BALLARAT PLANNING SCHEME
21.06
ENVIRONMENT
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Catchment Management
Council supports the implementation of the three Regional Catchment Strategies and their
Sub-Strategies. The three Catchment Management Authorities affecting the City of Ballarat
(Glenelg Hopkins CMA, Corangamite CMA and North Central CMA) are important
partners in ensuring Ballarat is a sustainable city. The Ballarat Region Conservation
Strategy 1999-2000 guides land use and development in order to achieve sustainable
outcomes. Council is committed to the ongoing implementation of this strategy including
supporting the work of the implementation committee.
Objective and Strategies
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Objective 1
To ensure an integrated approach to catchment management issues.
Strategy 1.1
Support the implementation of the three Regional Catchment Strategies and
their Sub-Strategies.
Strategy 1.2
Work with Catchment Management Authorities, the Department of
Sustainability and Environment and the community to implement the
Regional Catchment Strategies, Victoria’s Native Vegetation Framework
and Native Vegetation Plans.
Water
The future industrial development and expansion of Ballarat’s population is contingent on
the amount and quality of potable water available. Ballarat has a water supply which meets
current needs, sourced from both the Moorabool River and Yarrowee River catchments.
Ballarat, though, has a duty to ensure that water from these catchments reaches other areas
with a minimum of pollutants. Council has prepared a stormwater management plan that
has water quality as its focus. The plan identifies causes of pollution and details solutions
that will improve water quality.
Objectives and Strategies
Objective 1
To maintain and enhance waterway values.
Strategy 1.1
Protect water resources through integrated catchment management.
Strategy 1.2
Achieve wide scale adoption of land management and catchment protection
practices that protect water supplies.
Strategy 1.3
Ensure that new land use and development does not have a detrimental
effect on rural flows and the natural conditions of waterways.
Strategy 1.4
Encourage the restoration of degraded stream frontages.
Objective 2
To manage the quantity and quality of water entering water
catchments.
Strategy 2.1
Prevent land use and development that requires on-site effluent disposal on
land affected by shallow groundwater tables.
Strategy 2.2
Include measures on development sites to intercept stormwater, runoff and
pollutants before they enter the drainage system including undercarriage
cleansing facilities for vehicles leaving the site and sediment control
measures.
Strategy 2.3
Ensure urban stormwater from new developments is managed effectively at
source to avoid changes in the quality and quantity of urban runoff before it
enters stormwater systems.
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Strategy 2.4
Require the installation of litter traps within new development, where
appropriate.
Strategy 2.5
Create more multi-purpose wetlands in urban areas (including flood
retardation and water treatment).
Strategy 2.6
Require the provision of on-site stormwater detention in accordance with
Council’s 'Site Stormwater Management Systems Policy'.
Strategy 2.7
Incorporate current best practice urban stormwater design elements within
new development to limit stormwater run-off, following the lead provided
by Melbourne Water and the Environment Protection Authority and
through the implementation of the Ballarat Stormwater Management Plan.
Strategy 2.8
Support land uses and development that do not generate a risk of
contamination to water supply catchment areas.
Strategy 2.9
Ensure that water disposal systems for residential, industrial and
commercial uses are not detrimental to the environment.
Floodplain Management
Flooding has many environmental benefits, including the replenishment of water within
wetlands, supporting flora and fauna habitats and contributing to soil fertility. It is
important that the capacity of floodplains to convey and store flood water is maintained and
enhanced while also implementing management measures which reduce flood risk and
damage cost. There are conflicting pressures on the use of floodplains within the Ballarat
region. These include urban expansion in floodplain areas; water quality associated with
development, including urban, industrial and agricultural runoff; construction of private
levees; infrastructure management (levees and utility assets); and the loss of wetland and
flood storage areas.
Objectives and Strategies
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Objective 1
To ensure the natural functions and values of the floodplain
environments are preserved while minimising loss or injury to life or
property.
Strategy 1.1
Prevent inappropriate development and works within flood prone areas that
will impact on flood flow, water quality and river health.
Strategy 1.2
Apply best practice in floodplain management to ensure a consistent basis
for assessing development and use applications.
Strategy 1.3
Encourage the use of “constructed wetlands” as a means of storing
floodwater, improving water quality and adding to natural habitats.
Flora and Fauna
Much of the native vegetation that existed in the City prior to settlement has been removed
or substantially modified. Remnant vegetation serves an important role in the preservation
of natural biodiversity, provision of habitat, protection of koala populations, and
environmental benefits such as water quality control, ground water management and soil
stabilisation. It also has scenic qualities and character. Remnant native vegetation exists in
small pockets on private land scattered across the City as well as along linear reserves
(waterways, road reserves, rail reserves) and on other public land. The City of Ballarat
seeks to provide for the long-term survival of koala populations, and together with the
Australian Koala Foundation, prepared the Ballarat Koala Plan of Management 2006.
Objectives and Strategies
Objective 1
To minimise any adverse impacts of use and development on native
flora and fauna and their habitats.
Strategy 1.1
Ensure that new residential subdivisions protect remnant vegetation and do
not threaten the viability of rare and threatened flora and fauna populations.
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Strategy 1.2
Protect native vegetation through appropriate subdivision design in new
residential and rural residential areas.
Strategy 1.3
Protect the bushland setting of areas such as Mount Helen and Nerrina.
Strategy 1.4
Minimise the environmental impact of infrastructure development and
utility services, especially on native vegetation, including native grasslands,
on roadsides.
Objective 2
To protect and enhance regional native vegetation.
Strategy 2.1
Protect existing native vegetation, including native grassland and existing
forest remnants, from plantation establishment.
Strategy 2.2
Protect remnant vegetation in road reserves and waterways that have
conservation value and visual quality, that provide linkages for fauna to
other substantial pockets of remnant vegetation and that provide high
quality habitat.
