title: Parwan Industrial Precinct Development Plan council: moorabool state: vic category: strategy classification: MAJOR status: approved last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:
- 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf
- parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf
Parwan Industrial Precinct Development Plan
The Parwan Industrial Precinct Development Plan converts a broad employment-precinct concept into a site-specific planning control framework for 3922 Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road, Parwan. Its practical planning effect is to make industrial and agribusiness-related use possible on a 190.9 hectare Industrial 1 Zone site, but only through staged resolution of drainage, cultural heritage, native vegetation, aerodrome, road-access and utility-servicing constraints (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.3; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.10).
The plan should be read as an infrastructure-dependent precinct framework rather than a simple land-use endorsement. Earlier technical work identified gas, road access, Class A water, power and sewer augmentation as the activation constraints for the wider Parwan Employment Precinct, and the approved Development Plan narrows those issues into enforceable permit-stage requirements for the first industrial estate (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.5; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.39).
Background
The precursor work was a 2015 CBRE agribusiness analysis prepared for Moorabool Shire Council, which assessed current and prospective employment activities within the proposed Parwan Employment Precinct with a focus on long-term agribusiness employment (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.5). That analysis identified hydroponic glasshouse fruit and vegetable production, red meat processing and poultry production as the most probable uses under then-prevailing conditions, but it also found that the site did not operate as a ready-serviced industrial estate because natural gas, road access, Class A water, power and broadband were material constraints (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.5).
The site-specific Development Plan was prepared by Ricardo Energy, Environment and Planning for Parwan and Co in December 2019 and was endorsed under Clause 43.04 of the Moorabool Planning Scheme as part of Development Plan Overlay Schedule 1 (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.1; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.3). Amendment C076 had already rezoned the subject site from Farming Zone to Industrial 1 Zone on 21 December 2017 and applied Development Plan Overlay Schedule 1, so the 2019 plan functions as the required bridge between rezoning and later planning permit applications (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.3). Council approved the Development Plan by resolution on 18 December 2019, and the endorsement stamp is dated 6 January 2020 (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.1).
Analysis
Statutory Effect and Planning Mechanism
The Development Plan is not a full permit for every later use; it is the endorsed spatial and technical framework that Council is expected to use when assessing future permit applications for the site (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.3). This matters because the Industrial 1 Zone establishes broad land-use permissibility, while the DPO mechanism sequences detail: urban design, site analysis, ecology, aerodrome impacts, integrated water management, landscape, transport and servicing all had to be addressed before ordinary permit assessment could proceed (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.22).
The plan therefore operates like a control gate. Later uses such as a protein recovery facility, abattoir, cold storage and other complementary industrial uses are contemplated, but future planning permits still need to satisfy the endorsed plan, the overlay controls and the specialist conditions that sit behind them (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.20; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.42). The Development Plan states that separate planning permit applications will be submitted for future uses, confirming that its approval does not remove later use-and-development assessment (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.42).
This is the key statutory mechanism: a rezoned industrial site remains conditional until the endorsed framework is translated into permits, agreements and infrastructure works. The existence of a Section 173 Agreement for development contributions and infrastructure works, plus a separate Section 173 Agreement for drainage works on land to the north, means the planning pathway is tied to enforceable infrastructure obligations rather than relying only on permit conditions (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.10).
Land, Staging and Intended Uses
The subject land is 190.9 hectares at 3922 Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road, bounded by Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road to the west, Nerowie Road to the south and Parwan South Road to the east (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.8; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.10). The Development Plan identifies the site as part of the wider Parwan Employment Precinct, approximately 44 kilometres west of Melbourne, 52 kilometres east of Ballarat, about 7 kilometres south of Bacchus Marsh railway station, and near Bacchus Marsh Aerodrome, whose runways are about 1.5 kilometres from the western boundary (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.8).
