Council received the planning panel's report on 31 November 2022. The report can be viewed here.
Based on the reasons set out in the panel's report, the panel recommends that Mount Alexander Planning Scheme Amendment C94malx be abandoned. The Panel also makes the following further recommendations. That Council should:
Prepare a strategic level biodiversity assessment and revise the Amendment to ensure proposed planning provisions adequately consider biodiversity protection.
Prepare a commercial land demand assessment to inform the area proposed for rezoning to Commercial 1 Zone in the town centre.
Update Plan Harcourt to ensure it is consistent with the further work and updated Amendment.
Since the report was released, Council officers have been working through updating Amendment C94 documentation to address the panel’s recommendations. Officers have also received support from the Department of Transport and Planning’s Regional Planning Hub to prepare a strategic level biodiversity assessment that is to inform the amendment.
Currently, the assessment is at the procurement stage, where a suitably qualified and experienced biodiversity specialist/consultancy firm is being sought to carry out the work. The scope of the strategic level biodiversity assessment is detailed below. The below is a stage 1 assessment, which may lead to a stage 2 more detailed field assessment, dependent upon the findings of the stage 1 assessment.
Scope of strategic level biodiversity assessment
Stage 1: Project scope
The scope of work encompasses Stage 1 of the Strategic level biodiversity assessment which includes a desktop review, targeted consultation and site inspections of the Harcourt township (within the study area shown on the map available here.
This work and the detail of the final deliverable (Stage 1 Final Report) is to inform council and allow the consideration of how to proceed with further work on Amendment C94malx in accordance with the recommendations of the Panel for Amendment C94malx to the Mount Alexander Planning Scheme.
The Strategic Level Biodiversity Assessment (desktop review and site inspections) will require the following steps to be undertaken by suitably qualified and experienced staff.
Step 1 Inception (expected to take approx. 0.5 days):
• Confirmation of the project work plan and targeted consultation, which sets out the project methodology, projected timelines, payment milestones and outputs per phase of the project.
Step 2 Review:
• Review of documentation associated with Amendment C94malx, including background reports, proposed policy and
planning panel report.
• Undertake a desktop review of biodiversity assets at the landscape scale (across the Harcourt township being land within
the study area) to:
o identify any high value biodiversity assets (ecosystems and species) that would warrant planning scheme protection
o identify if there is a need to establish any strategic habitat and wildlife connection
o identify any significant native trees (All of the above tasks expected to take approx. 16 hours)
• Targeted Consultation (expected to take approx. 5 hours): Undertake targeted consultation with local knowledge groups
including Harcourt Valley Landcare, Harcourt Progress Association and Djaara to inform the above assessments.
• Site Inspections (expected to take approx. 40 hours): Undertake site inspections necessary to verify findings.
Step 3 Report (expected to take approx. 32 hours):
• Provide a report that details the findings of the above and recommendations on whether stage 2 (detailed field assessment) is needed.
In terms of timeframes, Council has statutory timeframes within the planning scheme amendment process that we must adhere to. This includes having to consider the panel’s report within 40 business days of it being published (an extension has been sought and granted for a further 90 days). Given the nature of Amendment C94malx and the range of land use planning considerations it includes, completing Stage 1 of the biodiversity assessment in a timely manner is critical to helping us understand what the next steps are of the wider amendment itself.
The stage 1 assessment report will be made public as part of the Amendment C94malx material via this webpage. This is likely to occur at the time when Council is considering it when deciding on the way forward with the amendment in the coming months.