BENDIGO faces a significant shortfall of industrial land by 2032, with supply impacted as early as 2024 if space is not soon found.
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An estimated 120 hectares of land currently available could be exhausted in 14 years, according to the Needs and Gaps Analysis report, which was commissioned by the City of Greater Bendigo.
It comes as the council drafts a strategy for future industrial land use, and after an unsuccessful attempt to compulsorily acquire 331-hectares of farming land in Marong last year.
If a quarter of known sites up to five hectares in size cannot be developed, supply shortages could be seen as early as 2024, with land running out by 2027, the report found.
An estimated 1081 jobs could be foregone by 2036, independent consultants at REMPLAN predicted.
They expected a demand for an additional 90 hectares of industrial land over the next decade.
The forecast put Bendigo at potential disadvantage as it competed to attract new businesses, the council’s director of strategy and growth Bernie O’Sullivan said.
The report confirmed greater Bendigo had four times less land than both Geelong and Ballarat.
Much of the existing industrial land was fragmented, constrained, often small in size and located near residential zones, creating challenges for trucks moving through nearby streets, the report found, with a particular need for larger lots.
The business community also needed the long-term certainty of a "pipeline of industrial land", the report noted.
The REMPLAN consultants found there had been "significant growth" in the city's food, manufacturing and transport industries between 2011 and 2016.
The 2016 census found 8545 jobs in industrial precincts, with REMPLAN expecting growth to 11,848 by June 2036.
Bendigo-based businesses had already generated 49 per cent of manufacturing employment growth in the Loddon-Campaspe region, Mr O'Sullivan said, and finding enough industrial land for 30 years would help the city take advantage of its location on key routes to Melboune, Mildura and Echuca.
The council’s ongoing review into land use would include consideration of Bendigo East, including the airport.
About 60 hectares is available in East Bendigo and about 9.9 hectares of new land has come on to the market since the audit was conducted late last year, the council says.
Seven hectares of Epsom land pitched at "a range of industrial and retail uses" went on the market in February.
However, while the report had identified the clear need for new land, no locations had yet been locked in for the industrial strategy.
The council planed to keep developing its strategy this year, including with public consultations and feedback.
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