Grange Planning Brain

title: Bacchus Marsh Activity Centre Structure Plan council: moorabool state: vic category: growth-area classification: MAJOR status: in-progress last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:

  • 2015-02-18-180215-smc-agenda.pdf
  • 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf
  • bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf
  • bmtc_structure_plan_2024.pdf

Bacchus Marsh Activity Centre Structure Plan

The Bacchus Marsh Activity Centre Structure Plan is not a greenfield growth plan; it is the main mechanism for managing how Moorabool’s principal town centre absorbs commercial growth, housing diversity, civic functions, movement upgrades and heritage-sensitive built form within the existing Bacchus Marsh urban core. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) Its practical significance is that the centre has to serve a catchment expected to grow to more than 76,000 people at full development while retaining the main-street, country-town character that the planning scheme and community engagement identify as central to the place. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The current planning framework has two layers. The first is the 2011 activity centre plan implemented through Amendment C51, which led to local policy changes, multiple Design and Development Overlays, the Bacchus Marsh Activity Centre Link control, and the Taverner Street residential framework. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf) The second is the 2024 Town Centre Structure Plan, which updates the strategic direction for a 15-year period and now requires translation into the Moorabool Planning Scheme, public works programming, and agency coordination. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

Background

The earlier Bacchus Marsh Activity Centre Structure Plan was adopted by Council on 7 December 2011 after State Government-supported work responding to the Growing Moorabool Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf) Amendment C51 was authorised for preparation and exhibition on 16 February 2012, exhibited from 30 May to 28 June 2013, heard by a Planning Panel on 29-31 January 2014, and considered by Council for adoption on 18 February 2015. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf) The amendment received 17 submissions, including 9 objections, 3 comments with no objection, 1 in-principle support submission seeking changes, and 4 support or no-objection submissions. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf)

The 2015 decision matters because it shows how a structure plan becomes operational. Amendment C51 did not simply endorse a vision; it altered the Municipal Strategic Statement, introduced eight Design and Development Overlay schedules, applied DPO5 to the Activity Centre Link, addressed the Taverner Street Development Area, and reconciled the amendment with the newer residential zones introduced through Amendment C72. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf) Council resolved to adopt C51 with Panel changes and further changes including rezoning Taverner Street land to General Residential Zone Schedule 1 rather than the superseded Residential 1 Zone. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf)

The 2024 plan was prepared by Hansen Partnership with Tim Nott and TrafficWorks for Moorabool Shire Council. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) It builds on the Bacchus Marsh Town Centre Township Context Report dated July 2022 and the Community Consultation Summary Report dated April 2023, both identified as appendices and background inputs rather than repeated in full. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) The duplicated file bmtc_structure_plan_2024.pdf appears to contain the same extracted 85-page structure plan text as bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf, so it has been treated as a duplicate source rather than independent evidence. (Source: bmtc_structure_plan_2024.pdf)

Analysis

Statutory Mechanism and Planning Effect

The structure plan works like a set of instructions for a shared town-centre machine: the plan says where activity should concentrate, the planning scheme controls tell permit applicants what design and movement outcomes must be delivered, and public works programs handle items that private permits cannot deliver alone. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) The 2024 plan states that it will be used as a basis for introducing planning policies, zones and overlays, assessing planning permits, assessing rezoning requests, guiding partnerships and grant advocacy, and preparing public works budgets. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The 2015 Panel process shows the limit of merely referencing a plan. The Panel did not support making the 2011 Structure Plan a reference document because its principal content had already been translated into Clause 21.07 and overlay schedules. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf) That means the enforceable part of the earlier structure planning exercise was not the booklet itself; it was the wording embedded in local policy, DPO and DDO controls. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf) The same issue now applies to the 2024 plan: until a new planning scheme amendment translates its local policy, built form, housing diversity and overlay recommendations, it remains strategic guidance rather than a fully statutory control set. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The 2024 implementation table identifies a short-term planning scheme amendment to translate the Structure Plan into local policies, remove redundant floorspace caps in parts of the Commercial 1 Zone, remove the 7 metre height cap in the Bacchus Marsh Hospital and Medical Services Precinct inside the structure plan boundary, and update DPO5, DDO9, DDO10 and DDO11. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) The main downstream effect is that permit assessment would shift from case-by-case negotiation to a more explicit framework for height, streetwall, access, active frontages, heritage interfaces, solar access, flood response and housing typologies. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

