Exhibition of Moorabool Planning Scheme Amendment C119moor – Maddingley Framework Plan

A full explanation of Amendment C119 can be found in the Explanatory Report and supporting documents on this webpage, or at the Department of Transport and Planning’s website:  Amendment C119moor.  

The Maddingley Planning Study (2025) explored options for future land uses in a large area to the south of Bacchus Marsh, which includes the State significant Maddingley Waste and Resource Recovery Hub (resource recovery, coal mining, landfill and composting), farming activiities, an existing industrial area and a number of dwellings. Some properties are currently inappropriately zoned for coal mining, even though they are outside the mining licence boundary.

The planning study provides the strategic basis for changes to the Moorabool Planning Scheme that will be progressed in three phases over the coming decades and will guide the evolution of the area into an employment centre serving the Bacchus Marsh region.

The Maddingley Framework Plan came out of the Study and shows how the broader area could gradually evolve over coming decades. 

Amendment C119moor is the first step in the process to include the recommendations of the Maddingley Planning Study into the Moorabool Planning Scheme. It introduces the overall planning framework, including the Maddingley Framework Plan and supporting polices. It does not change any current zoning or affect how land can be used today. 

Private landowners or developers will be responsible for initiating future planning scheme amendments to rezone land within the framework plan area. These amendments would include further opportunities for community input and will be guided by the land uses identified in the Maddingley Framework Plan. 

The Maddingley Framework Plan recommends a mix of light industry and expansion of education uses between existing residential zones and the Maddingley Waste and Resource Recovery (WRR) Hub. On land which is separated from existing residential or education zones, the Framework Plan recommends future heavy industry (e.g. manufacturing or processing operations). Planning guidelines recommend that heavy industrial facilities like the WRR Hub are separated from incompatible land uses. This helps protect residents from odour, dust and noise.  

In locations closer to residential or education areas, the Framework Plan identifies potential for light industrial uses, which typically minimise noise, traffic and other off-site effect.  

Light industrial uses might include things like small workshops, storage facilities or similar businesses - not heavy manufacturing or processing operations. 

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 

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.