title: Maddingley Planning Study council: moorabool state: vic category: strategy classification: MAJOR status: adopted last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:

agenda-omc-17-december-2025_2.pdf
minutes-omc-17-december-2025.pdf
aaamaddingley-planning-study_dec-2021_vg.pdf
maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf

Maddingley Planning Study

The Maddingley Planning Study is not a residential growth strategy; it is a land-use compatibility framework for a complex industrial, mining, waste, education, rural and infrastructure interface south of Bacchus Marsh. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, p.7) Its practical effect is to move Maddingley from a broad coal-mining Special Use Zone legacy setting toward staged local policy, future rezoning, infrastructure planning and separation-distance controls that protect both existing state-significant waste functions and nearby sensitive land uses. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.7-10)

Background

The need for the study was identified by the Bacchus Marsh Urban Growth Framework 2018, which was implemented into the Moorabool Planning Scheme through Amendment C81 on 6 December 2018. (Source: agenda-omc-17-december-2025_2.pdf, p.21) The study area sits immediately south of Bacchus Marsh, west of the future Parwan Station residential and commercial growth precinct, and north-west of the future Parwan Employment Precinct. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.13-14)

The planning problem is that the same area contains the state-significant Maddingley Waste and Resource Recovery Hub, an active coal mine, existing industrial estates, farming land, Bacchus Marsh Grammar nearby, existing dwellings, waterways and land identified for long-term urban and employment change. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.23-24) Bacchus Marsh district population was forecast in the study to grow from about 24,000 people to about 46,000 people by 2041, creating demand for commercial, industrial and service land as the district grows. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, p.8)

The first study was prepared in December 2021 after consultation in 2019 on the background report, which generated 34 written submissions. (Source: aaamaddingley-planning-study_dec-2021_vg.pdf, pp.27-28) Council then consulted on the draft study from 3 May to 1 July 2022 and received 17 written submissions. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, p.38) The October 2025 version updated the work after agency and stakeholder feedback and after EPA guideline changes released in 2024. (Source: agenda-omc-17-december-2025_2.pdf, pp.21-23)

Analysis

Statutory Mechanism and Staging

The study deliberately separates strategic guidance from rezoning. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.185-187) Phase 1 is a policy amendment that introduces a Maddingley Framework Plan and local policy to guide later decisions. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.185-187) Amendment C119moor is the Phase 1 vehicle and proposes to introduce local policy Clause 17.03-2L-02, update strategic directions for Bacchus Marsh and economic development, update integrated water management policy, and add the October 2025 study as a background document at Clause 72.08. (Source: agenda-omc-17-december-2025_2.pdf, pp.23-24)

Phase 2 is where the study starts to change zoning, but only after further technical work. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.185-191) The main Phase 2 mechanism is to reduce the coal-mining Special Use Zone so it better aligns with EPA Licence 45288 and Mining Licence 4701, then apply a new Special Use Zone Schedule 6 to the Maddingley WRR Hub area. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.8-10) Phase 2 also contemplates rezoning parts of Sub-area 3, Sub-area 4, Sub-area 5 and Sub-area 6 for industrial or education-related outcomes, but several of those moves depend on industrial land supply and demand assessment and site-specific evidence. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.8-10)

Phase 3 is the longer-term industrial transition stage. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.185-187) It includes later consideration of land bounded by Kerrs Road, Gullines Road, Rowsley Station Road and the railway line in Sub-area 2 for Industrial 1 Zone or Industrial 2 Zone, and possible Industrial 3 Zone treatment west of Osborne Street in Sub-area 4 if the southern industrial transition proceeds. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.9-10)

The mechanism is like putting labels on rooms before rebuilding the house. Phase 1 tells decision-makers what each part of Maddingley is meant to become; Phase 2 and Phase 3 decide whether the legal zone labels should actually change. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.185-187)

Land Use Compatibility and Separation Distances

The binding planning issue is separation distance, not land supply alone. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.47-56) The October 2025 study identifies about 17 industries in the study area with a recommended threshold or separation distance under Clause 53.10 or EPA Publication 1949, with Table 1 listing uses above 500 metres. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.54-55) The two most consequential distances are the Maddingley Brown Coal composting distance of 2,200 metres for odour and the coal mine distance of 2,000 metres for dust. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, p.55)

This is a material change from the 2021 version, where the composting distance was recorded as 2,000 metres and the coal mining distance as 1,000 metres under the then EPA 1518 framework. (Source: aaamaddingley-planning-study_dec-2021_vg.pdf, pp.41-42) The 2025 version applies the updated EPA 1949 and EPA 1950 framework, which shifts the coal mining distance to 2,000 metres and treats the landfill buffer as case-by-case under EPA 1950. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.49-55)

