It would seem the only reason for the government moving hastily to make a change to the planning scheme was because the protests of residents over the planning minister choosing to override Ballarat City Council's request to have most of Buninyong declared a neighbourhood residential zone.

Instead he decided in September to put all of Buninyong in the higher density general residential zone that allowed for a minimum lot size of 300sqm.

Geoff Howard was the first person to draw our attention to this issue. The new zoning caused a public outcry of Buninyong residents fearing the village nature of the township would be lost.

Even at that stage we were assured by Mr Taylor that the 'old' Shire of Buninyong outline development plan (ODP) should protect Buninyong from over development that could have occurred under the general residential zoning.

However, the Buninyong outline development plan was/is a reference document only and was over ridden by the new, higher density zoning. It was only after the outcry by many residents of Buninyong that resulted in the Ballarat City Council moving an urgent resolution on October 22, requesting the planning minister to apply the neighbourhood residential zone to Buninyong.

The following day the minister met with Buninyong residents and assured them he would consider any recommendation put forward by Ballarat City Council and take into account concerns of residents.

I understand that the issue was resolved today (Thursday) with the gazettal of the majority of Buninyong being zoned neighbourhood residential, but with tighter restrictions in line with the 800sqm minimum and setbacks.

This is great news for Buninyong residents. However, this crucial issue affecting Buninyong could have slipped quietly by without Geoff Howard publishing what had happened.