Grange Planning Brain

title: Small Towns and Settlements Strategy council: moorabool state: vic category: growth-area classification: MAJOR status: unknown last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:

  • small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf
  • small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf
  • sts-part-b-final.compressed.pdf
  • sts-part-c-final.pdf

Small Towns and Settlements Strategy

The Small Towns and Settlements Strategy is Moorabool Shire’s settlement-management framework for 16 smaller towns and rural settlements outside the main growth centres of Bacchus Marsh, Ballan and Gordon (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.5; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, p.2). Its practical effect is to separate settlements that may justify further structure planning from settlements where growth is constrained by sewer, water, bushfire, catchment, agricultural, heritage and service-capacity limits (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.72-79).

The strategy is best understood as a constraint-led growth filter rather than a general small-town expansion program (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.4-8). It directs attention to a small number of settlements where infrastructure business cases may support limited long-term growth, while using urban design frameworks or settlement improvement plans to manage place quality in settlements where residential expansion is not supported (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.78-79).

Background

The strategy was prepared as a core component of Moorabool 2041 and was intended to guide the Shire’s small-town planning to 2041 (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.4). The source set comprises Part A strategic directions, Part B town assessments, a duplicate or near-duplicate Part B final file, and Part C policy context (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.5; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, p.1; Source: sts-part-b-final.compressed.pdf; Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, p.1).

The trigger problem was uneven growth: Bacchus Marsh was already above 18,000 residents and Ballan above 3,000 residents, while many western small towns had fewer than 200 residents and had experienced little growth or decline (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.5-6). The strategy therefore rejects even distribution of growth pressure across the Shire and instead treats small towns as clusters linked to larger service centres, including Ballarat, Bacchus Marsh and Ballan (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.6-8).

Community engagement commenced with visioning workshops in 2015 and a further formal consultation round occurred in July and August 2016 (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.5). Council received 22 submissions from DELWP, neighbouring councils, CFA and other authorities, and the strategy records broad support for proceeding (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.5).

Analysis

Settlement Hierarchy and Growth Logic

The strategy applies a local hierarchy adapted from the Central Highlands Regional Growth Plan settlement framework (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.73-75; Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, pp.8-10). The hierarchy distinguishes small towns with consolidated growth investigation potential, incremental change potential, consolidation roles, and rural settlement roles (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.75).

The consolidated growth investigation group is the critical policy category because it identifies places where further growth may be examined if servicing can be resolved (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.73-75). Bungaree, Dunnstown, Gordon and Wallace sit in this category, although Gordon is excluded from change because its future needs are addressed through an adopted structure plan (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.75). The effective future-work group is therefore Bungaree, Dunnstown and Wallace, with Myrniong separately identified for managed growth investigation because of its location outside a potable water catchment and its proximity to Bacchus Marsh and the Western Freeway (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.6-8; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.157-166).

Blackwood and Myrniong are identified as incremental change settlements with populations under 800 and a potential need for efficient local sewer solutions, particularly where catchment protection is relevant (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.75). Elaine, Greendale, Lal Lal and Mount Egerton are consolidation settlements with population ranges of about 200 to 500 and a service role that remains limited or district-based (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.75). Balliang, Balliang East, Barkstead, Clarendon, Dales Creek, Korweinguboora/Spargo Creek and Yendon are rural settlements where residents rely on other settlements for higher-order services and where substantial growth is generally not supported (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.75).

This hierarchy matters because it turns settlement planning into a sequence of tests rather than a simple zoning preference (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.73-79). The tests include existing service role, sunk public infrastructure, strategic location, community expectations, environmental constraints, critical mass for utility business cases, and consistency with local policy (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.73-74). A settlement may have community aspiration for growth, but if it lacks sewer, has catchment constraints, or cannot form a defensible servicing business case, the strategy treats growth as conditional or unsupported (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.4-8).

