City agrees with recommended changes to growth plans

THE City of Greater Geelong council agrees with all changes recommended by an independent panel to its Settlement Strategy and the Northern and Western Geelong Growth Areas Framework Plan.
The two plans will direct growth away from the Bellarine Peninsula and towards Armstrong Creek and future growth areas in Geelong’s north and west, and Amendment C395 will implement them into the city’s planning scheme.
Initially released two years ago, the Settlement Strategy envisages most of the city’s urban housing needs for the next few decades will come from Armstrong Creek as well as the Western and Northern Geelong Growth Areas.
The council considered a report on the submissions to Amendment C395 in September 2019 and resolved to refer them to an independent planning panel, which handed down its report in May.
Councillors considered the panel report – which found the amendment was “a well-considered and visionary response to logically cater for predicted growth” – at their meeting on Tuesday this week.
As per the panel’s recommendation, the council will revise the Settlement Strategy to “clearly articulate” the process to “finalise an enduring boundary for Geelong” on the Bellarine Peninsula.
However, the report to councillors notes this depends on the Bellarine Peninsula’s Distinctive Area and Landscape Statement of Planning Policy, which the state government must prepare by October.
“The City considers the Distinctive Areas and Landscapes the most appropriate process to determine long-term boundaries for the Bellarine. If long-term boundaries are not resolved, the City will need to determine long-term boundaries via a separate consultative process for the district towns with regard to Statement of Planning Policy.”
The council will also update the Settlement Strategy and earmark land at the Boral site in Waurn Ponds as an “investigation area” for future urban development.
The Western Geelong Growth Area, which stretches west from Highton, Hamlyn Heights and Bell Post Hill towards Batesford, will have a population of 62,000 spread over 3,245 hectares, while the Northern Geelong Growth Area, located around Lovely Banks, will have a population of 48,000 people over 2,089 hectares.