Public hearings on Bannockburn growth zone start soon

A STANDING Advisory Committee (SAC) on the Bannockburn South East Precinct Structure Plan will begin three weeks of public hearings later this month.

The first will be held at the Golden Plains Shire Council headquarters in Bannockburn on Monday 20 October, before moving to the Cliftons Conference Centre in Collins Street, Melbourne, the following day.

Hearings could continue until 14 November, with no date established for the committee’s final report.

Planning Panels Victoria member David Merrett will chair the hearings.

The SAC’s purpose is to provide expert advice to Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny and the Victorian Planning Authority (VPA) on outstanding issues related to the project, which is located to the south-east of the existing Bannockburn township and encompasses an area of 524 hectares.

It has been earmarked to accommodate about 4685 dwellings, 13,820 residents and 750 ongoing jobs.

The precinct is bound by the existing urban area to the north, a future growth option to the east, a railway line to the south and Bruce Creek to the west.

A fully-developed precinct will feature four new schools, an activity centre, four general community facilities, three sports reserves and seven hectares of parks.

The VPA is preparing the structure plan in collaboration with the Golden Plains Shire Council, which nominated the precinct as a priority growth area to deliver residential development in the short term as part of its Bannockburn Growth Plan.

The structure plan will ultimately be accompanied by an amendment to the Shire’s planning scheme to allow residential development to proceed.

About 50 submissions had been lodged by the time public consultation ended in June, with some issues raised unable to be resolved.

It is on that basis that the matter has been referred to the SAC.

Key outstanding issues to be considered by the committee include a development contributions plan, transport aspects, and the proposed drainage arrangements.

The hearing sessions will be open for anyone to observe in person, or online through the planningpanels.vic.gov.au website by clicking on the panels and committees tab.