Infrastructure Is the Binding Constraint

Reticulated sewerage is the central mechanism controlling the strategy’s growth recommendations (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.54-56). The strategy states that no small town or settlement in the study group had reticulated sewerage, while reticulated water was available only to a limited number of small towns and settlements (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.83-84). This turns settlement growth into an infrastructure funding and catchment-risk problem rather than only a land-use allocation problem (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.54-56).

The quantified servicing costs show why the strategy is cautious. A sewer trunk connection for Bungaree is estimated at 6.8 million, and an extended system connecting Wallace through Bungaree is estimated at 9.2 million, excluding internal reticulation (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.55). Dunnstown is estimated to require a gravity sewer costing about 2.8 million and water reticulation costing a further 1.7 million (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.55). Myrniong sewer connection is estimated at about 5.3 million (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.55). The strategy estimates that owner or landowner contributions for these projects could range from 13,000 to $38,000 per lot (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.55).

These numbers explain the sequencing. Council is unlikely to commence structure plans for Bungaree, Dunnstown, Myrniong and Wallace until formal decisions are made on reticulated sewerage, and those decisions require detailed discussions with landowners and water authorities to test viable business cases (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.79). Bungaree and Wallace depend on Central Highlands Water capital works decisions, while Myrniong depends on further water-quality testing and negotiations with Western Water about possible infrastructure or local wastewater solutions (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.6-8, 79).

The strategy uses Gordon and Smythesdale as a caution against assuming that sewer creates rapid development by itself (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.55; Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, p.20). The Moorabool West Small Towns Residential Assessment found that sewering recently serviced towns corresponded with a small increase in development activity, including Gordon moving from about 6 building permits per year to about 9 to 10 permits per year, but did not prove a major latent-demand surge (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.55; Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, p.20). That evidence supports the strategy’s measured approach to growth investigations rather than immediate rezoning (Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, pp.19-21).

Town-Specific Growth Consequences

Bungaree is the strongest Western Freeway corridor candidate because it is close to Ballarat, contains a regional-scale sports facility, a hotel, a state primary school and a general store, and has community aspiration for residential and service growth (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.6-7; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.49-65). The limiting mechanism is that Bungaree is in a water catchment and future growth is dependent on reticulated sewerage (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.6; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.49-65). The strategy expects Bungaree to remain a small town during the life of the strategy, potentially at a scale similar to Gordon if sewer funding and business-case support are resolved (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.6).

Wallace has an infrastructure and access advantage because it has reticulated water and gas, a compact settlement form, a full Western Freeway diamond interchange nearby, community facilities and fewer drainage constraints than Bungaree (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.7-8; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.171-183). The constraint is sequencing: Wallace sewering is framed as following Bungaree, so Wallace growth is partly blocked by whether a Bungaree sewer business case can also account for Wallace’s future requirements (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.7; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.171-183).

Dunnstown has proximity to Ballarat, existing local infrastructure, heritage character and community aspiration for residential and commercial development, but it lacks reticulated water and sewerage and must retain a suitable buffer from the Boral quarry to the south (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.7; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.83-96). Its future is also linked to City of Ballarat planning at Warrenheip, which means Dunnstown’s role cannot be fully assessed inside Moorabool documents alone (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.7). The strategy recommends controlled growth that keeps Dunnstown as a small town, subject first to a defensible water and sewer business case (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.7).

Myrniong is different because it is outside a potable water catchment and is more influenced by Bacchus Marsh and metropolitan Melbourne than by the western Moorabool towns (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.7-8; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.157-170). The strategy supports growth investigation but expects Myrniong to remain a small town, likely below 500 residents, unless local wastewater or sewer options are resolved (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.7). The required next steps are an audit of vacant Township Zoned land and further water-quality testing in local streams (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.7; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.167-170).

Elaine is treated as a south-western service hub rather than a major growth town (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.8; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.97-109). It sits on the Midland Highway and already contains facilities including a hotel, general store, recreation reserve and community hall, but the strategy does not identify a current business case for reticulated sewerage or water (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.8; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.97-109). Limited growth is therefore tied to Council’s Domestic Wastewater Policy and suitable site identification rather than a sewer-led expansion model (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.8, 84).

