Growing Places Strategy: Our Future Plan for Growth
Council has endorsed a plan called the Growing Places Strategy (GPS) which sets out the overall direction for how Golden Plains Shire should grow to 2050 and beyond. We’re getting on the front foot to carefully plan for increasing growth pressure.
Informed by a range of independent studies and research, the GPS is strongly guided by the key objectives of the Community Vision 2040 and shows where housing and population growth could occur.
This GPS identifies five key Potential Growth Locations, as well as the conditions required to support that growth sustainably.
- Growth is already planned for in Bannockburn;
- It focusses new growth in Meredith, Lethbridge and Teesdale; and
- Cambrian Hill and Stonehaven are identified as future growth opportunities only if the necessary infrastructure becomes available.
The GPS provides certainty for the future, and at the same time, it’s flexible and can adapt over time as circumstances and preconditions change to achieve well-planned, thoughtfully sequenced growth.
Download the Growing Places Strategy
Background: Population growth and why we need to plan
Melbourne’s population is now larger, and growing faster, than Sydney’s. By 2033 it’s predicted that Melbourne will have an estimated 6.1 million people.
The Victorian Government has said that Melbourne’s suburbs and Victoria’s regional cities will provide most of the new homes people need to live in because they have existing services and infrastructure to support it. But every Council must plan for growth.
We commissioned an independent report into how much housing we may need to provide in Golden Plains.
The report showed that due to our location between Geelong and Ballarat, and because we are within the 100km of metropolitan Melbourne, we have a unique opportunity to secure more benefits for our community by accommodating some flow on growth into our Shire. These benefits align with many aspirations of our Community Vision 2040, like more investment in services and infrastructure, a stronger local workforce, and new businesses and entertainment options.
The State Government has set targets for all the Councils for the additional new homes that need to be provided by 2051 to provide for the increasing population. Golden Plains Shire has a target of 12,500 new houses by 2051. This means we should have plans in place to make sure the new houses go in the right locations, to avoid less favourable outcomes. Find out more in our fact sheet: Growth in Our Region.
What’s Next?
Implementing the Growing Places Strategy is a long-term process and will not happen for some years.
Now that the GPS is endorsed, the document will need to be integrated into our Planning Scheme (or ‘rule book’ about how land can be used) through a Planning Scheme Amendment. You can find out more in the Guide to Victoria’s Planning System on the Department of Transport and Planning website here.
For more information, contact Golden Plains Shire's Strategic Planning Team on 5220 7111 or email [email protected].
Timeline
- 2021/22: Background research
- Mid-2023: Developing and testing a future growth scenario
- 2024: Preparing and consulting on a draft GPS and action plan
- 2025: Adopting a final GPS
- 2025: Preparing and consulting on a Planning Scheme Amendment to incorporate the GPS into the Golden Plains Planning Scheme (the ‘rule book’)
- 2025: Submitting the Planning Scheme Amendment to the Minister for Planning for final approval.