The applicant, Backyard Fest, is seeking to use land at 100 Allendale Road, Elphinstone, zoned for farming, to host a single weekend camping event from November 12 to 14.

The festival is said to include live music, yoga and art workshops, with a maximum patronage of 1500 people.

It is estimated up to 10 staff members and 90 volunteers will be on site, with a BYO liquor licence proposed.

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Taking into account set up and pack up times, its operating dates would be from November 9, 2021 to November 15, 2021.

Council received 17 objections to the permit application, citing waste control, traffic, fire, noise, environmental, behavioural and COVID-19 related concerns.

The subject site is a roughly rectangular parcel of land to the east of Allendale Road and immediately north of the Calder Freeway, 1.2 kilometres from the main Elphinstone township.

It consists of five title allotments, covering a total of about 12 hectares.

The site contains an existing dwelling and access is via a single crossover from Allendale Road, where access to the freeway can be obtained via Bendigo-Sutton Grange Road.

Council recommended to refuse to grant a permit on five grounds, including traffic congestion and safety issues and a failure for the application to demonstrate that noise associated with the event will not have a detrimental impact on the surrounding area.

The proposed festival is to be spread out across the body of the subject site, with designated areas for car parking, camping, food trucks and stage area.

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With the CFA unable to provide comment on the bushfire risk at the site before evaluating fuel and weather conditions closer to the event, council leaned on VCAT precedent to justify its decision.

A 2017 case, Tisdall v Mount Alexander SC VCAT 267 stated that "it's not consistent with orderly and proper planning to locate an event within an area of bushfire risk".

The site has been identified as being in a bushfire prone area and along a dead-end road, which would likely result in detrimental traffic congestion in an emergency.

The nature of camping, regardless of banning cooking and campfires, would also pose a bushfire risk, council concluded.

Music and lighting on site would be turned off at 12am on November 12 and 1am on November 13, with a mixture of live music and DJs proposed to provide entertainment, the application said.

Mount Alexander councillors will meet on February 16 to vote on the recommendation.