Minister inspects CBD ahead of development plan release

STATE Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny was in Geelong last week ahead of the eagerly-awaited release of a long-term development plan for the city’s centre.

Ms Kilkenny toured the city alongside Geelong MP Christine Couzens and local government representatives last week as part of a visit to the region.

Ms Kilkenny became Planning Minister in December following last year’s state election, and is now responsible for pressing go on the Central Geelong Framework Plan (CGFP).

The CGFP will provide development guidelines for new construction in Geelong’s CBD, including preferred building heights for designated precincts including retail, arts and culture, and inner urban living.

Industry insiders have anticipated the imminent release of the CGFP in recent weeks, but the government is yet to indicate a timeline.

Release of the plan would provide clarity to developers with hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of city projects waiting in the pipeline, and enable local government to proceed with policies relating to urban settlement – including a plan to have 10,000 residents living in Geelong’s CBD by 2026.

Consultation on the CGFP finished in October 2021 at the end of a public hearings process, with a ministerial advisory committee handing in its report to then-planning minister Richard Wynne in December that year.