Ample pitches Buckley Village to Surf Coast communities

THE proponents of the Buckley Village concept are seeking public views about the proposal, whether positive or negative, and are stressing the development will not go ahead without public support.

Ample’s Gareth Bellchambers and Simon Keyte have held four meetings across the Surf Coast Shire over the past fortnight to outline their vision and answer questions, including to about 60 people at Winchelsea’s Eastern Reserve on Thursday last week.

Earlier this year, Ample unsuccessfully asked the Surf Coast Shire council to modify its draft Urban Futures Strategy to designate land near the locality of Buckley as a Future Investigation Area to allow Buckley Village.

The development, proposed for the north-west corner of Lake Modewarre, has a target size of about 500 hectares and about 3,000 homes, though the final size would be subject to planning processes.

Opening the Winchelsea meeting, Mr Bellchambers acknowledged Ample had heard differing views about Buckley Village in the community over the past six weeks.

“We’ve had stories passed to us that some people have not liked the idea and don’t like change and we totally understand that. So, we really would like to apologise if that’s caused anyone discomfort,” he said.

“We want to assure everyone that Buckley’s not a done deal. This will only happen if there’s community support.

“We hope you can listen to what we’ve got to say and understand what we think the problem is – we think it [Buckley Village] is a solution. You might agree that it’s the right solution or the wrong solution. That’s up to you.”

Ample continues to argue the shire’s UFS restricts growth across the Surf Coast too tightly and will result in the municipality falling thousands of homes short of the Victorian government’s housing targets.

Mr Keyte said this would also make most homes unaffordable to local workers and the next generation of homeowners, including his children.

“Where this started for us was in 2021 – we’re looking around the Surf Coast Shire, house prices have jumped 60 per cent, rental vacancies were down to less than 1 per cent and all of our towns are being constrained, and we’re just thinking ‘Where are they going to go?'”

In response to a question about building on farmland, Mr Bellchambers said the Surf Coast Shire was about 1,556sqkm in size, and Buckley Village would represents less than 2.4 per cent of the shire.

“We think there’s a trade-off to be made against losing farming land to provide houses for the next generation who support our communities. But, again, that’s why we’re here to have this discussion.”