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Exhibition of Moorabool Planning Scheme Amendment C115moor – Moorabool Retail Strategy

Project Overview

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Moorabool Shire Council has prepared Amendment C115moor to the Moorabool Planning Scheme to implement the Moorabool Shire Retail Strategy 2024 (The Strategy). The Strategy was adopted by Council on 4 September 2024 following community consultation.

The amendment will ensure new residential areas are well serviced by retail centres and support appropriate retail expansion in small towns and villages.

The land affected by the amendment is the entire municipality, but focuses on commercial areas in Major, Neighbourhood and Local Activity Centres. For further details, refer to the explanatory report about the amendment.

The closing date for submissions is Sunday, 30 November 2025.

The amendment proposes to: 

  • Amend Clause 02.03-1 Strategic Directions to describe Bacchus Marsh as a Major Activity Centre and include updates to Ballan and Small Towns and Settlements sections.  

  • Amend Clause 02.03-7 Economic Development to include minor changes to existing policy. 

  • Amend Clause 11.01-1L-03 Ballan to remove Ballan Town Centre strategies.  

  • Amend Clause 11.03-1L Activity Centres to include an updated Retail Centre Hierarchy, and add Ballan Town Centre strategies.  

  • Amend Clause 17.02-1L Business to add strategies for Bungaree and Gordon and expand on the existing bulky goods strategy. 

  • Amend Clause 17.04-1L Tourism to include local strategies derived from the Visitor Economy Strategy 2024.  

  • Amend Clause 18.01-3L Sustainable personal transport to provide support for a pedestrian-bicycle link between a future Ballan South neighbourhood activity centre and Inglis Street.  

  • Amend the Schedule to Clause 34.01 Commercial 1 Zone to update 1.0 Maximum leasable floor area requirements based on the Retail Strategy assessments.    

  • Amend the Schedule to Clause 72.08 Background Documents to include new background documents Moorabool Shire Retail Strategy 2024 (Tim Nott with Hansen Partnership, 2024), Moorabool Shire Economic Development Strategy 2023-2027 (Urban Enterprise, 2024), and Moorabool Shire Visitor Economy Strategy 2023-2027 (Urban Enterprise, 2024). 

  • Amend the Schedule to Clause 74.02 Further strategic work to remove the Retail Strategy update and add an urban design framework or structure plan for Ballan town centre. 

Looking Ahead  

This amendment helps shape Moorabool’s future by:  

  • Supporting smart business investment  

  • Making retail more accessible  

  • Creating vibrant, connected communities  

  • More local jobs  

  • Walkable town centres  

  • Better access to everyday shopping  

  • Support for tourism and small businesses  

  • Reduced car travel and improved sustainability  

For more information, contact Council’s Strategic Planning team or visit the websites listed above.  

You may inspect the amendment, the explanatory report and any documents that support the amendment free of charge:   

  • Online via the document library on the right side of this webpage

  • During office hours at the following places:  

  • 15 Stead Street, Ballan  

  • Darley Civic and Community Hub, 182 Halletts Way, Darley  

  • Lerderderg Library - Customer Service, 215 Main Street, Bacchus Marsh  

A full explanation of Amendment C115moor can be found in the Explanatory Report and supporting documents on this webpage.  

  • Council adopts the Moorabool Retail Strategy

    September 2024
  • Council Drafts the Planning Scheme amendment to implement the Retail Strategy and seeks authorisation from the Minister for Planning

    May 2025
  • Minister for Planning authorises the amendment

    August 2025
  • Public Exhibition of the amendment

    October 2025
  • Council meeting to consider any submission, adopt, refer amendment to a planning panel to hear submissions or to abandon the amendment.

    Early 2026
  • Planning Panel hearing (if required)

    Mid 2026
  • Council meeting to consider the Planning Panel Report, adopt the amendment as exhibited, adopt with changes or abandon the amendment

    Late 2026
  • Submit for Approval to the Minister for Planning

    Late 2026

  • Moorabool Planning Scheme Amendment C115moor – Moorabool Retail Strategy

    How can I make a submission?  

    Submissions can be made as follows:   

    • Online: submit a response by the survey link below    

    • Via post: Moorabool Shire Council, PO Box 18, Ballan VIC 3342, with the subject “Submission Planning Scheme Amendment C115moor Attention Manager Growth and Development”.   

