.1, 5-6).

The Panel’s handling shows a two-step mechanism. First, it assessed C81 against the policy framework that existed when the amendment was exhibited and heard (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.5). Second, it required Council to make the final amendment consistent with the VC148 changes before completion (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.6). That creates a translation task rather than a fresh merits assessment: the strategic intent endorsed by the Panel had to be carried into the new policy format without losing operative meaning (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6, 20-21).

Relationship to Amendment C81

C81 was a growth-framework implementation amendment for Bacchus Marsh and district, not a direct development approval (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.1-2). The Panel described the UGF as the starting point for planning Bacchus Marsh, with significant further strategic planning still required before detailed growth-area planning could occur (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.19). That means the wording of the policy framework is important because it guides later PSPs, development plans, development contribution plans, infrastructure contribution plans, and future rezoning amendments (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.2, 8-9, 20).

The source shows four strategic outcome areas for growth to 2041: Merrimu Growth Precinct, Parwan Station Residential and Commercial Growth Precinct, Hopetoun Park North, and Parwan Employment Precinct (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.13). It also identifies two further investigation areas: Darley Sands Quarries Investigation Area and Maddingley Employment Investigation Area (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.13). Because C81 placed these areas into the local policy framework rather than rezoning them, VC148’s relevance is that the local policy directions had to remain legible and enforceable after the State-local policy framework was integrated (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6, 20-21).

The Panel accepted that the key issues from the UGF had been appropriately translated into the LPPF and supported the proposed planning scheme changes (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.20). It also recommended adopting the post-hearing UGF and post-hearing LPPF clauses, subject to specific changes including deletion of the proposed Clause 21.03-2 strategy requiring at least 15 years of appropriately zoned land in Bacchus Marsh and Ballan (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.20-21). VC148 therefore sits over an already revised C81 package: Council had to reconcile the Panel-supported post-hearing LPPF wording with the new PPF structure created by VC148 (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6, 20-21).

Why the policy translation mattered

The most sensitive C81 mechanisms were expressed through policy directions rather than immediate controls (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.1-2, 13). Future growth precincts were to be guided by precinct structure plans or development plans, with development contribution plans or infrastructure contribution plans prepared in conjunction with those more detailed plans (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.8-9). If the VC148 translation softened, misplaced, or duplicated those requirements, later precinct planning could become harder to administer because the trigger points would be less clear (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6, 13, 20-21).

The Panel identified five district-wide preconditions for later precinct work: an Integrated Infrastructure Delivery Framework, a District Open Space Framework, an update of the Bacchus Marsh Integrated Transport Strategy, a Bacchus Marsh Irrigation District planning study, and an Eastern Link Road corridor alignment study (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.17-18). These preconditions were not merely background research; they were intended to resolve shared infrastructure, open-space, transport, agricultural-interface, and road-alignment questions before or during detailed precinct planning (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.17-20). The VC148 consistency check therefore had to preserve the sequencing logic that linked future growth areas to district-wide studies (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6, 17-20).

The transport example shows the statutory effect clearly. The Panel supported policy requiring PSPs for Parwan Station and Merrimu to identify the maximum number of lots that could proceed before the Eastern Link Road was constructed, and to identify local road improvements needed to facilitate that pre-ELR development (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.48-50). That policy mechanism controls staging risk rather than zoning land directly (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.48-50). If translated poorly after VC148, the later PSP process could lose a clear policy basis for linking lot release to Eastern Link Road capacity (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6, 48-50).

Cause and effect for later Moorabool amendments

The immediate cause was VC148’s gazettal on 31 July 2018 after C81 exhibition, submissions, and hearing (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.5). The immediate effect was the Panel’s instruction that Council ensure C81’s final form was consistent with VC148 (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.6). The downstream effect was that later Moorabool amendments relying on C81 policy directions would depend on how accurately the C81 intent was translated into the integrated Planning Policy Framework (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6, 20-21).

For Merrimu and Parwan Station, the translation affected policy pathways for PSPs, staging, infrastructure delivery, and Eastern Link Road dependency (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.47-50, 55, 61). For Hopetoun Park North, the translation affected the policy basis for lower-density residential planning, future zone choice, interface treatment, and the role of a Development Plan Overlay in later detailed planning (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.65-71). For Parwan Employment Precinct, the translation affected the policy basis for industrial and agribusiness planning, development or infrastructure contributions, and land-use separation from sensitive uses (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.13, 37-39, 105-112).

