Case Studies

Background

The Latrobe local government area is one of the fastest growing municipalities in the state, equal to Brighton in the Hobart metropolitan area. 

At a local level, land use planning in Latrobe is largely guided by the Planning Scheme and three strategic documents: the Port Sorell Strategic Plan, the Latrobe Township and Environs Strategic Plan, and the Tarleton, Spreyton and Coal Hill Road Strategic Plan. Data that informed many of these strategies is becoming, or has become, outdated.  

Contemporary analysis is required to inform Council of the patterns and drivers of growth across the municipality. The purpose of this project is to gain a greater understanding into the factors driving demand in Latrobe’s settlements as well as determining a detailed analysis of current and potential supply of land and dwellings. 

Project Goals

Following the previous ‘Demand Summary’ report, this report focuses on reconciling demand with land supply and provides Council with an understanding of the expected population and dwelling demand across the municipality. 

The aim of this report is to present population and dwelling forecasts, together with identified residential land supply, for the Latrobe Council area and its key settlements. Additional analysis on the rural residential market has also been undertaken, which includes areas in Kentish and Devonport, given the integration of these areas, particularly the Tarleton and Acacia Hills/South Spreyton precincts. 

REMPLAN’s Involvement

REMPLAN has undertaken this report in support of Latrobe Council, to provide up to date and relevant data to inform Council’s future plans and strategies relating to settlement planning across the municipality. REMPLAN prepared population and dwelling forecasts for the Latrobe municipality, and for the smaller planning areas of Latrobe Settlement, Port Sorell Settlement, Port Sorell Hinterland, the Tarleton Rural Residential area, and the Latrobe Balance area.  

Results

Across the Latrobe LGA it is estimated that there is residentially zoned vacant land to cater for 1,088 dwellings, with the potential for another 323 dwellings on underutilised sites (around 56% and 17% of the total number of dwellings forecast respectively). This equates to a 10–15-year supply of identified land, and leaves between 27-44% of future dwellings needing to be provided on land that has not been identified through this process. In terms of numbers, that means that additional land will need to be identified to accommodate between 517-840 dwellings across the municipality to satisfy forecast demand.