    The closing date for submissions is Sunday 30 November 2025.  

    Any person may make a submission to Council about the amendment. Submissions must be made in writing giving the submitter’s name and contact address, clearly stating the grounds on which the amendment is supported or opposed and what changes (if any) the submitter wishes to make. Submitters Name and contact details are required for Council to consider submissions and to notify you of the opportunity to attend Council meetings and any public hearing held to consider submissions.  

    Privacy statement: 

    Any submission and the information contained within it is collected by Council for the purposes of the planning process as set out in the Planning and Environment Act 1987. Council must make a copy of every submission available at its office for any person to inspect free of charge until the end of two months after the amendment comes into operation or lapses. Your personal contact details will not be published with your submission, and your personal information will be managed in accordance with the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014.

    Make a Submission Provide submission without a login

FAQ

A full explanation of Amendment C115moor can be found in the Explanatory Report and supporting documents on this webpage, or at the Department of Transport and Planning www.planning.vic.gov.au/public-inspection.

The amendment applies to the whole Moorabool Shire, with a focus on:  

  • Bacchus Marsh & surrounds  

  • Ballan 

Retail is food, groceries and liquor, non-food goods like clothing, household and recreational. Food catering such as cafes and restaurants, services such as hairdressers, beauty parlours. It excludes wholesale businesses. 

The planning scheme is a statutory document that sets out the objectives, policies and provisions relating to the use, development and protection of land. 

A planning scheme amendment may involve a change to a planning scheme map, a change to the written part of the scheme, or both. Amendments can have significant planning implications and affect the wider community because they change the way land can be used or developed. They can also change the basis for making planning decisions in the future. 

All individual submissions will be acknowledged in writing.  Following the exhibition process, section 23 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 requires Council to consider all submissions made to the amendment and either: 

  • change the amendment in the manner requested in any submissions; or 

  • refer the submissions to an independent Planning Panel appointed under Part 8 of the Act; or 

  • abandon the amendment or part of the amendment. 

Once exhibition finishes, all submissions will be reviewed and where possible we will seek to resolve issues raised in submissions.  

Following exhibition of the amendment, Council has three options under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to either:  

  1. adopt the amendment (where all submissions are resolved)  

  1. abandon the amendment  

  1. refer the amendment and submissions to an independent planning panel.  

Officers will notify all submitters of any Council meetings relating to the amendment..  

More information about the amendment process is available here. 

A panel is appointed by the Minister for Planning to hear submissions about amendments to planning schemes, and to make recommendations or provide advice about if the amendment should proceed. 

It will have one or more members, depending on the issues involved. The basic role of a panel is to: 

  • give submitters an opportunity to be heard in an informal, non-judicial manner. 

  • give expert advice to the planning authority (in this case Moorabool Shire Council) about an amendment and about submissions referred to it.  

Council must consider all submissions and the panel report, and then decide whether to adopt or abandon the amendment. If Council adopts the amendment, it will need to submit the amendment to the Minister for Planning for consideration and decision.

Population Growth: Bacchus Marsh and Ballan are growing fast. Moorabool’s population is expected to rise from 40,000, to over 70,000 by 2046.  

Better Services: More people means more shops, jobs, and community spaces are needed.  

Smart business investment: This update helps show where new retail centres should go and how existing ones can grow. 

The amendment updates planning policies to:  

  • Create more retail opportunities in key retail areas like Darley Plaza and Main Street and Grant Street, Bacchus Marsh by removing limits on existing floor space limits for shops.  

  • Enable a bulky goods precinct to develop near Bacchus Marsh (for large-format retail outlets like furniture and hardware).  

  • Support new neighbourhood centres and local centres in  

    • Underbank   
    • Merrimu & Parwan  
    • Ballan South  
    • Hopetoun Park North  

  • Encourage retail access in small towns. 

The amendment continues to:  

  • Recognise Bacchus Marsh as the main business and retail centre within the Shire (a Major Activity Centre).  

  • Recognise Ballan town centre as the main centre for Ballan and surrounding areas.  

  • Support existing retail centres and retail activities  

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Who's Listening

  • Liam Prescott
    Senior Strategic Planner
    Moorabool Shire Council

    info@moorabool.vic.gov.au
    (03) 5366 7100