Rezoning in Gippsland

I am looking to buy a 4000m/2 block of land in a Gippsland town that is currently zoned business 1. There is no demand for land zoned business as over 50% of the shops in this town are vacant. What I want to do is re-zone the land to Res1 but am having trouble getting information on how to go about it. I have spoken to two town planning firms and neither are returning my calls now after giving them the details. I have also approached an Architect and two Land Surveyors and they are all saying it is Council I need to talk to. The Strategic Planner at council is non committal and has just referred me to the “Township Strategy Plan”. It’s unclear as to what the Council would like to see on the site but I know residential land is in demand in this area. Given it’s 50m to the train station would Council look favorably at re-zoning and how do I go about re-zoning the land?

I thank you in advance for your input.

David