Mr Richard Strates, Town Planner, appeared on behalf of Southern Grampians Shire Council, the Responsible Authority.

Mr Michael Boyd, Applicant for Review and Objector, appeared on his own behalf.

Mr Andrew Cook, Town Planner, appeared on behalf of Commercial Maintenance Pty Ltd, the Respondent/Permit Applicant.

1. This is an application to review the decision of the Responsible Authority to permit a petrol station at the intersection of Ballarat Road (Glenelg Highway) and Hamilton Highway in Hamilton. The parties in the appeal made both written and verbal submissions and a number of photographs, plans and other documents were tendered to the Tribunal. The Tribunal inspected the appeal site and its locality, unfortunately, because of the time required to be set aside for an inspection in Hamilton, the Tribunal was unable to inspect the site until Monday 29th May 2000.

2. The following extracts from Mr Cook's submission described both the site and its locality and the proposal in some detail:

"The site is located on the south west corner of Ballarat Road and Hamilton Highway in Hamilton.

The site is generally rectangular in shape with a splayed corner adjacent to the intersection. The site has an area of 3600m2.

The site is currently occupied by a single storey brick dwelling located close to the Ballarat Road frontage. A garden and a number of small outbuildings are located to the rear of the dwelling. The remainder of the site is vacant.

Development immediately surrounding the site includes the following:

q To the west - a single storey dwelling (148 Ballarat Road). The dwelling is setback 4.5m from the common boundary with a driveway and carport located in this setback area. Two windows in this dwelling face toward the subject site;

q To the west - a single storey motel (Grange Burn Motor Inn). The motel shares only a limited boundary with the subject site of approximately 22m. The closest wing of the motel is setback approximately 15m from the common boundary. This area is dominated by driveway, ca parking and landscaping;

q To the south - vacant land which is proposed for future residential use;

q To the east - across Hamilton Highway is a large vacant parcel of land zoned for low density residential use;

q To the north - across Ballarat Road is the Hamilton Pastoral Museum, Monivae Catholic Secondary College and a Shell Service Station.

Ballarat Road is a major highway providing an east west connection between Ballarat and Hamilton. It is a median divided road with two lanes of traffic in each direction. A speed limit of 60kmh applies along this section of the road.

The Hamilton Highway is also a main highway providing a north south connection between Hamilton and Warnambool. It is an undivided road with one lane of traffic in each direction. A speed limit of 60kmh applies along this section of the road. VicRoads estimate that in the vicinity of the site both roads carry between 2,000 and 3,000 vehicles per day.

The intersection of Ballarat Road and Hamilton Highway is not signalised. Deceleration and turning lanes are provided on all main approaches to the intersection.

The application proposes the development of a service station on the subject site. It is proposed that the facility will operate between the hours of 6am and 12 midnight seven days per week.

The sales building will have an area of 240m2 and will be located in the rear/western portion of the site. The pump canopy will extend to the front of the sales building and will contain eight pump stations portion of the site.

A total of 11 car parking spaces are proposed on the site in addition to a loading bay area.

Access to the site will be available from both Ballarat Road and Hamilton Highway. Access to Ballarat Road will be restricted to left in / left out while access to Hamilton Highway will provide for both left in / left out and right in / right out movements.

The following advertising signage is proposed throughout the site:-

A 2.4m high acoustic fence is proposed along the southern and western boundaries of the site. Screen landscaping is also proposed adjacent to these boundaries."

3. The applicant for review is the owner and operator of the Glenburn Motel, which is located a short distance to the north of the subject land. Mr Boyd is opposed to the proposal firstly on the basis of a concern about the effect of the use on the amenity of his land, and the consequent effects that would have on his business, and secondly out of a more general concern about the appropriateness of the site for the proposed use having regard to its design, its location, and the planning scheme policies relating to the Ballarat Road approach to the Hamilton City Centre.

4. I am satisfied that on the basis of the material presented to me, and the conditions proposed by the Responsible Authority, that the proposed use and development will not adversely affect the amenity of the applicant's land. Moreover, I am satisfied that if one has regard to the nature of surrounding users, the nearby motels, the petrol filling station on the diagonally opposite corner, and the fact that the site is located at the intersection of two highways, then it is difficult to assert that the proposal is entirely inconsistent with the local neighbourhood character.

