Pick of the week - NW

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 | 04-Oct-2012

NW
Zadie Smith

Penguin, $29.99

You might pick up a Zadie Smith book with a little thought, “this will be good for me”. She is terribly clever, and also a brilliant stylist, but in her earlier novels (White Teeth, The Autograph Man and On Beauty), you knew you couldn’t at any time switch off. She is demanding, in the sense that she demands your attention in every line.
On Beauty was a superb novel for those who like their novels, no matter how action-packed and even romantic, to be also thoughtful and meaty.
The characters were young people trying to sort out the big ideas against the backdrop of making social and moral mistakes.
Set in Boston, it took us away from the depressing urban streets of Smith’s London to the United States, where she now lives.
In NW, it’s back to the depressing streets of London. And where On Beauty had all the rich flow of a grand narrative in the classic style, NW tries to mimic or reflect something of the staccato, patched up, flickering lives of the estate kids who are the central characters.
This is dangerous territory, trying, from a position of educated, worldly, successful achievement, to write about lives that are circumscribed by hopelessness.
It’s good a writer as trustworthy as Smith has done this.
As you follow her onto the scary underground, along dreary streets, up into council flats where the day is punctuated by another joint or line of cocaine, it isn’t
easy reading.
But there is constantly humour, albeit very black, and there is also a very careful balancing of caring and judging.
How much does where you come from and how your culture defines you not just shape but mis-shape the “essential” you?
Smith’s decision to trial different kinds of storytelling – stream of consciousness, diary-style snippets – in the one narrative is a bit challenging, but it’s also very apt for the story she is trying to tell.
This is a brave and even audacious book, which tackles the kinds of problems the best novelists in the 21st century must face.
Bendigo historian Robyn Ballinger will be inviting writers to find inspiration in the kinds of objects you find in your own backyard, at a workshop next week run by the Bendigo Writers Council.
Bring along an object that has a sentimental or historic value to you or your family and work with Robyn to develop a story from there.
The two-hour workshop will be at BEST, 26-28 St Andrews Ave, $5, with supper provided. Call Dawn on 5434 4417.
– Rosemary Sorensen