G21 Regional Growth Plan
The G21 Regional Growth Plan is one of eight regional growth plans being prepared across Victoria. It provides a broad direction for regional land use and development as well as detailed planning frameworks for key regional centres.
On this page:
About the region
The G21 region is located to the south west of Melbourne extending from Little River to Lethbridge in the north, Colac and Apollo Bay in the west and Torquay and Bellarine Peninsula to the south and south east, along the main rail and road corridors linking Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Warrnambool and Hamilton.
Geelong is the regional centre, with other key towns including Bannockburn, Colac, Drysdale Clifton Springs, Lara, Leopold, Ocean Grove, Torquay – Jan Juc and Queenscliffe.
The region’s economy has traditionally been based on manufacturing and service industries, retail, health and education, agriculture and tourism.
A number of significant natural assets also exist in the region including Corio Bay and Great Ocean Road coastline, the Otway Ranges, You Yangs and Brisbane Ranges.
The G21Regional Growth Plan covers the municipalities of City of Greater Geelong, Colac Otway Shire, Surf Coast Shire, Borough of Queenscliffe and southern portion of Golden Plains Shire.
About regional growth plans
The regional growth plans will provide the means to implement the strategic land use and infrastructure directions that are set out in the Regional Strategic Plans.
Regional growth plans are being prepared in a partnership between local government and state agencies and authorities.
The regional growth plans will:
- identify important economic, environmental, social and cultural resources to be preserved, maintained or developed
- provide direction for accommodating growth and change including residential, employment, industrial, commercial, agricultural and other rural activities
- show broadly which areas of land can accommodate growth and which are to be maintained, including consideration of the infrastructure needed to support growth or change
- help councils by streamlining planning policy as well as potentially reducing the amount of strategic work councils have to do.
The G21 Regional Growth Plan has been endorsed by each of the five G21 – Geelong Region Alliance Councils.
The G21 Regional Growth Plan, Background Report and Engagement Report can be found on the G21 Geelong Regional Growth Plan website G21 Regional Growth Plan.
The G21 Regional Growth Plan has been informed by three stages of community and stakeholder communication and engagement. The directions of the Growth Plan have been underpinned by nine key principles and an understanding of:
- the key linkages within the region and to other regions including Melbourne;
- the key challenges for growth including managing infrastructure needs, climate variability, providing housing choice and reducing car usage and protecting our environment and natural resources;
- areas vulnerable to growth including significant natural environments, areas vulnerable to inundation and flooding, erosion and fire etc;
- the regions significant assets and competitive advantages which support our economy, landscape and lifestyle;
- the importance and role of other projects including other Growth Plans, the Metropolitan Strategy, G21 priority and pillar projects as well as strategies such as the CCMA’s Regional Catchment Strategy.
The Growth Plan has been considered by the Minister for Planning and will now be implemented following the Minister's approval.
Work has now commenced on the development of an Implementation Plan. Details on the project, process and progress can be found on the project website.
Shaping Our Region - Community Engagement
Two stages of community engagement were completed in September-October 2011 and November-December 2011 on the challenges, principles and scenarios for growth.
The feedback from these engagement phases formed a major input in the directions of the draft G21 Regional Growth Plan which was released for comment on 3rd April 2012.
Phase 3 Engagement opportunities on the draft Plan included:
- See participation details on the G21 Regional Growth Plan project web site. The web site has a project library which includes the: draft G21 Regional Growth Plan, Summary Brochure, Background Report, Issues Paper and Community Engagement summaries, interactive polls and survey, and/or
- contributing input at the 5 drop in Open Houses located around the region
Submissions on the draft Plan closed on 18 May 2012.
An overview of the three stages of engagement and feedback from surveys and written submissions is provided in the G21 Regional Growth Plan Engagement Report. This report can be viewed on the project website.
Background and issues
The Geelong Regional Strategic Plan
The regional strategic plan, the Geelong Region Plan, was developed in 2007. The plan identifies and addresses the challenges the region faces in the areas of environment, settlement, land use, community strength and economy. It was prepared in the region, and represents regional stakeholder's aspirations and agenda for regional development and long term strategic planning.
View the Geelong Region Plan on the G21 website
The plan identifies a range of policies around five key strategic directions:
- Protect and enhance our environment
- Create sustainable settlements
- Strengthen our communities
- Refocus our economy
- Make it happen
It also establishes directions about regional settlement planning including:
- minimising the impact of human settlement on the environment and protecting significant landscapes and natural assets
- establishing 40% of new dwellings through urban infill at average densities of 20 dwellings per hectare in urban Geelong, regional activity centres and areas with good access to services and public transport by 2031
- securing the primacy of Central Geelong as the vibrant, dynamic regional focus for investment, retail, education, culture, leisure, commerce, services and higher density residential dwellings
- identifying and protecting land for future regional transport network and infrastructure requirements
- providing regional employment land to accommodate a minimum additional 54,000 new jobs by 2050
- stimulating and sustaining the expected growth of an additional 130,000 people and 57,000 new residential dwellings that drives G21’s vision for the region.
The G21 Regional Growth Plan provides an opportunity to implement these directions through Victoria's planning system.
Regional planning issues for the G21 region
As part of the initial phases of preparing the Regional Growth Plan, a Background Report and Issues Paper have been prepared in consultation with state and local government partners and other key agencies.
The Background Report and Issues Paper sets out information about the settlement, infrastructure, community, economic and environmental characteristics of the region.
It references existing work and policy that has been undertaken to plan for the region. This material has been used to help identify what are the important issues that will drive the future policy directions of the G21 Regional Growth Plan.
Project timeline
An indicative timeline and development phases of the project are shown in the project timeline.
Managing the project
The G21 Regional Growth Plan has been prepared in a partnership between local government and state agencies and authorities.
A project steering committee provides overall strategic direction for the development of the plan.
A technical working group and project team includes expertise from state and local government as well as key agencies such as water authorities and catchment management authorities.
Coordination of the project has been provided by the G21 Geelong Region Alliance.
Project Steering Committee members include:
State Government:
Councils:
Other agencies and organisations:
Contact us
If you would like any further information about the G21 Regional Growth Plan please contact the project team on telephone: (03) 5272 4067 or by email at G21RGP@geelongcity.vic.gov.au