Blackwood, Lal Lal and Mount Egerton are handled primarily through heritage, environmental and tourism-management lenses (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.8-9). Blackwood is recommended for a structure plan to manage heritage, environment, wastewater and limited tourism or retail activity, not to enable substantial residential growth (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.79; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.33-48). Lal Lal and Mount Egerton are recommended for urban design work rather than growth planning because their catchment, bushfire, heritage and service constraints limit expansion (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.8-9, 78; Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.133-156).

Environmental, Catchment and Bushfire Constraints

The strategy’s environmental constraint base is substantial. It records that 75 percent of Moorabool Shire is protected by National Park, State Parks or special water catchments, and that eight areas of landscape significance were identified by the South West Victoria Landscape Assessment Study (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.53; Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, pp.13-14). These settings make small towns attractive for rural living and tourism, but they also limit subdivision and intensification where water quality, bushfire safety or landscape values would be compromised (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.53-54; Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, pp.12-17).

Special water supply catchments are the most repeated environmental constraint. The strategy states that water catchments cover two thirds of the Shire and that residential subdivision within catchments is strongly discouraged because septic overflows and wastewater can contaminate drinking-water supplies (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.54; Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, pp.15-18). Wallace, Elaine, Dunnstown, Bungaree, Mount Egerton, Greendale and Myrniong are identified as having potential impact on local water catchments, which limits growth without appropriate sewerage systems (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.54; Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, p.12).

Bushfire risk further narrows the settlement choices. Barkstead, Blackwood, Dales Creek, Greendale and Lal Lal are each described in the town assessments as having extreme bushfire risk or extreme likely bushfire risk (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.23-48, 75-82, 110-132, 133-145). Mount Egerton is described as having high bushfire risk, while Bungaree, Myrniong, Wallace and Yendon are described as low bushfire risk in their town assessments (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.49-64, 146-156, 157-183, 184-196). The practical consequence is that some settlements with heritage or tourism potential are still unsuitable for expansion because emergency access, vegetation, topography and catchment controls combine to increase life-safety risk (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.23-48, 75-82, 110-145).

Heritage and Place-Based Implementation

Heritage is not treated only as an amenity feature; it is a development-control issue that shapes the form of future planning work (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.53-54; Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, pp.24-26). The West Moorabool Heritage Study Stage 1 identified 720 potential heritage places in the western region of the Shire, and Stage 2A recommended Heritage Overlay application to eight precincts and 110 individual places (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.53; Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, pp.24-26). The strategy identifies Blackwood, Lal Lal and Mount Egerton as significant heritage towns and points to further heritage assessment for Elaine and Greendale (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.8-9, 53-54).

Implementation is scaled to risk and growth potential. Settlement Improvement Plans are recommended for Balliang, Balliang East, Clarendon and Korweinguboora/Spargo Creek (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.78). Urban Design Frameworks are recommended for Elaine, Greendale, Lal Lal, Mount Egerton and Yendon (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.78). Structure Plans are recommended for Blackwood, Bungaree, Dunnstown, Myrniong and Wallace, with further consideration of how limited growth could be accommodated in Elaine (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.78).

The mechanism is deliberately tiered. Structure plans are used where growth or complex management questions may affect zoning, land supply, wastewater, heritage or service delivery (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.78-79). Urban design frameworks are used where the issue is settlement character, streetscape, tourism, town edges or local economic activity rather than residential expansion (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.72-79). Settlement improvement plans are used where growth is not encouraged and the planning task is amenity, identity and modest capital works prioritisation (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.72-79).

