Golden Plains ideal for Costco, mayor says

THE Golden Plains is well-placed for a Costco serving both the region and Greater Geelong, the shire’s mayor said.

Cr Owen Sharkey wrote to the retailer last week promoting the Gheringhap Employment Precinct as an ideal home for a warehouse store, after multiple media outlets reported Costco was considering a Geelong-area site.

He said projected growth across Geelong and Golden Plains was a major reason behind his advocacy, with more than 110,000 people expected to settle around the Ring Road corridor in the coming decades.

“When you do fast forward and you see our projections – 2030, 2040, 2050 – it is going to be an area that takes in a significant amount of population and it’s going to see a massive amount of transformation and growth in the coming years,” Cr Sharkey said.

He said the Gheringhap precinct had long been identified as capable of supporting the industry needed for residential expansion.

“The Gheringhap Employment Precinct, it is strategically identified, has been for a long time,” Cr Sharkey said.

“It just has all those attributes that an industrial area needs, from rail to gas to the NBN.

“Geelong is going to see a significant amount of growth around that Ring Road. Put that into figures, we’re essentially picking up the whole of Ballarat and putting it on this side of the Ring Road.

“There is going to have to be additional areas found, such as this, and nothing hits the fast forward button faster than attracting big businesses like Costco.”

Cr Sharkey said the location’s accessibility added to its appeal.

“When you look at it from an economic point of view, where it’s strategically located, it’s just a fantastic opportunity for big businesses like Costco to be able to set up in a location such as that,” he said.

“It’s minutes from the Ring Road, it takes in both Geelong, Bacchus Marsh, Werribee, Tarneit, that sort of Wyndham area, then your whole Surf Coast.

“So it’s sort of perfectly located right in the middle of things.”

Costco declined to comment.