The scale of the effect is large. The 2025 study says the coal-mining separation distance affects about 2,406 properties within 2,000 metres of Mining Licence MIN4701, including about 1,904 properties in sensitive zones outside the study area. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.162-164) By comparison, the 2021 version said the then Maddingley WRR Hub separation distances affected about 325 properties, including about 161 properties in sensitive zones. (Source: aaamaddingley-planning-study_dec-2021_vg.pdf, pp.41-42)

The planning consequence is that future sensitive uses cannot be treated as ordinary infill or growth-area outcomes inside these distances. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.47-56) The agent of change must provide evidence if a reduced separation distance is proposed, and Ministerial Direction 19 requires EPA advice for amendments that may allow use or development inside recommended distances to waste and resource recovery facilities. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.51-53; Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.198-199)

Sub-Area Directions

Sub-area 1 East is the core Maddingley WRR Hub and mining area. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.75-90) Most of Sub-area 1 lies within Mining Licence 4701, which allows black and brown coal mining and expires in 2033, while the EPA Licence 45288 premises boundary is generally consistent with the mining licence boundary. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.81-82) The study recommends a new SUZ6 for the reduced WRR Hub area and retaining existing SUZ1 outside the licence boundary until the Parwan Employment Precinct directions are clearer. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.87-90)

Sub-area 2 South west remains the most cautious transition area because it contains farming land, Parwan Creek frontage, the Brooklyn-Ballan high pressure gas pipeline and possible longer-term industrial land. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.91-100) The short to medium term direction is to retain Farming Zone and SUZ1 across most of the sub-area while rezoning the Parwan Creek Water Frontage Reserve to Public Conservation and Resource Zone. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.99-100) The longer-term direction is possible IN1Z or IN2Z south of Kerrs Road and north of Parwan Creek, subject to industrial land supply and demand work. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.99-100)

Sub-area 3 West contains the JBD Industrial Estate and existing industrial land west of the railway. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.101-108) The study identifies existing separation distances within the industrial estate ranging from 100 metres to 1,000 metres and notes that lack of reticulated sewerage may limit further development. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.105-107) Its main zoning direction is to rezone land south of Rowsley Station Road from Industrial 1 Zone to Industrial 2 Zone, which matches heavier industry requiring larger separation. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.8-10)

Sub-area 4 North west, Sub-area 5 North and Sub-area 6 North east are the key interface lands between the WRR Hub, Bacchus Marsh Grammar, existing dwellings and possible light or service industry. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.109-135) Sub-area 4 includes possible Bacchus Marsh Grammar expansion land, but the study requires evidence that reduced separation from the WRR Hub is appropriate and that soil conditions are suitable under Ministerial Direction No. 1. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.116-118) Sub-area 5 is directed toward IN3Z only after industrial land supply and demand review, with landfill gas and waterway constraints still needing investigation. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.123-126) Sub-area 6 includes possible long-term bulky goods land, but the study records that the 34 hectare sub-area is much larger than the 4.2 to 4.7 hectares of bulky goods land indicated as required by 2041. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.130-131)

Infrastructure Dependencies

The study area has no reticulated sewerage and only limited reticulated water and stormwater drainage infrastructure. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, p.8) The study also records an existing electricity network but limited substation capacity. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, p.8) These are hard sequencing constraints because urban or industrial rezoning creates servicing expectations that the current utility network does not meet. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.149-151)

Greater Western Water advised that a new sewer pump station is needed for new industry on existing industrial zoned land west of the railway line and that a large new pressure sewer would be needed to support major industry, planned with the Parwan Employment Precinct. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.150-151) The study therefore requires water and sewer servicing strategies before future rezoning for urban development in Sub-areas 2, 4, 5 and 6. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.155-156)

Transport has the same staged character. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.137-148) The study identifies the future Eastern Link Road as important for opening the Parwan Employment Precinct and Parwan Station Precinct and for bypassing Bacchus Marsh town centre. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, p.145) It also identifies short-term local issues at the Tilleys Road and Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road intersection and at South Maddingley Road and Parwan Road, with broader integrated transport planning needed before rezonings that generate traffic. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.145-148)

The study does not propose a development contributions plan at this stage because the location, form and timing of development are too uncertain. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, p.152) Instead, it points to permit conditions, Section 173 agreements and project-based contributions for road, drainage and other infrastructure until development timing becomes clearer. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.152-156)

Environmental, Waterway and Mining Constraints

The study relies on the Bacchus Marsh Environmental Assessment 2016 for biodiversity values and did not include new native vegetation field assessment. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.176-177) The 2025 study records high environmental values concentrated in Sub-areas 4 and 5 and along most of Parwan Creek in Sub-areas 1 and 2, with moderate values in Sub-areas 1, 2, 3 and 5. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.176-177) It requires more detailed biodiversity investigation before planning scheme amendments to rezone land. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.178-179)

