Plans for the $4.5 million Evergreen Village were recently submitted to the council as part of the continued development of Canterbury Estate.

The shops would sit on a vacant block of land at the intersection of Jobs Gully Road and Lancaster Drive, alongside the Creative Garden Bendigo childcare centre.

The land was set aside in the Jackass Flat Structure Plan for “community facilities”, but was outside of walking-distance range for almost all other community sites including schools, medical centres and other shops.

The developer also did not specify which supermarket would be setting up at the site, or what businesses would fill the four retail tenancies – one of which was set aside for a cafe with outdoor dining.

The City of Greater Bendigo had concerns that the proposal had ignored a nature corridor on its eastern fringe, which allows the Jackass Gully to pass through the area.

In a letter to the develop, the council stated more work would need to be done to integrate the open space into the design.

Jackass Flat/Eaglehawk from above: 2007-2017:

“It is considered a more appropriate design response should be considered to promote an active interface with this corridor, enhance passive surveillance and improve the experience of customers and patrons coming to the site,” the letter reads.

More on development in Bendigo: Bendigo from above 2007-17: How housing policy shapes the city

The North Central Catchment Management Authority was also concerned with the plan, stating all buildings must be set back 30 metres from the Jackass Gully and the car park plans currently result in “significant” loss of floodplain storage.

The developer states the plan “provides a high level of amenity for future users”.

The supermarket would be 819-square-metres – described as “much smaller than the typical Coles or Woolworths stores” – with a gym built above it with 593-square-metres of floor space.

The site would have a total of 54 car parks.

Constructed by Birchgrove Property, the pre-sale for stage 4 of Canterbury Estate has started, and the following two stages are titled for sale. The estate contains a total of 165 lots.