GREATER BENDIGO PLANNING SCHEME AMENDMENT C51 ADVISORY COMMITTEE PANEL REPORT JUNE 2006 GREATER BENDIGO PLANNING SCHEME AMENDMENT C51 ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND PANEL REPORT LAWRIE GROOM, CHAIR EUGENE KNEEBONE, MEMBER HELEN MURPHY, MEMBER JUNE 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................... 1 1. WHAT IS PROPOSED? .......................................................................................................... 4 1.1 THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND PANEL ................................................................ 4 1.2 PUBLIC HEARINGS & PARTIES TO THE HEARINGS ................................................. 4 2. THE AMENDMENT................................................................................................................ 7 2.1 THE EXHIBITED AMENDMENT .................................................................................... 7 2.2 DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMENDMENT, EXHIBITION & CONSULTATION .......... 7 2.3 MODIFICATIONS TO THE AMENDMENT.................................................................... 9 2.4 SUBMISSIONS & ISSUES ................................................................................................ 9 3. EAST BENDIGO LOCAL STRUCTURE PLAN................................................................ 12 3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 12 3.2 DEVELOPMENT OF THE REVISED EAST BENDIGO LOCAL STRUCTURE PLAN ......................................................................................... 12 3.3 POLICY CONTEXT......................................................................................................... 13 3.4 MODIFICATIONS TO THE LOCAL STRUCTURE PLAN ........................................... 18 3.5 PROVISION OF INFRASTRUCTURE............................................................................ 22 3.6 EAST BENDIGO LINK ROAD........................................................................................ 23 3.7 FINDINGS........................................................................................................................31 3.8 RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................. 32 4. IMPACT OF THE STRUCTURE PLAN ON THE ENVIRONMENT ............................. 33 4.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 33 4.2 POLICY FRAMEWORK.................................................................................................. 36 4.3 FINDINGS........................................................................................................................43 4.4 RECOMMENDATION .................................................................................................... 44 5. LAND USE PROPOSALS ..................................................................................................... 45 5.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 45 5.2 PART AREA 1.................................................................................................................. 45 5.3 PART AREA 1.................................................................................................................. 46 5.4 AREA 2............................................................................................................................. 48 5.5 AREA 3............................................................................................................................. 53 5.6 AREA 4............................................................................................................................. 54 5.7 AREA 5............................................................................................................................. 61 5.8 AREA 6............................................................................................................................. 62 5.9 AREA 7............................................................................................................................. 62 5.10 COUNCIL LAND NORTH OF THE FOOD MANUFACTURING PRECINCT............. 64 5.11 O’KEEFE RAIL TRAIL ................................................................................................... 66 5.12 LOT 1 LP 144759, KNOWN AS 39 PRATTS PARK ROAD ........................................... 67 6. EAST BENDIGO INDUSTRIAL PRECINCT LOCAL PLANNING POLICY............... 68 6.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 68 6.2 FINDINGS........................................................................................................................68 6.3 RECOMMENDATION .................................................................................................... 68 7. CONCLUSIONS .....................................................................................................................70 7.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 70 7.2 NET COMMUNITY BENEFIT AND SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT................... 71 7.3 NET POSITION – THE COMMITTEE’S OVERALL FINDINGS & CONCLUSIONS....................................................................................... 73 7.4 RECOMMENDATION .................................................................................................... 73 8. RECOMMENDATIONS........................................................................................................ 74 GREATER BENDIGO PLANNING SCHEME AMENDMENT C51 ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND PANEL REPORT: JUNE 2006 APPENDICES A. SUBMISSIONS B. LIBRARY OF WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS & OTHER DOCUMENTS C. REFERENCES AND PLANS D. PLAN OF ALTERNATIVE REVISED LINK ROAD AND NEW COLLECTOR ROAD IN SOUTHERN PORTION OF PRECINCT E. CHECK LIST FOR STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES AND TERMS OF REFERENCE TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1 Summary of issues .................................................................................. 10 Figure 2 Road Network Improvement Option Recommended in the Bendigo 2020 Transportation Study ....................................................... 25 Figure 3 Committee’s Assessment of the Scope of the Environmental Report ............................................................................. 42 GREATER BENDIGO PLANNING SCHEME AMENDMENT C51 ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND PANEL REPORT: JUNE 2006 Page 1 SUMMARY Lawrie Groom (Chair), Eugene Kneebone and Dr Helen Murphy were appointed in December 2005, as an Advisory Committee and Panel under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to consider and hear submissions and to assess the findings of an Environmental Report, the revised East Bendigo Local Structure Plan, and to prepare a report on Amendment C51 to the Greater Bendigo Planning Scheme. The Amendment was prepared by the Greater Bendigo City Council and concerns a proposal to rezone land in East Bendigo, insert a new Local planning policy in the Planning Scheme and add the East Bendigo Structure Plan to the list of reference documents in the Scheme. The East Bendigo Local Structure Plan was developed from one of the findings of the Bendigo Industrial Land Strategy (2002), which states “The preparation of a detailed Local Structure Plan is required to articulate and document the future of the [East Bendigo industrial] precinct”. The Committee inspected the area on several occasions. It also undertook a conducted inspection on 6 February 2006 to which an invitation to all parties to the Hearing was extended and accepted by representatives of Council, the Bendigo & District Environment Council, Mr and Mrs Bicket and Ms Tripp. The Committee was assisted by an expert witness, Mr Mark Trengove, botanical consultant, Mark Trengove Ecological Services, who wrote and presented a report entitled Modified Vegetation Assessment (April 2005). This report was revised at the request of the Committee into a replacement report entitled Vegetation Assessment (2006). The Committee used the all-embracing term “Environmental Report” in its assessment of these documents. The Committee considered all 73 submissions referred to it by the Council and heard supporting presentations at the public Hearing in February and May 2006 from Council, the Department of Sustainability & Environment, VicRoads, the Bendigo Manufacturing Group, the Bendigo & District Environment Council Inc., Mr John and Mrs Dorothy Bicket (represented by Mr Adrian Cummins, licensed surveyor, Adrian Cummins & Associates Pty Ltd) and Ms Jane Tripp (assisted by Mr Ian Martin). The matters considered by the Committee were complicated and some time was taken understanding the many changes to the local structure plan. The Committee provided extra time for Mr Trengove to undertake a reassessment of his findings (with input from the Department of Sustainability & Environment), and for the Department and Council to provide advice on the need for Planning Scheme Overlays recommended by the Department on land proposed to be rezoned in the Amendment. Council and the Department were also requested to consider the possibility of rezoning Council owned land, north of the Food Manufacturing Precinct, to Public Park and Recreation Zone. GREATER BENDIGO PLANNING SCHEME AMENDMENT C51