Land Use, Floorspace and Housing Capacity

The 2024 plan identifies Bacchus Marsh Town Centre as Moorabool’s only strategically designated Major Activity Centre and the main activity centre for the Shire. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) Bacchus Marsh and surrounds had an estimated residential population of 23,303 in 2022, while the town centre’s broader district is described elsewhere in the plan as exceeding 25,000 people and growing. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) The plan forecasts that the catchment population will grow to more than 76,000 people at full development, which is the demand pressure behind the floorspace and land-use recommendations. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The quantified commercial issue is tight but not yet a confirmed land shortage. Council’s Retail Strategy modelling, as reported in the structure plan, predicts a need for an additional 10,800 square metres of retail floorspace and a matching 10,800 square metres of non-retail floorspace from 2021 to 2041. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) The plan translates that demand into approximately 4.9 hectares of land, compared with around 5 hectares of vacant sites and developable land currently available. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) The narrow difference means the centre may be able to meet demand if existing land is efficiently developed, but may face a shortfall if key parcels do not become available, if parking consumes too much land, or if development remains low intensity. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The plan’s response is staged rather than expansionary. It identifies efficiency measures such as multi-storey development, reduced car-parking requirements, better development efficiency, and removal of former Business 2 Zone floorspace caps before relying on additional commercial land. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) It also nominates 92-98 Main Street, a 0.8 hectare vacant parcel west of Gisborne Road, as potential future commercial land subject to demand, access, traffic, built form, interface and land-use-mix resolution. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

Housing is treated as a support function for the centre rather than as a broad rezoning program. The 2024 Housing Diversity Areas map encourages apartments, shop-top housing, commercial accommodation, townhouses, villa units and dual occupancies in different parts of the structure plan boundary. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) The plan states that the housing diversity map works with existing zones and overlays and does not itself require changes to residential zones or overlays. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) This is an important statutory distinction: the structure plan encourages more varied housing forms near services and public transport, but does not by itself alter residential zone capacity. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The movement problem is concentrated at a small number of physical chokepoints. Bacchus Marsh experiences regular congestion because Grant Street/Gisborne Road is the only north-south arterial road through the centre and carries heavy vehicle movements. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) The 2024 plan identifies current plans to convert the Grant Street/Gisborne Road and Main Street roundabout to a signalised intersection and to deliver capacity improvements along Gisborne Road and Grant Street, with those arterial routes managed by the Department of Transport and Planning. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The Activity Centre Link is the longest-running implementation mechanism. In 2015, the Panel supported a dedicated pedestrian-cycle link between Main Street and the railway station, but rejected the earlier Greenway form where it would unduly burden two affected landowners. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf) The revised DPO5 mechanism shifted the question from a fixed imposed corridor to a development-plan process requiring a safe, attractive linkage, separation between pedestrians/cyclists and vehicles, connection between Main Street, Waddell Street and the railway station, and integration with development of affected land. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf)

The 2024 plan carries this mechanism forward. It identifies the north-south shared path from Main Street to Boyes Close as the Bacchus Marsh Activity Centre Link required by existing DPO5 and DDO9, and it also requires an east-west connection between Simpson Street and Waddell Street as part of future development. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) The effect is that future development on the key vacant land south of Main Street is not only a land-use question; it is also the delivery vehicle for the centre’s missing pedestrian, cycling and local access structure. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The 2024 plan adds a broader active transport framework. It identifies walking priority, cycling priority, walking and cycling priority, walking and cycling slow zone, Aqualink shared trail and remaining-road categories, and it lists priority sections including Main Street, Graham Street, Lord Street, Simpson Street, Young Street, the Werribee River Trail and the Aqualink route. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) It also identifies the Aqualink Cycling and Walking Corridor as a proposed 4.5 kilometre path network connecting the Lerderderg River and Werribee River corridors through Bacchus Marsh and Darley. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

