UNDER ONE ROOF
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.”
Anthony Radford | Bendigo Weekly | 02-Sep-2011
AT Marketplace the other day, it was busy. People went about their business, shopping, having coffee, doing their thing.
Strangely I was overcome with a sense of connectedness, sharing in the human-ness of the activity. It was like a pulse of energy coursing through that big building, housing us all together.
Not the kind of sentiment you’re supposed to feel inside a large pre-fab building dedicated to consumerism I dare say – but, it was there.
I was reminded of this feeling when I visited the Pride of Place exhibition, newly-opened at the Post Office Gallery, a Bendigo art space dedicated to unearthing and preserving the history and identity of our fair city.
It’s the third time I’ve featured POG in this column, such does it provoke contemplation about where I now live, and what has come before.
Rewinding – I also attended the official opening of the exhibition at the Shamrock Hotel, in the grand Federation Room, along with another 100 or so others. Eagerly they awaited the opening of what in essence celebrates the heritage of buildings built between 1860-1920 within the Greater City of Bendigo, taking in Axedale, Eaglehawk, Heathcote, Elmore, Redesdale and Bendigo.
Curator Sandra Bruce said the crowd – mostly older genteeler folk – represented over 20 historical societies and heritage groups, with vested interests in preserving the architecture and structures within the region.
It poses an interesting fusion of cultures, this show.
In the past two POG exhibits, I have found Sandra’s curation thorough, yet distinctly youthful and energetic.
I was curious to see how she might bring that sensibility to Pride of Place, dedicated to honouring ‘the old’. The answer was easy. Life has been breathed back into the overlooked. As Sandra whispered to me on the night: “Pride of Place is about community buildings, and a sense of identity and of place.”
Consisting mainly of photos – and lots of them - sourced from a number of local benefactors and families, POP boasts beautifully-framed frozen moments in time. The pictures are of buildings, halls, schools, churches, temples and institutions, standing tall – some of them, not so – in our environs, from 1860 on. The Benevolent Asylum – now Anne Caudle Centre – really got to me, specially after reading what it was built for. So did the terrifying Eaglehawk and Heathcote lock ups, shiver.
Built on gold money and community wealth, out of necessity and for most to be able to use and benefit from, depending of course on race and circumstance, Pride of Place is a compelling survey of the many buildings we walk past every day.
It prompts us to not take them for granted, and, what they have represented to prior generations. Lest we forget, buildings house people. Gazing at these images, I couldn’t help but imagine the thousands of locals going about their business within these community buildings, this time, from eons ago.
Happy hopefully, indifferent perhaps, nonetheless all of them united under the roof of a place where they could indeed go about their business, whatever it may be.
I’m guessing that Marketplace might not feature in such an exhibition, say in 100 years’ time. Sadly we won’t be marvelling at much of our modern architecture from now, in the future. But the idea and necessity of community does remain the same, whether housed in a beautifully ornate town hall from the 1800s, or a ready-built shopping shrine built five minutes ago.
Importantly, Pride of Place reminds us of that continuity. We are all in this together.
Pride of Place Runs until January 29, 2012.
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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