The vision of the strategy is that our industrial precincts will:

• be the preferred location for industries that are innovating and adopting new practices that support a circular economy and zero carbon future
• support diverse industries and businesses of all scales that provide more jobs for our local community and that ensure a resilient economy
• provide green spaces, sustainable transport and amenities to support our skilled workforce, whilst also enhancing our environmental assets and biodiversity
• ensure community are appropriately buffered and protected from any potential amenity impacts that arise from the movement of goods and industrial operations
• include high-quality industrial developments that adopt best practice sustainable design principles, enhance the local heritage fabric and the streetscape
• build on our legacy of state significant industries and precincts and retain our point of difference in the Victorian Economy to continue to attract investment

The objectives of the strategy were informed by the RIA project and are as follows:

Objective 1 - Increase local jobs and employment and diversify industry sectors.

Objective 2 - Balance economic growth with community impacts.

Objective 3 - Become an environmental leader and promote more sustainable and green industries.

Objective 4 - Continue to attract investment to support a resilient and prosperous local economy

Setting a new land use framework to guide key industrial precincts.

The Draft ILMS sets out a land use framework for key industrial precincts in Hobsons Bay. This land use framework proposes a future direction for each precinct that includes:

• A Future focus (identifies a future vision for each industrial precinct with reference to the four key objectives of the strategy)
• Strategic land use categories (indicates the future role and function of each industrial precinct)
• Zoning options (identifies potential changes to planning zones to support the strategy)
• Industries to target (identifies emerging industries to target in each precinct)
• Further strategic work (identifies further strategic planning work that needs to be done to achieve the strategy vision and objectives)
• Industrial design and built form (identifies important design and built form considerations for the precinct)

Strategic Land Use Categories indicate the future role and function of each of our key industrial precincts. These categories have been carried across from the 2008 ILMS but updated to reflect state policy that seeks to protect industrial land for jobs and economic activity. The Melbourne Industrial and Commercial Land Use Plan (MICLUP) released by the Victorian State Government in 2020 designated most of the industrial land in Hobsons Bay as state or regionally significant.

Plan for Victoria and new housing targets

The Victorian State Government is progressing with a new Plan for Victoria and has released draft housing targets including a proposed target of an additional 31,000 dwellings by 2051 for Hobsons Bay. Planning for residential growth needs to be considered alongside the planning for employment land and industrial areas.

Port of Melbourne Amendment GC187 (Williamstown Maritime Industrial Precinct)

The Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) are preparing to make changes to the Hobsons Bay Planning Scheme boundaries in response to the new Port of Melbourne lease area. Council officers are in discussions with DTP currently around what the changes will mean for the Williamstown Maritime Industrial Precinct.

Changes to Existing Use Rights

On 12 February 2024 Amendment VC254 (VC254) was gazetted into Victorian Planning Schemes. VC254 was a Ministerial amendment made without notice, and it made several changes to the Scheme. Amendment VC254 applied to provisions related to existing use rights and makes changes to Clause 63.11 and the way that an applicant can prove the continuous use. This legislative change has allowed for applicants in the Techno Park Drive estate to apply for existing use rights.

Qenos entering voluntary administration (Altona Industrial Precinct)

There have been several significant announcements from key petrochemical industries in Hobsons Bay that will impact the industrial landscape including the announcement that Qenos has gone into voluntary administration. Qenos is a large landholder within the Altona Industrial Precinct.

Future of Mobile landholdings (Williamstown North Industrial Precinct)

There have been several significant announcements from key petrochemical industries in Hobsons Bay that will impact the industrial landscape including the announcement that Exxon Mobil would be decommissioning their southern tank farm. Exxon Mobil are a large landholder within the Williamstown North Industrial Precinct.

As the above changes will require updates to the Draft ILMS, Council has determined that further consultation is needed. This consultation seeks to understand whether there are any other changes that should be considered in preparing the next iteration of the documents.

Please note that all feedback received in the 2023 consultation will be considered alongside any new feedback and used to update the draft documents. As such, if you feel that no change is required to your initial feedback there is no need to submit again.

Council will consider all feedback received and then update and finalise the Industrial Land Management Strategy and Design Guidelines.

The Draft ILMS and IDG will then be brought back to Council for consideration and adoption. Once adopted, a planning scheme amendment will be prepared to implement the Draft ILMS and IDG into the Hobsons Bay Planning Scheme.

Further consultation with community and key stakeholders will occur as part of the exhibition of this planning scheme amendment.

The Draft Industrial Land Management Strategy (ILMS) will inform a new industrial land use planning framework that will be implemented via a future planning scheme amendment.

Reimagining our Industrial Areas was the first step in the review of the 2008 ILMS. The project outlined Council’s objectives for the future of our industrial areas and identified industry sectors which have the potential to grow within Hobsons Bay. For more information on the project visit Council's website - here

The Draft Industrial Design Guidelines (IDG) outline preferred built form, site layout and urban design outcomes in industrial areas. These Guidelines will aid in the preparation and assessment of planning permit applications for industrial land use and development in the municipality.