The initial stage is concentrated in the eastern part of the site and is intended to include the protein recovery facility, abattoir and cold storage facility (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.39). The urban design framework also allows super lots for later development, which is important because industrial demand and plant requirements can vary significantly between operators (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.20). The 2015 servicing assessment had already reached a similar staging conclusion: the eastern side of the study area was the logical focus for initial augmentation because most proposed development was located there and because 3922 Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road was best aligned with existing and planned services (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.119).
The Development Plan’s staging logic is therefore not just land-use sequencing. It is a practical response to utility availability, road-access limits, existing wastewater infrastructure and the need to avoid or buffer environmental constraints. In simple terms, the plan puts the first industrial pieces where the pipes, roads and approvals have the shortest path to being made workable (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.39; Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.119).
Environmental and Cultural Constraints
The site contains Bingham Swamp in the central northern part of the land and five patches of remnant native vegetation (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.12; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.14). The Development Plan records 46.446 hectares of habitat assessment area across six habitat zones, including 24.000 hectares of Low-rainfall Plains Grassland, 16.811 hectares of Lignum Swamp, 1.459 hectares of additional Lignum Swamp and 4.108 hectares of remnant wetland deemed to be Plains Grassy Wetland (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.14). The ecological assessment also recorded 34 scattered trees, of which 13 were high-retention value, 8 medium-retention value and 13 low-retention value (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.14).
The planning response is reservation and management rather than complete removal. The endorsed approach establishes three common-property conservation reserves: a 22.8 hectare reserve for Bingham Swamp and a 60 metre development-free buffer, a 23.8 hectare reserve retaining most of Habitat Zone 2 with a 20 metre development-free buffer, and a 4.2 hectare north-west reserve retaining further Lignum Swamp (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.25). Together these reserves total 50.8 hectares, which is about 26.6 percent of the 190.9 hectare site, before allowing for roads, drainage reserves and other infrastructure (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.10; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.25).
The cultural heritage constraint is also binding. The Cultural Heritage Management Plan identified three Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Places: VAHR 7722-1212, VAHR 7722-1205 and VAHR 7722-1190 (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.18). The CHMP permits harm to parts of VAHR 7722-1212 and VAHR 7722-1205 subject to management conditions, but it does not permit harm to VAHR 7722-1190 (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.18). The practical effect is that subdivision layout, drainage corridors, internal roads and future building footprints must be arranged around both ecological reserves and mapped cultural heritage management conditions (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.18; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.22).
Infrastructure Dependencies
Servicing is the central unresolved mechanism in the Parwan plan. The 2015 CBRE analysis found that natural gas and adequate road access were the predominant constraints raised by operators, with Class A water, power upgrades and NBN also relevant to more intensive development (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.5). The accompanying Parsons Brinckerhoff servicing plan found that sewer, water, electricity and Telstra services existed in the study area, but that capacity and reticulation were insufficient for the intended industrial pattern (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.108; Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.111).
Water is a clear example of the difference between presence and capacity. Existing potable mains included 100 millimetre PVC mains along Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road and 150 millimetre PVC mains along Parwan South Road, but Western Water advised that these existing mains would not have capacity for the identified future developments (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.108). The 2015 servicing plan estimated watermain trunk works at $5.8096 million, comprising 7.09 kilometres of 300 millimetre main on Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road, 3.70 kilometres of 300 millimetre main on Nerowie Road, 1.60 kilometres of 300 millimetre main on Aerodrome Road and 2.33 kilometres of 150 millimetre main on Parwan South Road (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.117).
Sewer is similarly constrained. The 2015 servicing plan recorded no reticulation sewer in the study area, meaning new sewer infrastructure, likely including pump stations and rising mains because of the flat site, would be required for substantial development (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.111). The same servicing plan estimated sewer trunk works at $2.52 million for 1.6 kilometres of 300 millimetre main on Aerodrome Road and 4.4 kilometres of 300 millimetre main on Parwan South Road (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.117). The approved 2019 Development Plan expects sewer outfall to connect directly to the Western Water wastewater treatment plant north-east of the subject site, but it also states that existing infrastructure will require augmentation to facilitate future development (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.39).
