Identity crisis
BENDIGO’S residential Strategy will be reviewed because of greater than expected growth.
The State Government has announced a grant of $50,000 to carry out the review.
The review is needed because, according to the State Government, 40 per cent of the forecast growth between 2006 and 2031 had already been realised.
Regional Development Parliamentary Secretary Damian Drum made the announcement this morning.
Mr Drum said the Bendigo Residential Strategy Review would deliver greater community and investor certainty, helping the region grow.
“The Bendigo Residential Development Strategy was adopted in 2004 and is currently being audited because of the faster than anticipated growth that has occurred in Bendigo in recent years,” he said.
“Strong residential growth has many flow-on economic benefits and having a clear framework for future development will position Greater Bendigo City Council to undertake more detailed, place-based planning in the future.”
Deputy Premier Peter Ryan said about 40 per cent of the forecast growth between 2006 and 2031 had already been realised.
The Residential Strategy impacts directly on where and how property developments use “infill” parcels of land, range of housing styles and also on housing affordability.
“This project will review the strategy, assess current and estimated land supply and demand and consider various legislative and policy changes,” Mr Ryan said,
“It will also consider the latest demographic data and establish a new strategic framework to guide the long-term residential growth of Greater Bendigo.
“The project will result in a revised residential strategy that will give developers, the community and service providers greater surety and confidence about where land can be developed for residential purposes, and that sufficient land is available to accommodate the City of Greater Bendigo’s future growth.”
Mr Ryan said a contemporary strategic planning framework was essential to the economic development of a large regional centre like Bendigo.
“Clearly identifying future growth options and supporting infrastructure needs will enable the Greater Bendigo City Council and other infrastructure providers to plan their capital works programs well in advance,” he said.
“Identifying long-term growth areas will enable the council and other service authorities to start planning for the delivery of services, thereby minimising the lag time between when residential development occurs and when the services need to be in place.”
Bendigo Weekly | Bendigo Weekly | 17-Feb-2012
If you are one of the many thousands of Bendigonians who have taken a course at Bendigo TAFE, you may well be feeling dismayed and disheartened this week.
News of the first job losses, with more on the horizon, does not come as a surprise to those who work there.
Apparently, morale is very low, as staff try to maintain standards while budget cuts and changes to the training market decimate their institution.
For the rest of us, it’s a rude awakening.
BRIT, so much a part of our physical and social landscape, is being shaken to the core, and the way things look right now, it will become a shell of its former thriving, bustling, optimistic self.
Guess what – both sides of politics say it’s not their fault. The other lot did it.
What seems to be clear is that neither side wants to fund the TAFE system sufficiently, and one of the reasons we are now seeing Bendigo TAFE, along with others across Victoria, suffering death by a thousand cuts is that Victoria is the test case, the state that is leading the way in a vocational educational revolution.
RMIT analyst Gavin Moodie wrote in the Higher Education Supplement of The Australian last year, that Victorian vocational education is funded at the lowest rate of all states in Australia. It also has the lowest completion rates.
Moodie pointed out that a report by Victoria’s Essential Services Commission is recommending further “marketisation” (which means allowing cheaper private courses to compete for diploma students) of the vocational training sector.
“If anything like the commission’s recommendations were implemented,” Moodie said, “Victoria would erode its TAFE institutes that are so important to the vitality of regional cities, outer-metropolitan regions and to students and small businesses everywhere.”
Bendigo is one of those cities.
The harsh news delivered to seven TAFE staff this week is the tip of an iceberg, by the looks of it.
What’s at stake is not just jobs, as important as those are. Also at stake is a big chunk of this city’s identity, an institution that provides opportunities and encouragement for people, young and old, to, as the title says, “further” their education.
It used to be seen as not just a pay-for-diploma opportunity, but as an opportunity for everyone to improve, expand, enrich their learning, and hence their job prospects and their lives.
Let’s hope our politicians, both federal and state, will see sense and stop the rot. Dismantling a wide-reaching educational institution in the name of number-crunching is ridiculous.
BENDIGO’S residential Strategy will be reviewed because of greater than expected growth.
The State Government has announced a grant of $50,000 to carry out the review.
The review is needed because, according to the State Government, 40 per cent of the forecast growth between 2006 and 2031 had already been realised.
Regional Development Parliamentary Secretary Damian Drum made the announcement this morning.
Mr Drum said the Bendigo Residential Strategy Review would deliver greater community and investor certainty, helping the region grow.
“The Bendigo Residential Development Strategy was adopted in 2004 and is currently being audited because of the faster than anticipated growth that has occurred in Bendigo in recent years,” he said.
“Strong residential growth has many flow-on economic benefits and having a clear framework for future development will position Greater Bendigo City Council to undertake more detailed, place-based planning in the future.”
Deputy Premier Peter Ryan said about 40 per cent of the forecast growth between 2006 and 2031 had already been realised.
The Residential Strategy impacts directly on where and how property developments use “infill” parcels of land, range of housing styles and also on housing affordability.
“This project will review the strategy, assess current and estimated land supply and demand and consider various legislative and policy changes,” Mr Ryan said,
“It will also consider the latest demographic data and establish a new strategic framework to guide the long-term residential growth of Greater Bendigo.
“The project will result in a revised residential strategy that will give developers, the community and service providers greater surety and confidence about where land can be developed for residential purposes, and that sufficient land is available to accommodate the City of Greater Bendigo’s future growth.”
Mr Ryan said a contemporary strategic planning framework was essential to the economic development of a large regional centre like Bendigo.
“Clearly identifying future growth options and supporting infrastructure needs will enable the Greater Bendigo City Council and other infrastructure providers to plan their capital works programs well in advance,” he said.
“Identifying long-term growth areas will enable the council and other service authorities to start planning for the delivery of services, thereby minimising the lag time between when residential development occurs and when the services need to be in place.”
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