Parking is a management issue rather than a simple supply issue. The 2024 plan says consultation raised perceived parking shortages, but the plan interprets the issue as convenience and proximity rather than a confirmed lack of spaces across the centre. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) It identifies a potential long-term multi-level parking facility on the existing at-grade Gell Street car park, but says that would not be contemplated within the 15-year structure plan period and would require a future needs assessment. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

Built Form, Heritage, Flooding and Public Realm

The built form direction is deliberately moderate. Commercial development is generally encouraged above 2 storeys but no greater than 4 storeys, with transitions to 1-2 storeys or no more than one storey above adjoining buildings where sites share boundaries with residentially zoned land or heritage properties. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) The same 2-4 storey range is encouraged for medium-density residential development in the town centre, with the top level of 3 and 4 storey buildings required to be recessive or integrated into the roof profile. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The heritage mechanism is not preservation through stasis. The plan identifies heritage fabric as a key character contributor and specifically notes the cluster of public-facing buildings from 117-119 to 127 Main Street on the south side as high-quality heritage buildings. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) It discourages mock heritage, encourages contemporary design that responds to heritage and landscape character, requires development affected by a Heritage Overlay to sit behind heritage frontages or preserve the front room, and seeks upper-level setbacks so parapets, signs, shopfronts, roof forms and chimneys remain visually prominent. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

Flooding is a material unresolved constraint. The plan states that a large portion of land within the structure plan is affected by the Land Subject to Inundation Overlay and that future development will increase impervious surfaces and associated runoff. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) It recommends a high-level Storm Water Management Strategy for the commercial area to guide flood risk and water quality management, and separately requires development along the Werribee River to be set back to Melbourne Water’s satisfaction and to address the waterway corridor with an active interface. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The public realm program links character, movement and environmental management. The plan calls for entry thresholds at the eastern and western ends of Main Street, increased canopy planting, a street tree planting and replacement strategy, consistent paving and furniture, wayfinding, public art and heritage signage, and a landscape plan for the Werribee River Corridor with Melbourne Water and the CFA. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) This means streetscape works are not cosmetic add-ons; they are the practical way to slow traffic, support pedestrian priority, manage heat and runoff, and keep the centre legible as it intensifies. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

Governance, Staging and Delivery Risk

The 2024 implementation program uses three timeframes: short term 2025-2030, medium term 2030-2035 and long term 2035-2040. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) Short-term actions include civic precinct design work and business case analysis, planning scheme amendment preparation, parking review, DTP advocacy for Main Street upgrades and bus stops, public works programming, wayfinding, river missing-link investigation, and the stormwater management strategy. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) Medium-term actions include the night-time economy strategy, street tree replacement strategy, and connection design for a future Avenue of Honour shared path. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The centre’s delivery risk is distributed across Council, landowners and State agencies. Council can prepare planning scheme amendments, develop public works programs and assess permits, but DTP approval is required for changes to Main Street, Grant Street and Gisborne Road because those roads are managed by DTP. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) Melbourne Water is a necessary party for Werribee River setbacks and corridor planning, and the CFA is named as a stakeholder for the river corridor landscape plan. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) Landowners are critical because DPO5, DDO9 and key redevelopment-site outcomes depend on future permit applications and development plans rather than Council works alone. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf)