Gas is not a minor add-on for this precinct because the intended industrial activities include energy-intensive processing uses. AusNet advised in 2015 that about 8.4 kilometres of 180 millimetre polyethylene gas pipe would be needed to service proposed developments, with indicative gas-main augmentation costed at 4.0 million to 4.5 million for about 9 kilometres of main (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.116; Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.117). The 2019 Development Plan confirms that AusNet is responsible for gas distribution and that a city gate and reticulation are required to deliver gas to the site (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.39).
Electricity is also a staging risk because Powercor’s BMH006 feeder was already highly loaded in the 2015 assessment, with forecast loading rising from 63 percent to 70 percent under 50 percent probability of exceedance between 2015 and 2018 and from 71 percent to 79 percent under 10 percent probability of exceedance (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.115). The 2019 Development Plan does not quantify the upgrade, but it states that Powercor is responsible for electricity and that existing assets are anticipated to need augmentation for the proposed development (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.39).
The 2015 servicing plan estimated total trunk utility augmentation for water, sewer and gas at 12 million to 15 million, excluding electricity, telecommunications, road networks and drainage infrastructure (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.119). This exclusion is important because the approved Development Plan’s most complex delivery issue is drainage, not just trunk utility connection (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.30).
Drainage, Water Management and Transport
The Integrated Water Management Plan identifies that the natural drainage outfall has been obstructed by Western Water’s Parwan wastewater treatment plant, so the approved plan relies on a staged drainage solution rather than a simple gravity outfall (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.30). The staged solution includes interim on-site storage in an existing natural depression, a drainage reserve for stormwater from the southern catchment, a drainage reserve to maintain natural flows from the western catchment to Bingham Swamp, separation from drainage reserve to Bingham Swamp, an ultimate outfall consistent with a wider Melbourne Water drainage scheme, and two sediment ponds to capture pollutants before discharge (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.30).
Drainage is also legally sequenced. Before the protein recovery facility commences, the owner must enter into an agreement with Melbourne Water about drainage infrastructure servicing outcomes, and that agreement will also relate to adjoining land parcels (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.30). Before development or subdivision west of the proposed north-south waterway corridor, an environmental flows assessment must be approved to the satisfaction of DELWP and Melbourne Water, and the landowner is responsible for delivering the approved recommendations (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.30).
Transport access is more resolved for early stages than regional servicing. The Integrated Transport Management Plan requires a 25.0 metre minimum industrial road reserve and a 12.5 metre minimum carriageway width for industrial streets (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.38). Standard T-intersections with auxiliary left-turn and channelised right-turn treatments are considered appropriate for the three Nerowie Road access points, while Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road connections require left-in-left-out access (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.38). No upgrade was required at the Parwan South Road and Nerowie Road intersection, while the planned VicRoads roundabout at Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road, Nerowie Road and Glenmore Road was considered more than sufficient for ultimate site traffic (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.38).
Aerodrome, Built Form and Interface Controls
The site is near Bacchus Marsh Aerodrome, and the Development Plan uses the aerodrome assessment to convert that proximity into height-management controls rather than a blanket prohibition (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.27). Maximum building heights from the Obstacle Limitation Surface Protection Area vary from 52 metres to 65 metres, and buildings or structures must not exceed the applicable maximum height (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.27). The plume-rise assessment for the Stage 1 protein recovery facility identified a critical plume height of 31 metres, which is below the maximum building-height limit (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.27).
General built form is still expected to be moderated. Design objectives state that building heights should generally not exceed 20 metres, and where taller built form is demonstrated as necessary, each 3 metres above 20 metres should be recessed an additional 5 metres from the initial street setback (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.23). Landscaping also has an aerodrome link because the landscape masterplan notes that proposed vegetation must not exceed the maximum OLS-related heights and that the mature height of River Red Gum planting is approximately 45 metres (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.32).
