General News
28 February, 2025
Council must meet housing target or face intervention, State Government warns
Central Goldfields Shire Council will have to facilitate the construction of 1700 new homes in the shire by 2051 or risk losing their planning powers, according to the State Government.
In a bid to open up the housing and rental market, State Government has worked with councils across Victoria to create housing targets that reflect the capacity of the shire for more homes.
According to the Victorian Government, it’s each councils responsibility to work with government and industry to achieve these targets while serving the community’s needs.
However, if pre-existing planning schemes are not providing enough housing capacity the State Government may provide explicit direction for change — and, if required, will intervene to unlock more spaces for homes including through rezoning.
Premier Jacinta Allan said the status quo wasn’t an option during a housing crisis.
“It’s simple — work with us to unlock space for more homes or we’ll do it for you,” she said.
Adopted by council in May 2020, the Population, Housing and Residential Settlement Strategy is designed to provide direction for residential growth through to 2035.
According to the report, from 2011 population growth increased to an average of 0.8 percent each year which, if it were to continue, by 2036 the Central Goldfields Shire could see demand for 713 to 1304 additional homes.
The challenge, however, is that Maryborough’s landlocked meaning it is surrounded by land not zoned for residential development.
According to Jacinta Clifford, director of Professionals Maryborough, rezoning is the only way council could achieve their target.
“My number one thing would be where do they think they’re going to get the land to build that number of houses,” she said.
“They’re going to have to change their attitude and do more rezoning, that’s the only way to move forward for Maryborough.”
However, rezoning is a “slow process” with one of Ms Clifford’s clients still waiting after multiple years to rezone land for a few hundred houses.
In 2020 council told The Addy nearly 70 percent of all dwelling approvals in the previous decade were in Maryborough.
“For Maryborough particularly, the town really has an urban growth barrier with forests so we’re coming up against the limits of growth in most directions,” they said.
The only possibility identified for “critically important” broad-hectare development within or adjacent to Maryborough was along the Maryborough-Dunolly Road. It’s approximately 70 hectares and could provide 400 to 600 lots.
According to the report, if appropriate this land could meet much of Maryborough’s short to medium term housing needs, and is yet to be developed.
In comparison, the report found that much of Maryborough’s current residential land supply are small parcels of land that would only provide small housing yields.
Due to suitable lands unavailability in and around Maryborough the report found that Carisbrook should be a key part of the shire’s ongoing strategy.
Promoting broad-hectare residential development in the township was encouraged, helping serve medium and long term needs.
“One of the questions we’re asking is whether Carisbrook is the logical next area for taking some of Maryborough’s traditional edge of town growth,” council said.
“There also seems to be plenty of capacity for further growth in Dunolly and that’s starting to become attractive for people, it’s within commuting distance to Bendigo and has a lot of charm and heritage character.”
However, despite council saying real estate agent feedback showed increasing interest in Dunolly back in 2020, the report found “there is so much uncertainty regarding the level of future demand” that there was little need to designate additional areas of development.
Outside of rezoning, Ms Clifford identified the supplementary role infill could play, where pre-existing homes are subdivided or demolished to make way for multiple units on the same block.
“But the problem also is the overlays. Maryborough has a local [heritage] overlay. I’ve got a property at the moment that I’m selling, the house needs to be knocked down, it’s on a corner allotment, perfect for three new buildings, but the overlay says it can’t be taken down,” she said.
The report recommended that council fine tune these overlays “to ensure that it applies only to areas with historical significance and/or character that justify such additional protection”.
During 2023, a Heritage Overlay review covering much of Maryborough was conducted. The report revealed that the overlay covered a blanket area, including many areas not of heritage significance, and a new overlay was proposed with a number of defined heritage precincts and places.
According to the Central Goldfields Shire general manager infrastructure assets and planning, rezoning is an ongoing consideration in council’s housing strategy.
“Council has several strategic land use planning projects underway which aim to facilitate greater access to residential land for future development. The projects will identify areas in the shire which can be appropriately rezoned to accommodate residential occupancy,” they said.
Updates on these projects, including an opportunity for community consultation, will be considered at council meetings this year.
