Romsey is a developing township and under current policy is planned to grow to a large district town with a population of 6000-10,000 people by 2036.
A structure plan is required to provide direction to manage sustainable development of the township. It will define Romsey’s unique character, facilitate orderly growth, enliven the town centre, strengthen the local economy, protect its environmental qualities and build community resilience.
A new structure plan for Romsey will set a vision for the town and provide certainty to landowners, community, business, referral authorities and other regulators and stakeholders. We welcome your interest and involvement as the project moves forward in 2022/23.
Consultation has now closed. Thank you to residents, landowners, community groups and agencies for sharing their views. Late submissions are always welcome.
Consultation
Consultation has now closed.
All project information from the consultation is available to view via the link below, including plans, answers to frequently asked questions and supporting documentation.
Romsey Structure Plan consultation page
Submissions and survey
The project team is currently reviewing all submissions and survey results received.
Why does Romsey need a Structure Plan?
A structure plan is evidence based, data driven and identifies short, medium, and long-term actions for the delivery of land use and infrastructure projects to meet the needs of the community now and into the future.
Romsey is a developing township and current policy supports its growth to a large district town over coming years. The Romsey Structure Plan will provide a focus for that development. It will help to protect the positive elements of the township and build on the opportunities identified.
The current strategic plan for Romsey is the Romsey Outline Development Plan. This plan was adopted by Council in 2009, and sets a vision for the town to the year 2021. It was introduced into the Macedon Ranges Planning Scheme via Planning Scheme amendment C66 in 2012.
To ensure the vision and land use guidance for Romsey remains relevant to respond to the community needs, Council must continue to plan for Romsey’s future.
The new structure plan will guide the development of the town to the year 2050 and will set a long term settlement boundary in line with the Macedon Ranges Statement of Planning Policy (SPP).
Project information
The Romsey Structure Plan is being developed by Council with advice and input from community members and stakeholders such as landowners, infrastructure authorities, businesses and community organisations.
As a complex strategic project, the draft Romsey Structure Plan will be refined via community consultation including drop-in sessions, webinars, online surveys and one-on-one discussions with our project team.
The draft plan is expected to be completed in late 2022, then be presented to Council to adopt.
Consultants
Council has appointed Plan2Place to lead the preparation of the draft Romsey Structure Plan, following the recent completion of a public tender process.
Plan2Place will assist Council to deliver the following elements of the project:
- Prepare and consult on an emerging options paper
- Prepare and consult on a draft structure plan document
- Finalise the Romsey Structure Plan for adoption before Council undertakes a planning scheme amendment.
Plan 2 Place and Council will now work closely together to determine the timing of the remainder of the project and map out delivery of the next stages of community consultation. A big focus moving forward will be ensuring the community have input into developing the draft Structure Plan.
An outline development plan (ODP) (sometimes called a ‘structure plan’) is a town plan to guide growth and development. Substantial public consultation was undertaken in preparing the Romsey ODP.
The Romsey ODP and character study are part of Planning Scheme Amendments C66 and the related Romsey Development Contributions Plan is part of Planning Scheme Amendment C80. All three plans have been approved by the Minister for Planning and now form part of the Macedon Ranges Planning Scheme.
Macedon Ranges Residential Land Demand and Supply Assessment
The Macedon Ranges Residential Land Demand and Supply Assessment(PDF, 7MB) was prepared by Urban Enterprise and Macedon Ranges Shire Council in January 2020.
This assessment looks at the adequacy of the existing residential land supply to meet future demand. The methodology is detailed in the report.
The assessment is an important piece of the puzzle and one of many assessments used to determine how much additional residential land the Romsey Structure Plan will plan for and deliver.
The Romsey Residential Character Study and Design Guidelines(PDF, 5MB) were approved by the Minister for Planning in October 2012 and are now part of the Macedon Ranges Planning Scheme.
The design guidelines ensure that the unique Romsey town character is maintained as it grows. They are based on a character study and introduce standards including for:
- the height of dwellings (maximum 7.5 metres with upper level floor areas to be no more than half of ground floor area)
- setbacks to front boundaries (generally 6–8 metres, depending on the location of the house), side boundaries (1–5m) and rear boundaries (3–15m)
- total building site coverage (30–50%)
- fencing forward of a dwelling (maximum height of 1.2 metres with a minimum 50% visual permeability).
If planned works meet the standards, no planning permit is required.
It is important that public infrastructure keeps pace with future growth and activity. As public infrastructure is expensive, Council requires developers to pay a levy to help pay their fair share of the costs of planned public infrastructure.
The Development Contributions Plan for Romsey ensures that developers of residential, commercial and industrial zoned land in Romsey will pay their fair share of the planned public infrastructure in the town. It applies to all new residential, commercial and industrial developments in Romsey and was introduced into the Macedon Ranges Planning Scheme as Amendment C80.
View the Romsey Development Contributions Plan - July 2012(PDF, 1MB)
Council has prepared a combined planning scheme amendment and planning permit application under Section 96A of the Planning and Environment Act 1987. A full panel hearing was held on 6 May 2015 at the Romsey Community Hub. Planning Panels Victoria issued a panel report recommending Council to adopt the amendment and grant the planning permit as exhibited.