Current Status

The available source documents are final strategy documents dated September 2016, but the supplied corpus does not include a council adoption report, planning scheme amendment record, gazettal notice, current planning scheme extract, or later implementation audit (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.1; Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, p.1). The strategy states that the Municipal Strategic Statement would be revised to reflect the STS and that the STS would be included as a reference document in the Moorabool Planning Scheme, but the supplied documents do not prove whether that implementation occurred (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.9, 83-84).

The source-based status is therefore best recorded as unknown for current statutory implementation, with the analytical position that the 2016 final strategy provides an adopted or near-adopted policy basis but not a complete evidence trail for present planning-scheme effect (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.78-84). Any current use of the strategy should be checked against the operative Moorabool Planning Scheme and subsequent council decisions (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.9, 83-84).

Dependencies

  • Blocks: Broad residential expansion in most small settlements is blocked unless a later structure plan, servicing decision or planning scheme change provides a stronger basis for growth (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.72-84).
  • Blocked by: Growth investigations for Bungaree, Dunnstown, Myrniong and Wallace are blocked by unresolved sewer, water, business-case, landowner-contribution and water-authority capital works decisions (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.54-56, 78-79).
  • Informed by: The strategy is informed by Plan Melbourne, the Central Highlands Regional Growth Plan, the Central Highlands Infrastructure Study, the Domestic Wastewater Management Plan, the Moorabool West Small Towns Residential Assessment, the AECOM Small Towns Services Study, the Moorabool 2041 Environmental Assessment Project and the West Moorabool Heritage Study (Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, pp.2-26).
  • Implements: The strategy implements Moorabool 2041’s rural growth component and local small-town policy directions, including sustainable small-town development, compact form, protection of rural character and advocacy for sewerage (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.4-5; Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, pp.15-18).
  • Conflicts with: The main policy tension is between community aspirations for growth and the constraints created by catchment protection, bushfire risk, lack of reticulated sewerage, agricultural land protection and limited service catchments (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.4-8, 53-56).

The strategy is cross-jurisdictional because the small towns sit between Ballarat, Bacchus Marsh, Geelong and Melbourne influence areas rather than operating as isolated settlements (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.5-8). Western Moorabool towns are tied to Ballarat for work, shopping, education and services, while Bacchus Marsh and Myrniong are influenced by metropolitan Melbourne access patterns (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.5-8).

Dunnstown is specifically linked to future planning by the City of Ballarat at Warrenheip, which may shape its future role and infrastructure logic (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, p.7). Elaine is linked to Meredith in Golden Plains Shire, with the town assessment identifying potential cluster functioning between Elaine and Meredith for the south-western part of Moorabool (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf, pp.97-109). Water authority decisions are also cross-jurisdictional because Central Highlands Water and Western Water capital works decisions determine whether local settlement growth can be translated into serviced development capacity (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.54-56, 78-79).

Gaps in This Analysis

The source set does not include the operative Moorabool Planning Scheme, the planning scheme amendment that may have implemented the STS, any gazettal notice, or a post-2016 monitoring report (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.9, 83-84). This limits confidence about current statutory weight, current settlement hierarchy wording, and whether the STS remains fully active in its 2016 form (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-final.compressed.pdf, pp.9, 83-84).

The source set also does not include the full AECOM Small Towns Services Study, Moorabool West Small Towns Residential Assessment, Domestic Wastewater Management Plan, Environmental Assessment Project, Central Highlands Infrastructure Study or West Moorabool Heritage Study as standalone primary documents (Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, pp.18-26). Because Part C summarises those documents, this page can identify the mechanisms and headline numbers but cannot audit the original assumptions, cost estimates, maps, parcel impacts or engineering options (Source: sts-part-c-final.pdf, pp.18-26).

The two Part B files appear to contain the same 196-page town assessment material, but the manifest treats them as separate source documents and both have been retained in the source document list (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf; Source: sts-part-b-final.compressed.pdf). The duplicate source condition does not materially change the analysis, but it reduces the independent evidentiary breadth of the corpus (Source: small-towns-and-settlements-strategy-part-b.pdf; Source: sts-part-b-final.compressed.pdf).

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