A former town planner has questioned the credibility of the Bendigo council’s Marong Township Structure Plan, claiming it contains “major deficiencies”.
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Leichardt planning barrister Adele Patterson, who has a decade of experience advising metropolitan and regional councils on growth area planning, said the council’s estimate of 8000 people living in Marong by 2036 was overly ambitious.
“If you do a calculation of available vacant land, in a tight fit there’s scarcely enough for between 800 and 1000,” she said.
“The council’s own planning consultant, when questioned about the Marong plan at the recent Marong industrial park hearing, agreed with that.”
City of Greater Bendigo strategy manager Trevor Budge has previously said the council expected the population of Marong to grow to about 8000 within the next 20 years, but this week said that projection was “probably optimistic” under the current pattern of development.
He said it was a legitimate question to ask whether 8000 people could fit in that area.
“We may have to modify our predictions or we might have to look at are there any other areas that feasibly could be included within the township area and is there any prospect that perhaps other forms of development could accommodate more people than perhaps the current pattern has set out,’’ Mr Budge said.
“It’s council policy at the moment to aim for a population of 8000 in Marong, whether that turns out to be feasible is part of the study that we’re doing.”
But Ms Patterson said there were “serious restrictions” on the growth potential of Marong’s outskirts.
“In particular there’s a forest to the north, flood-prone land to the east, the proposed Bendigo ring road to the south and the west, the chicken farm to the west and of course the council’s failed industrial park proposal to the west as well,” she said.
But Mr Budge suggested some of the surrounding land could potentially be repurposed.
“There are a number of landholders and land users in Marong that will probably re-examine what they’re needs are when they start to consider the development of the town over the next 20 years,” he said.
Mr Budge said some landowners in Marong were already exploring new types of development.
“A planning permit has actually been lodged by the Marong Hotel to build about six or eight shops next to the hotel and to put apartments above those shops,” he said.
“We’ve actually got people in Marong who are now realising the potential of the town and are thinking about different forms of development.”
