Former Daylesford Landfill - Ajax Road, Daylesford
Current use: Daylesford Transfer Station
Environmental Monitoring: Groundwater, leachate, landfill gas
The current site of Daylesford’s community transfer station at Ajax Road once served as a small town tip (now called ‘landfill’) for Daylesford and surrounds.
Council’s monitoring and management obligations
As a land manager under the Environment Protection Act for water and air pollution control. This activity is oversighted by EPA.
When deciding planning permits and planning scheme changes under the Planning and Environment Act for ‘landfill gas migration’ issues i.e. whether methane and carbon dioxide as the natural byproducts of decomposing waste have moved offsite through the ground – for an explanation of the phenomenon, see Section 4 of EPA Landfill Buffer Guideline.
Council management obligations will flow from any detected pollutant or gases beyond acceptable limits and can include:
- on site by remedial works i.e. construction of water retention basins or removal or management of odour or dust producing material.
- Requiring specific building techniques to avoid build-up of gases inside new buildings on the land and nearby land through planning permits – a similar approach to building in bushfire risk areas.
Addressing potential for landfill gas migration on nearby land The EPA Landfill Buffer Guideline provides standard planning permit conditions for building near landfills including across Victoria at Appendix C. This requires assessment of methane and carbon dioxide risk on a site – testing looks similar to pre-build geotechnical tests with some bore holes and testing equipment. If gases are detected above unacceptable levels, requirements for specific preventative building techniques is the most common response to manage the issue near smaller closed tips – some of these techniques are described at Section 12 of the EPA Guideline. More substantial landfills i.e. serving large metropolitan populations can require consideration of rezoning surround land or preventing residential, hospitals and child-care facilities nearby.
Planning action - satisfactory completion of landfill gas migration monitoring at Daylesford
In February and May 2026, Council completed monitoring of methane levels on and around the former Daylesford landfill site consistent with Landfill buffer guidelines (EPA 2024). The results showed consistently negligible levels of methane beyond the former landfill site boundary.
Relying on the independent monitoring results, Council has concluded that there is no basis to pursue further land use and development controls. Existing State and Local zoning, policy and guidelines for managing potential impacts from the active transfer station may still require consideration for nearby planning applications – these typically address standard land use interaction matters such as dust, odour and traffic.
This closes out the planning scheme action and Daylesford-Hepburn Structure Plan action to investigate gas migration levels and consider whether planning controls or other actions are warranted to further manage the issue. Officers will recommend Council’s 2026 Hepburn Planning Scheme review including the following change: delete the text, ", Daylesford," from the third paragraph of the Schedule to Clause 74.02 Further strategic work.
2024/25
Daylesford Closed Landfill - Environmental Monitoring Event Report - August 2024.pdf(PDF, 6MB)
Daylesford Closed Landfill - Environmental Monitoring Report Review Daylesford 2024.pdf(PDF, 656KB)
Daylesford Closed Landfill - Environmental Monitoring Event Report - February 2025.pdf(PDF, 6MB)
2025/26
Daylesford Closed Landfill - Landfill Gas Monitoring Report - October 2025.pdf(PDF, 4MB)
Daylesford Closed Landfill - Gas Risk Assessment - November 2025.pdf(PDF, 14MB)
Daylesford Closed Landfill - Environmental Monitoring Event Report - February 2026(PDF, 4MB)
Daylesford Landfill Aftercare Management Plan 2026(PDF, 2MB)
Daylesford Closed Landfill - Environmental Monitoring Event Report - May 2026(PDF, 5MB)