Little doses of Dickens
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.”
Rosemary Sorensen | Bendigo Weekly | 02-Feb-2012
On February 7, 200 years ago, Charles John Huffam Dickens was born.
To celebrate this event, Bendigo Library (5.30pm, phone 5449 2781) is hosting a kind of Little Dickens; dramatised readings from a half-dozen of the novels by Castlemaine actors Bev Geldard and Michael Treloar.
Bev says she was not really much of a Dickens fan, until she sat down to extract bits of dialogue for a theatrical presentation.
“I used to try to read him, but I found my mind just wafting off – all those descriptive bits. I’d be turning pages to see what happens next,” Bev said.
“It’s 200 years since he was born, and our whole way of expressing things has changed.”
But then she discovered the richness of Dickens’ characters.
“They are so three-dimensional, compared to so many modern-day characters,” she said.
“And they are also so knowable, so recognisable.
“I think people must have enjoyed his writing at the time because they could see themselves in the stories.”
Bev has trawled through the novels, and spent happy hours watching BBC mini-series, to pluck out choice bits for performance.
“We aren’t bastardising the text, but we are editing it down so it works as a dialogue,” she said.
“It’s great fun to condense a scene into something that really works on stage.”
The precedent for dramatised readings has been set by the marvellous Miriam Margoyles, who will be performing her Dickens’ Women at the Playhouse in Melbourne at the end of this month.
For Bev, it’s a matter of balancing the romantic side of the writing against his moralising.
“Dickens championed the poor and he was always going on about greed and power.
“He can preach a bit.”
She’s poring over maps to try to work out the best accent to deliver the Dickens’ speeches in.
“This is fun to do, little doses of Dickens – but I do envy those BBC actors who get to do a whole mini-series.”
– Rosemary Sorensen
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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