The waterway system includes Parwan Creek, Maddingley Park Drain in Sub-area 3, an unnamed waterway through Sub-areas 4 and 5, and Dog Trap Gully through Sub-area 2. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, p.180) The study recommends avoiding development within 50 metres of the top of bank of Parwan Creek, or any greater distance recommended by future erosion assessment, and retaining at least 30 metres on both sides of other waterways. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.181-182)

Coal remains unresolved at state policy level. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.163-172) The study respects existing Mining Licence 4701 but strongly discourages new open-cut coal mining beyond the current licence boundary because of proximity to dwellings, existing residential zones, future Parwan Station sensitive uses, Bacchus Marsh Grammar and Bacchus Marsh Secondary College. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.172-174) The approved mining work plan was not available to the study, limiting certainty about the limit of approved mining, rehabilitation and separation-distance assumptions. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.81-82; Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, p.171)

Current Status

At the Ordinary Council Meeting on 17 December 2025, Council adopted the Maddingley Planning Study October 2025. (Source: minutes-omc-17-december-2025.pdf, p.20) At the same meeting, Council resolved to seek Ministerial authorisation to prepare Amendment C119moor, then prepare and exhibit the amendment after authorisation. (Source: minutes-omc-17-december-2025.pdf, p.20) The resolution also authorised minor changes before exhibition and officer liaison to resolve issues raised by submitters before the amendment returns to Council. (Source: minutes-omc-17-december-2025.pdf, p.20)

The immediate statutory status is therefore adopted strategy, with Phase 1 planning scheme implementation pending Ministerial authorisation and exhibition. (Source: minutes-omc-17-december-2025.pdf, p.20; Source: agenda-omc-17-december-2025_2.pdf, pp.23-24) Six speakers or written submitters addressed the 17 December 2025 meeting on item 12.2, with five recorded as supporters and one recorded as an objector in the public participation table. (Source: minutes-omc-17-december-2025.pdf, pp.6, 19)

Dependencies

Blocks: Later rezoning for industrial, education, bulky goods or other urban uses in Maddingley should not proceed cleanly without the Phase 1 framework, because the study makes Phase 1 the strategic guide for Phase 2 and Phase 3 amendments. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.185-191)
Blocked by: Phase 2 and Phase 3 rezonings are blocked by further work on biodiversity, bushfire, coal-mining policy, industrial land demand, transport, drainage, sewerage, water and electricity capacity. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.187-193)
Informed by: The study is informed by the 2019 background report, the 2019 and 2022 consultation processes, the Bacchus Marsh UGF, the 2016 Bacchus Marsh Environmental Assessment, EPA separation guidance, the Amendment C81 history and infrastructure authority advice. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.37-38, 195-205)
Implements: The study implements the Bacchus Marsh UGF direction to investigate the Maddingley WRR Hub interface, manage off-site amenity impacts, provide adequate separation distances and support advanced onsite treatment. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.20-21)
Conflicts with: The study exposes tension between protecting waste, mining and industrial functions and allowing sensitive uses or higher intensity urban growth inside recommended separation distances. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.69-70)

Cross-Jurisdictional Links

The study is tied to state agency and authority decisions rather than council action alone. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.187-193) The VPA is the planning authority for Parwan Employment, Merrimu and Parwan Station, and the Maddingley infrastructure directions need to align with those precincts because sewer, road and growth-area planning are shared. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.22, 150-151)

Greater Western Water is central because reticulated water and sewer strategies are required before future urban rezonings, and the large pressure sewer for major industry is expected to be planned with the Parwan Employment Precinct. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.150-156) Melbourne Water is central because drainage scheme work is needed for Parwan Creek, Dog Trap Gully, Maddingley Park Drain and the unnamed waterway. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.155-156, 181-182) Powercor is central because limited substation capacity constrains Sub-areas 3, 4, 5 and 6 and may also constrain waste-to-energy or renewable energy uses. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.150-156)

Gaps in This Analysis

The most important gap is that the extracted corpus does not include the C119moor draft ordinance, explanatory report or summary of submissions attachment, even though the agenda and minutes identify those documents as attachments under separate cover. (Source: agenda-omc-17-december-2025_2.pdf, p.20; Source: minutes-omc-17-december-2025.pdf, p.19) That limits analysis of the exact statutory wording proposed for Clause 17.03-2L-02 and any changes made between the study and amendment documentation. (Source: agenda-omc-17-december-2025_2.pdf, pp.23-24)

The approved work plan under Mining Licence 4701 was not available to the planning study, which limits certainty about approved mining extent, operational conditions and rehabilitation responsibilities. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.81-82, 171) The study also did not include new native vegetation field assessment, landfill gas risk assessment, detailed transport modelling, a drainage scheme, water and sewer servicing strategies, or electricity capacity advice sufficient to cost and stage infrastructure delivery. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.176-179, 149-156) These are not minor evidence gaps; they are the technical work needed before Phase 2 and Phase 3 rezonings can be assessed with statutory confidence. (Source: maddingley-planning-study_october_2025_updated.pdf, pp.187-193)

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