Report takes stock of shire’s residential land

THE Surf Coast Shire only has enough unzoned residential land to meet up to 12 years of demand, according to a report presented to councillors last week, and changing Torquay’s town boundary could reduce stocks even further.

The Surf Coast Residential Land Supply and Demand Assessment provides an assessment of historic, existing and forecast future land supply and demand, and updates a previous study undertaken in 2015.

The report found that Surf Coast Shire continues to experience high population growth, recording an average 2.7 per cent growth per annum since 2011.

Torquay accounted for 93 per cent of the population growth during this period.

There was an average of 460 shire-wide building approvals per annum over the past three years and an average 402 lots under construction each year for the past five years.

Torquay accounted for approximately 85 per cent of the lot construction in this period.

Infill development occurred across the shire and accounted for 24 per cent of all lot construction over the last five years.

The report found the shire has sufficient zoned broad-hectare (greenfield) land stocks to meet a five-to-seven-year demand and sufficient unzoned broad-hectare residential land to meet nine-to-12- year demand.

The Labor state government has supported calls to bring Torquay’s town boundary back to Duffields Road, thus stopping any development in Spring Creek, and the report notes “the availability of the anticipated land supply (1,939 lots) is uncertain”.

“A loss/reduction of this amount of supply would potentially leave the adequacy of future supply in question and council’s ability to satisfy the requirement to provide a 15-year residential land supply”.

Shire mayor Rose Hodge said the assessment would provide important data for future strategic planning work.

“The latest land supply and demand assessment shows us how much land is available and where building has occurred.

“The data will inform council’s own strategic planning – perhaps more significantly it will be useful to state government agencies, as they work through the government’s election commitments – including the a review of the Spring Creek Precinct Structure Plan and the development of a Distinctive Areas and Landscapes project,” she said.