The effect was not quantified as a direct cost in the source, because the available source does not provide a VC148 translation table or final approved ordinance (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6, 76-78, 87). The source does, however, show that C81’s policy directions touched infrastructure contribution mechanisms, transport corridor planning, open-space planning, water management, community infrastructure, activity centres, agricultural protection, extractive resources, waste and resource recovery buffers, and residential growth sequencing (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.7-12, 13-21, 43-54, 87-119). VC148 therefore had a broad but procedural effect: it changed the policy architecture through which those C81 directions had to be expressed (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6).

Source limits and analytical caution

This page cannot state the final approved wording of the post-VC148 Moorabool Planning Scheme because the corpus contains the C81 Panel report only, not the approved amendment documentation, gazettal notice, or post-VC148 planning scheme extract (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf). This page also cannot verify whether every Panel-recommended LPPF clause was successfully translated into the integrated PPF, because the source records the Panel’s recommendation and Council’s obligation but not the final approval instrument (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6, 20-21, 87).

The source is still useful because it identifies the point of statutory friction: the Panel assessed C81 using the pre-VC148 structure, but the final amendment had to be made consistent with VC148 (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6). The source also identifies the policy content most exposed to translation risk, including growth-area sequencing, PSP and development-plan requirements, development or infrastructure contribution planning, Eastern Link Road staging, and protection of industrial, waste, extractive, agricultural, environmental and bushfire constraints (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.7-21, 43-54, 55-71).

Current Status

For production coherence, C81 is treated as the approved/gazetted Bacchus Marsh UGF framework in the council overview and C81 page. This VC148 page is narrower: it records how C81-era policy was later translated into the post-VC148 Planning Policy Framework, and the remaining evidence gap is the exact VC148 translation trail rather than C81 approval itself. (Source: bacchus-marsh-ugf_final-august-2018_adopted-by-council_20180919.pdf; Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-7)

Dependencies

  • Blocks: The source does not show VC148 blocking C81, but it shows that Council had to ensure C81’s final form was consistent with VC148 before finalisation (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6).
  • Blocked by: The analysis is blocked by absence of the approved C81 amendment documentation, the VC148 explanatory material, and a post-VC148 Moorabool Planning Scheme extract (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf).
  • Informed by: The C81 policy package was informed by the Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework, Bacchus Marsh Integrated Transport Strategy 2015, Moorabool Industrial Areas Strategy 2015, Moorabool Shire Council Retail Strategy 2041, Moorabool Shire Economic Development Strategy 2015, and Agribusiness Analysis for the proposed Parwan Employment Precinct 2015 (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.1, 9).
  • Implements: C81 sought to align local strategic planning for Bacchus Marsh with Plan Melbourne 2017-2050 and the Central Highlands Regional Growth Plan, with Bacchus Marsh identified as a State-recognised regional growth centre (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.1).
  • Conflicts with: The source identifies no direct conflict between VC148 and C81, but it identifies a consistency task because C81 was heard under the pre-VC148 scheme structure and had to be finalised under the post-VC148 reform environment (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6).

The C81 Panel report shows that the Bacchus Marsh framework sat within State and regional planning settings, including Plan Melbourne 2017-2050 and the Central Highlands Regional Growth Plan (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, p.1). It also shows agency involvement by the Victorian Planning Authority, VicRoads, Transport for Victoria, Western Water, EPA, CFA, DEDJTR, DELWP, Sustainability Victoria, and waste and resource recovery groups through submissions or hearing participation (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.72-78). The main cross-boundary planning issue identified in the source is the need to plan Bacchus Marsh growth along the Melbourne-Ballarat transport corridor while protecting agricultural, extractive, waste, water, bushfire, environmental and infrastructure functions that involve state or regional agencies (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.7-12, 43-54, 72-78).

Gaps in This Analysis

The critical gap is the absence of the VC148 amendment documentation itself, including the explanatory report, instruction sheet, gazettal material, and any mapping or ordinance translation guidance relevant to Moorabool (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6). A second critical gap is the absence of the final approved C81 documentation after the Panel report, because the source only records the Panel recommendation and the need for VC148 consistency (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.i-ii, 5-6). A third gap is the absence of a post-VC148 Moorabool Planning Scheme extract showing where the C81 directions ultimately landed in the integrated Planning Policy Framework (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6, 87).

These gaps limit the analysis to mechanism and risk rather than final statutory audit. The available source supports the conclusion that VC148 created a final-form consistency task for C81, but it does not support a conclusion that the task was completed correctly, incompletely, or with any specific wording change (Source: moorabool-c81-panel-report.pdf, pp.5-6).

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