Messmate Road Growth Area Precinct Concept Plan

Our Council Plan includes a strategic direction of ‘Sustainable Communities’, which means:

• planning for a wider range of housing types and more affordable housing options
• maintaining what people love about living in this region, including town character and our significant natural landscapes
• providing local employment opportunities
• increasing community liveability by reducing car dependency.

The precinct concept plan we have developed for the Messmate Road Growth Area has been designed around six key principles that are aligned with these aims.

Key Principles:

Integrated water management
Protecting the environment and local waterways, with no stormwater run-off to the sensitive Karaaf Wetlands.

Environment

• Protect remnant vegetation and mitigate impacts to native fauna.
• Create tree-lined streets and walkable neighbourhoods.
• Recognise and protect Aboriginal cultural heritage.

Housing
Meeting the strategic need for a diversity of housing and lot sizes to suit differing residents’ needs, while maintaining Torquay’s coastal character.

Movement
Creating a safe and interconnected street network suitable for all users, including walkers and cyclists, with road and intersection upgrades to cater to traffic volumes.

Open space and community facilities
Community services that meet local needs, and open space distributed across the growth area (within 400m of all homes).

Employment
Creating local jobs with employment land along Messmate Road and a centrally located neighbourhood activity centre featuring shops and services.

An enquiry has been made by a landowner group for the northern section of the Messmate Road Growth Area to be considered through the Victorian Government’s Development Facilitation Program.

This is a state-led accelerated pathway for eligible priority projects.

Council feels it is essential that the entire growth area (north and south ends) is master planned as one precinct, to achieve the best outcomes for the community and meet our strategic objectives for new development.

This would also help achieve an equal distribution of land uses across the precinct (such as public open space, residential land, employment land, nature reserves and waterways/drainage).

We have therefore created this Precinct Concept Plan and requested that planning for the entire precinct – north and south ends – be considered through the Development Facilitation Program together.

The Precinct Concept Plan documents Council’s development aspirations for the precinct and is intended as a key guide to influencing the final outcome.

During its October 2025 meeting, Council resolved to:

• Adopt the Precinct Concept Plan as a basis to inform and influence the Victorian Government’s Development Facilitation Program process
• Reinforce to the state government (Development Facilitation Program) that:
  • a comprehensive masterplan is needed for the entire precinct, in line with the principles and spatial arrangements set out in the concept plan; and
  • Infrastructure and development contributions must be assessed across the entire precinct.

The Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) will now undertake an assessment process and determine the eligibility of the project to enter the program for accelerated assessment.

There is no set timeframe for this process. 

If Council’s conditions are not agreed by the landowner groups or the state government, it’s likely Council would seek to negotiate for a different pathway that would achieve a whole of precinct planning approach.

Our Precinct Concept Plan is closely aligned with several key strategic documents, including:

• our Council Plan 2025-29;
• our Urban Futures Strategy; and
• the Victorian Government’s Distinctive Areas and Landscapes Statement of Planning Policy for the Surf Coast.

Key features of the plan aligning with our Urban Futures Strategy and the Distinctive Areas and Landscapes Statement of Planning Policy include:

• Protects the Karaaf Wetlands – diverts all stormwater run-off to Deep Creek.
• Mitigates impacts to Deep Creek – directs stormwater run-off to a series of wetlands to limit flow rates and improve water quality.
• Protects native vegetation – proposes tree protection reserves and service roads.
• Protects the declared area’s significant landscapes – will not impact on any state or nationally significant landscapes.
• Protects the ridgeline – development setback to minimise views of the growth area from the surrounding rural areas.
• Proposes environmentally sustainable subdivision – the road layout encourages solar efficient lot layouts.
• Encourages active transport – by proposing medium density housing within a 400m walking distance of the Neighborhood Activity Centre .
• Proposes additional employment land –  by nominating employment land along Messmate Road, which will help people to live locally and reduce car dependency.

Council is working with Barwon Water, the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority, the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, and Southern Rural Water to prepare an Integrated Water Management (IWM) Plan for the new precinct.

The plan aims to identify the best long-term strategies for managing water, stormwater, and land use, providing a strong foundation for planning the area’s future growth.

A key principle of the plan is protecting the environment. No urban stormwater from the new precinct will be allowed to flow into the Karaaf Wetlands. Instead, stormwater will be diverted to Deep Creek, ensuring the ongoing health of this sensitive ecosystem.

Environmental excellence is at the heart of this work, reflecting Torquay’s status as a Distinctive Area and Landscape (DAL). To support this goal, Council commissioned three technical assessments by Water Technology to better understand existing conditions and guide future stormwater management.

You can read the reports below:

• Existing Conditions Report - Deep Creek(PDF, 15MB)
• Post-Development Conditions Report - Deep Creek(PDF, 7MB)
• Stormwater and Waterway Management Strategy(PDF, 2MB)

The reports were commissioned following a government agency–led Integrated Water Management (IWM) design sprint, which identified this technical information as critical to informing decisions and ensuring the protection of downstream receiving environments.

You can access the full design sprint report below:

• IWM Design Sprint - Messmate Road Growth Area(PDF, 1MB)