The Draft ILMS and Draft IDG applies to land that is zoned for an industrial purpose in Hobsons Bay. This includes Industry 3 Zone, Industry 1 Zone and a number of Special Use Zones related to specialised industry sectors and Major Hazard Facilities (MHFs). For the purposes of the strategy, industrial areas have been categorised into six key precincts. Please refer to the precinct map here.

The Draft ILMS supports more jobs and economic activity in our key industrial precincts to benefit our community, whilst acknowledging the challenges and constraints associated with Major Hazard Facilities (MHFs).

Council continues to advocate to the Victorian Government to introduce a Buffer Area Overlay (BAO) for Major Hazard Facilities (MHFs), to ensure an integrated, transparent and evidence-based approach to managing land use and development near MHFs. This is being considered alongside other State objectives related to growth in established areas and activity centres.

Negotiable: what may be influenced through feedback?

Proposed 'vision' for key industrial precincts

Proposed 'future focus' for key industrial precincts

Proposed 'strategic land use categories and zoning options' for each key industrial precinct (acknowleding the constraints associated with state policy on land that is designated state significant)

Proposed 'design guidelines' that provide guidance on subdivision, built form and sustainable development

Non-negotiable: what aspects of the project may not change through feedback?

The categorisation of industrial land as either state, regional or locally significant within state policy.

Reasons for non-negotiable aspects

The ILMS has been informed by recent state policy including the Melbourne Industrial and Commercial Land Use Plan (which stemmed from Plan Melbourne) which identifies the majority of industrial land in Hobsons Bay as either of state (majority) or regional significance.

The Draft ILMS is intended as a high-level strategic document. The strategy therefore does not give specific planning direction for every industrial land parcel. The Draft ILMS will be used to inform the next stage of the project, which will involve a more detailed planning scheme amendment process. Site specific changes and zoning options will be considered in the amendment phase of the project which will be subject to further public exhibition. See the diagram below:

Strategic land use categories indicate the future role and function of each key industrial precinct. These categories have been carried across from the 2008 ILMS but updated to reflect state policy that seeks to protect industrial land for jobs and economic activity. Please refer to the participate page here for more information.

The Draft ILMS nominates for each key industrial precinct, which of the three strategic land use categories are expected to apply. The Draft ILMS will be used to inform the next stage of the project, which will involve a more detailed application of the strategic land use categories and potential zoning changes.

Industrial land is important to the local economy and local employment. In 2021, industrial precincts supported close to half of the total jobs in Hobsons Bay and generated half of the city’s economic value.

Industrial land in Hobsons Bay is also important to the Victorian economy. The majority of industrial land in Hobsons Bay is identified as state significant. The municipality sits within the Western State Significant Industrial Precinct (SSIP). This precinct is the largest in Victoria and has the fastest rate of industrial land consumption in comparison to other SSIPs.

The Victorian Government has predicted that based on the rate of consumption of industrial land the current supply of vacant land in Hobsons Bay and the Western SSIP will be depleted by the 2030-40s.

The Victorian Government considers the finite amount of industrial land across the broader western region highlights the importance of retaining and protecting industrial land for economic and employment growth.

Council is aware of the impacts industry can have on the community, particularly in terms of off-site amenity. The Draft ILMS has considered that in some areas, zoning changes could facilitate more light industrial uses that provide a buffer to residential areas.

The interface between residential and industrial land uses is also proposed to be managed through the application of the Draft IDG which will outline preferred urban design outcomes in industrial areas.

The Draft ILMS also includes a number of actions focused on addressing air quality, promoting sustainable and green industries and increasing tree canopy cover.

The Draft ILMS acknowledges the importance of protecting areas of environmental significance that exist within key industrial precincts.

The Draft ILMS includes an action to implement new planning controls such as an Environmental Significance Overlay (ESO) to protect significant native grasslands within industrial areas into the future.

The Draft Industrial Design Guidelines (IDG) includes specific treatments for site boundaries that adjoin areas of environmental significance (e.g. grasslands). These treatments include specific setbacks, materials and plant species.

Hobsons Bay City Council has recently adopted a new Economic Development Strategy (EDS). The EDS 2023-28 is a forward-looking strategy that prioritises creating a positive economic environment for businesses and people who visit, live and work in Hobsons Bay. The new EDS includes actions over a five-year period to support local economic growth.

The EDS focuses on the entire Hobsons Bay economy whilst the ILMS is focused on industrial land only (not commercial or tourism). The ILMS is a longer term strategy (15 years) and will direct future policy to be implemented via a planning scheme amendment.

The two strategies are complimentary and have been underpinned by Council's Reimagining our Industrial Area project, completed in 2021.

The Draft Spotswood Activity Centre Structure Plan proposes a long-term vision to guide land use and development in the Spotswood Activity Centre. This includes land within the Spotswood Industrial Precinct. The Draft Structure Plan was subject to community consultation between 21 April 2022 and 2 June 2022.

The Draft ILMS continues to advocate for change in the Spotswood Industrial area in line with the vision in the Draft Structure Plan, to deliver more local jobs and economic activity. For more information on the Draft Structure Plan please see the Hobsons Bay website here.

The adoption of the Draft Structure Plan is on hold while Council seeks further justification and clarification from WorkSafe Victoria on its new guidance for land use planning near MHFs. Council will continue to progress the aspirations of the draft structure plan where possible, including via the Draft ILMS.