5. The subject land and the adjoining land is always in a Residential 1 zone therefore one would want to be cautious about approving a petrol station, on a corner site, with extended hours of operation, because there must be some doubt about the compatibility of this use with the use of immediately adjoining land for residential purposes. Nevertheless, petrol stations are permissible on sites such as this, and it is undoubtedly true that petrol stations are found on sites like this both within the metropolitan area, and in country centres.

6. While it is difficult in a sense to balance the issues discussed above to form a reasonable conclusion about the proposal, on balance appear to the Tribunal that if these were the sole considerations, then the proposed use was an appropriate use of the land having regard to the location of the site and its characteristics and the characteristics of nearby land uses.

7. These general conclusions in relation to neighbourhood character and amenity effects had the result that up until the inspection the Tribunal was of the view that the proposed use was probably an acceptable use and development of the land. However, an outstanding issue which could not be resolved without inspection is the issue of the impact of the proposed use on the visual character of the entry to the Hamilton township. The effect of a range of highway related uses on the approaches to rural townships is an important issue, such uses can benefit from exposure afforded to the respective business by being located on these busier approach roads, but the aggregation of such uses over time can significantly diminish the visual attractiveness of the entry to these towns. This issue is recognised in the Local Planning Policy Framework, in this regard set out below is a part of clause 21.08-1 of the scheme (my emphasis):

s The Council will pursue the following objectives: -

s To strengthen Hamilton's capacity to compete as a regional centre so as to better capture the local and regional economic opportunities.

s To promote and strengthen the retail, service, cultural and education role of Hamilton.

s To encourage full and efficient use of infrastructure.

s To provide an attractive and high quality living environment.

s To promote Hamilton as the major processing and value adding centre of Western Victoria.

The Council will use the following strategies to achieve these objectives:

s Reinforce the central business area as the prime retail and business service area in Hamilton and make no provision for new retail areas outside the CBD other than existing neighbourhood shopping areas.

s Protect and enhance the cultural heritage precincts and the city's major heritage buildings.

s Improve the presentation of the major city entrances and boulevards and tourist-heritage routes, in particular the Ballarat Road entrance, French Street and Cox Street.

s Ensure the needs of the residents are met through the provision of a range of services and facilities.

8. At the intersection of Ballarat Road with the Hamilton Highway, the subject intersection, there is the transition from the rural approach road, to the divided entry road leading to the City Centre of Hamilton. The Ballarat Road between the intersection and the City Centre is strongly residential in character with a number of institutional uses and some commercial uses along its length. Therefore, unlike a lot of other rural cities or towns, this entry to Hamilton has an attractive quality, which has probably resulted in the explicit reference to this approach to the township in the LPPF.

9. On the inspection, I approached Hamilton and the subject land along the Hamilton Highway, I then turned left onto the Ballarat Road past the site and travelled some way towards the city centre before doing a `U' turn to travel east along the Ballarat Road past the site and through the intersection with Hamilton Highway. To this point, I saw nothing which would suggest to me that the more general conclusions set out above should be set aside as a consequence of the inspection. It seemed to me that the petrol station would serve a useful purpose, and the general mix of uses around the intersection of Ballarat Road with Hamilton Highway is such that the neighbourhood character could absorb a commercially oriented use such as this.

10. However, I then continued travelling east along Ballarat Road for some distance prior to doing another `U' turn to approach the site from the east along Ballarat Road. From this perspective it became very clear to me that the site was perhaps the most prominent site from the Ballarat Road approach to the Hamilton township. Travelling west on Ballarat Road to the east of Hamilton Highway, the subject land is directly in front of the approaching traveller. Given this prominence, I think the provisions of the LPPF set out above must outweigh the other considerations discussed in this decision.

11. Notwithstanding the fact that very careful attention has been paid to the landscaping of this site, I am of the view that a petrol filling station is an inherently utilitarian use and development which is also unfortunately prominent because of the extended hours of use, the bright lighting, and the relatively extensive advertising which are all characteristics of petrol stations. Such a use and development is inappropriate on this prominent gateway site. The existing dwelling and garden are perhaps somewhat too understated for the site, and the existing McDonalds billboard is to say the least unfortunate. But, the existing situation will not be improved by use and development proposed. So for this reason I am of the view that no permit should be granted.