Time to get real about Bendigo growth

Dear editor,

The City of Greater Bendigo’s recently released Managed Growth Strategy ignores thereality of housing in Bendigo.

Bendigo is growing. The city council forecasts growth of 90,000 people over the next 30 years, with 40,000 homes needed.

But its Managed Growth Strategy would see 70 per cent of this growth crammed into dense housing in established suburbs, with only 30 per cent in greenfields outside the city but realistically just five or 10 minutes from the CBD.

It is a copy and paste of Plan Melbourne’s strategy, which is designed for high-rise apartments around suburban train stations. That’s not right for Bendigo. The 70:30 model is metro, it doesn’t fit the country.

It fails to take into account the commercial viability of infill development in Bendigo, the wants and needs of our community, and it fails to realise the potential of land to the city’s south.

Apartments and townhouses are costly to develop and, unless they are targeting a luxury high-end market, can often have diminishing returns.

The cost to builders in Bendigo will be prohibitive. The land’s more expensive, they’ll have to bulldoze existing properties and they don’t want to have to build new water and sewerage infrastructure just for a few units. It can’t possibly be affordable.

There’s this false notion that the greenfields cost more than established properties.

It’s not right. Especially when you factor upsizing and replacing the ageing water, sewer, drainage and electricity infrastructure that wasn’t built to service all these new homes.

Applying a 70:30 framework to Bendigo, where sales prices and rates are already lower than the metro market, is short-sighted. The planning process, too, for these infill, medium to high-density builds is long, expensive and complex.The majority of medium-density development in Bendigo has been delivered by smaller builders or mums and dads cutting off their back yards but now banks are reluctant to lend to unsophisticated developers without experience or significant capital.

That’s not to say we should not be building medium or high-density housing. It is an important part of addressing our burgeoning population here in Bendigo.

But it should not be the only part or given the larger credence over greenfield development.

Of the limited growth suburbs proposed in the MGS — including Huntly, Strathfieldsaye, Maiden Gully and Marong — one is clearly missing: Ravenswood.

Ravenswood has the potential for 4000 homes, housing over 10,000 people. It is the only piece of land in Greater Bendigo that offers the scale to really achieve something special and provide real housing choice for Bendigo.

Located south of Bendigo, it is closer to Melbourne. We know how hard it is to attract doctors, lawyers, accountants and skilled labourers to Bendigo — a shorter commute time to Melbourne than from Bendigo’s north will make this more attractive to them.

Many families still move to Bendigo for the ‘Great Australian Dream’ and do not aspire to live in apartments in Bendigo. Otherwise, they will stay in Melbourne.

They want a back yard with space for a garden, a dog, maybe a trampoline. They move here for the rural lifestyle, a slower pace, more space and friendly, welcoming neighbours.

The potential of areas like Ravenswood, with its capacity for significant housing development and favourable infrastructure conditions, presents an opportunity for Bendigo to pursue a more sustainable and inclusive growth strategy. One that doesn’t ignore commercial reality.

It is time to get real. A 70:30 split is not right for Bendigo. Ignoring the potential to the south of our city is archaic. It is time to properly investigate the opportunity on our doorstep to the south.

Rory Costelloe

Executive director, Villawood Properties