Objective 3
To provide for the long term survival of koala populations.
Strategy 3.1
Promote a balanced approach to koala conservation and urban
development.
Strategy 3.2
Ensure that adequate detail is provided with development applications and
rezoning proposals in order to assess, minimise and effectively ameliorate
likely impacts on koala habitat.
Land Capability
Encouraging sustainable land management practices and ensuring productive agricultural
land is protected through the planning scheme, are the two essential components in
sustainable management of rural land. In the past, poor planning in the Ballarat region or a
limited understanding of land capability has resulted in the inappropriate development of
some areas.
Objectives and Strategies
Objective 1
To repair existing land degradation and prevent new degradation from
occurring.
Strategy 1.1
Assess the capability of the land to sustain any proposed use and/or
development.
Strategy 1.2
Encourage increased use of perennial vegetation systems to address land
degradation, particularly areas affected by salinity and erosion.
Strategy 1.3
Determine lot sizes within rural living areas on the basis of a land capability
assessment.
Strategy 1.4
Prevent the development of salinity discharge sites.
Strategy 1.5
Require that any land degradation be repaired before degraded land is
developed.
Strategy 1.6
Minimise land clearing and require detailed site analysis, management and
remediation plans where extensive clearing is proposed.
Objective 2
To manage contaminated land.
Strategy 2.1
Require the decontamination of affected land prior to its use for a sensitive
purpose.
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Landscape
Ballarat has a range of important vistas including sweeping views of gently undulating
grazing land, treed roadsides, mountains, lakes and wetlands. It also has important natural
features and areas of high natural biodiversity values (remnant vegetation and habitat
values). Key areas include Mount Buninyong, Mount Bolton, Lake Wendouree, Lake
Learmonth, Lake Burrumbeet, Winter Swamp and other wetlands, high conservation value
roadsides and scenic vistas, Canadian Forest, native grasslands (e.g. Victoria Park,
roadsides and the Ballarat-Skipton Rail Trail), the Buninyong Corridor, Nerrina Invermay
Corridor and waterways.
Objectives and Strategies
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Objective 1
To rehabilitate, protect and enhance landscapes with identified values.
Strategy 1.1
Encourage the use and development of land in a manner that enhances and
protects identified landscape values.
Strategy 1.2
Protect historic trees (both native remnants and planted specimens) with
cultural or historic values.
Energy
Electricity, gas and oil are all energy sources used daily. Gas and oil are finite resources as
is the coal from which most electricity is generated. There are many ways to reduce the use
of these energy sources to ensure that they continue to exist for future generations.
Reducing dependency on coal generated electricity also has the benefit of reducing
greenhouse gas emissions which is a significant contributor to climate change, one of the
most important global environmental challenges.
Objectives and Strategies
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Objective 1
To reduce the use of fossil fuels.
Strategy 1.1
Require all new dwellings to be sited so as to achieve the maximum
potential solar orientation possible.
Strategy 1.2
Require the use of energy efficient street lighting in all new subdivisions.
Strategy 1.3
Encourage all new buildings to be designed so as to maximise energy
efficiency.
Strategy 1.4
Require the provision of bicycle parking facilities within major new
commercial and industrial development.
Implementation
The Environment objectives and strategies will be implemented by the following actions.
Zones and Overlays
 Apply appropriate Zones and Overlays.
 Apply the Environmental Significance Overlay (Schedule 5) to areas of core koala
habitat.
Policy and Exercise of Discretion
 Apply the Industry policy (Clause 22.02) to all land in the Industrial 1 and Industrial 3
Zones and/or the use and development of land for industrial purposes.
 Apply the Koala and Koala Habitat Protection Policy (Clause 22.04).
 Apply guidelines and development standards to protect and restore koala habitat,
including the use of performance standards for rezoning proposals, where a rezoning
proposal affects land containing identified Koala Habitat.
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 Require a soil analysis by a suitably qualified professional of any site known or
suspected to contain fill material, which shows whether the fill is clean. If the fill is
shown not to be clean, appropriate measures must be taken to render the site appropriate
for its proposed use.
 Require relevant applications for planning approval to provide a land capability
statement.
 Require the installation of services within a common trench located away from
significant vegetation so as to prevent damage to trunks and roots.
 Refer to the relevant Catchment Management Authority’s Regional Vegetation Strategy
when making decisions in relation to native vegetation.
 Require relevant applications for planning approval to provide protection measures for
remnant vegetation, such as, fencing pockets of remnant vegetation or providing
vegetation corridors along waterways, between pockets of remnant vegetation.
 Require the collection of seeds from trees to be removed from the site and for the seeds
to be supplied to the Ballarat Region Seed Bank for use in future revegetation projects
in the area.
 Achieve a net gain of native vegetation in the City through the implementation of
Victoria’s Native Vegetation Management – A Framework for Action (Department of
Natural Resources and Environment, 2002).
Other Actions
 Conserve all remnant vegetation and natural habitat on Council managed land within the
municipality through the adoption of appropriate management techniques (ie. remove
threats, encourage natural regeneration and carry out revegetation of degraded areas as
appropriate).
 Work with landowners to undertake reclamation of salinity discharge areas to prevent
potential degradation.
 Protect significant roadside vegetation through the implementation of the City of
Ballarat Roadside Management Plan.
 Work with adjoining municipalities, Catchment Management Authorities, the DSE and
the Environment Protection Authority with regard to catchment and floodplain
management, and the protection of water quality and native vegetation.
 Implement the LINCS Yarrowee River Plan through the Yarrowee River Rehabilitation
and Revegetation Project with support from the Corangamite CMA, DSE, Leigh
Catchment Group, Landcare Groups, local community groups, schools and residents.
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