Current Status
The Development Plan was approved by Council resolution on 18 December 2019 and endorsed on 6 January 2020 under Clause 43.04 of the Moorabool Planning Scheme (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.1). The status of this wiki page is therefore approved, but implementation remains permit- and infrastructure-dependent because the plan expressly anticipates later permit applications for specific future uses and requires further agreements, detailed designs and servicing augmentations (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.42; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.30; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.39).
Dependencies
- Blocks: The endorsed plan blocks unconstrained industrial subdivision or use because later applications must align with the approved urban design, ecological, drainage, transport, servicing, aerodrome and landscape framework (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.22; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.44).
- Blocked by: Delivery is blocked or conditioned by Melbourne Water drainage agreement requirements, DELWP and Melbourne Water approval of environmental flows for land west of the north-south waterway corridor, Western Water water and sewer augmentation, AusNet gas reticulation and city-gate requirements, and Powercor electricity augmentation (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.30; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.39).
- Informed by: The Development Plan relies on technical reports for integrated water management, transport, servicing, arboriculture, ecological assessment, cultural heritage, aerodrome impacts, plume rise and landscape design (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.45).
- Implements: The plan implements DPO1 for the Moorabool Agribusiness Industrial Area and follows the earlier rezoning of the site to Industrial 1 Zone under Amendment C076 (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.3; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.42).
- Conflicts with: No direct policy conflict is established in the supplied documents, but the plan creates management tension between industrial land use, conservation reserve maintenance, Bingham Swamp hydrology, cultural heritage protection and aerodrome-related height limits (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.18; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.25; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.27; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.30).
Cross-Jurisdictional Links
The precinct depends on agencies and infrastructure systems that extend beyond Moorabool Shire. Western Water is the water and sewer authority, AusNet is the gas distributor, Powercor is the electricity provider, Melbourne Water has regional drainage and waterway responsibilities, VicRoads is relevant to the Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road and Nerowie Road intersection, and DELWP has a role in biodiversity and environmental-flow approvals (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.27; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.30; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.38; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.39). The 2015 CBRE analysis also linked the wider precinct to Western Freeway access, the future Outer Metropolitan Ring Road, Melbourne and Avalon airport access, and port freight access through Melbourne and Geelong, but the supplied documents do not include current state transport-program commitments for those links (Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.13; Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.98).
Gaps in This Analysis
The Development Plan itself is image-only in the extracted corpus, so page-level reading was possible from the scanned PDF but not from machine-readable extracted text (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf). The supporting reference documents listed in Appendix 1 are not included as separate source documents in the manifest, including the Alluvium integrated water management report, Reeds Consulting addenda, Traffix Group transport reports, Nature Advisory ecological assessment, Axiom arboricultural assessment, to70 aerodrome and plume-rise reports, and Reeds/UDM servicing material (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.45).
Those missing technical reports limit the depth of this analysis in four ways. First, the exact drainage land take, hydraulic assumptions and ultimate Melbourne Water scheme costs cannot be independently tested beyond the Development Plan summary (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.30). Second, the transport conclusions can be reported, but turn-lane warrants, traffic-generation assumptions and staging thresholds cannot be recalculated from the supplied source set (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.38). Third, the ecological and cultural heritage analysis can identify reserves, habitat zones and VAHR places, but cannot audit species records, offset obligations or CHMP condition detail without the underlying reports (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.18; Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.25). Fourth, the current status of water, sewer, gas, power and road augmentation after 2019 is not available from the two supplied documents, so this page should be read as an approved-plan analysis rather than a live delivery audit (Source: parwan-industrial-precinct-development-plan-final-december-2019-approved-and-signed.pdf, p.39; Source: 2015-12-02-021215-omc-proposed-parwan-employment-precinct.pdf, p.119).