The 2015 process also shows the political and legal risk of over-specifying private-land outcomes without an equitable mechanism. The Greenway dispute arose because affected landowners argued that the proposed corridor would affect property values and development potential without compensation, and the Panel responded by supporting the link objective but requiring a more flexible development-plan approach. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf) That history matters for the 2024 plan because the key north-south green link, the Simpson-Waddell connection and the redevelopment of 16 Graham Street still depend on balancing public movement outcomes with workable site planning. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

Current Status

The source set confirms that Council adopted Amendment C51 on 18 February 2015 with Panel-recommended changes and additional changes responding to Amendment C72. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf) The source set also confirms that the 2024 Bacchus Marsh Town Centre Structure Plan sets a 15-year framework and identifies short-term planning scheme amendment work from 2025 to 2030. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) The available documents do not confirm whether the 2024 plan has been formally adopted by Council, whether a new implementing amendment has been authorised, or whether any of the short-term public works have funding commitments. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

Dependencies

  • Blocks: Full statutory use of the 2024 structure plan blocks on a future Moorabool Planning Scheme amendment translating the plan into local policy and updated DPO/DDO controls. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)
  • Blocks: The key vacant land south of Main Street cannot be assessed only as a private redevelopment site because it is tied to the Activity Centre Link, the Simpson-Waddell road connection, pedestrian/cycle separation and links to the railway station. (Source: 2015-02-18-180215-smc-minutes.pdf)
  • Blocked by: Main Street, Grant Street and Gisborne Road upgrades require DTP involvement because those arterial roads are managed by DTP. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)
  • Blocked by: Werribee River interface outcomes depend on Melbourne Water requirements, flood-risk analysis and a future stormwater management strategy. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)
  • Informed by: The 2024 plan is informed by the Bacchus Marsh Town Centre Township Context Report, Community Consultation Summary Report, economic analysis, parking strategy, active transport framework, and earlier C51 controls. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)
  • Implements: The plan implements activity-centre policy, Bacchus Marsh settlement policy, housing diversity policy, public realm objectives, and the planning scheme objective to maintain the primacy of the Bacchus Marsh Main Street Activity Centre. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)
  • Conflicts with: The plan must manage tension between commercial intensification, parking expectations, heritage fabric, flood constraints, traffic through-movement and private landowner impacts from public links. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The strongest cross-agency link is transport. Main Street, Grant Street and Gisborne Road are managed by DTP, and the structure plan relies on DTP for arterial upgrades, Main Street changes, public transport bus stop provision and intersection treatments. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) The waterway link is Melbourne Water, because Werribee River setbacks, corridor treatment and flood-responsive design require Melbourne Water satisfaction or participation. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) The Aqualink corridor is a broader Bacchus Marsh-Darley connection linking the Lerderderg River and Werribee River corridors over a proposed 4.5 kilometres, so delivery affects movement between the town centre, Darley and river open-space networks rather than only the Commercial 1 Zone core. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

Gaps in This Analysis

The main gap is statutory status. The available 2024 structure plan identifies future planning scheme amendment actions, but the source set does not include a Council adoption report, amendment authorisation request, exhibited amendment documents, gazettal notice, or current Moorabool Planning Scheme clauses showing implementation of the 2024 plan. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The second gap is technical depth. The 2024 plan references the Township Context Report, Community Consultation Summary Report, Retail Strategy, Parking Strategy, Active Transport Framework and other supporting material, but only the structure plan text is in the manifest as a direct source. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) This limits independent verification of floorspace modelling assumptions, parking occupancy, traffic performance, flood modelling, community-submission counts and feasibility of proposed active transport sections. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

The third gap is funding and delivery. The plan identifies public works, advocacy and design actions, but the source set does not include capital works budgets, DTP project funding, Melbourne Water commitments, civic precinct business case outputs or landowner development plans for 16 Graham Street and the Activity Centre Link corridor. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf) These gaps should be recorded in _gaps because they determine whether the structure plan is moving from policy direction to delivered town-centre change. (Source: bacchus-marsh-town-centre-structure-plan-2024.pdf)

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