Case Studies

Background

The City of Greater Bendigo (CoGB) has experienced steady growth since, with the estimated population of 124,174 in 2023. To accommodate Greater Bendigo’s current population, there are over 53,000 dwellings. 90.5% of dwellings are classified as Separate houses and 8.7% are classified as medium density. The type of dwellings that are being delivered is important as it can impact on the amount of land needed to deliver housing.

Project Goals

This project is limited to a peer review of various documents and making recommendations for improvements where necessary. To successfully complete this project the Housing Capacity and Supply Analysis (HCSA) and the internal calculations, and the supporting documents must be reviewed. The building permit activity and sales data must also be assessed to understand the capacity of the local development sector in delivering residential land and housing.

REMPLAN’s Involvement

REMPLAN supports the City of Greater Bendigo by undertaking a peer review of the Housing Capacity and Supply Analysis and by reviewing the internal calculations used to estimate the amount of greenfield land needed in the future. REMPLAN critically assessed the methodology, assumptions and calculations used in the HCSA and provides advice on housing capacity and land supply estimates to finalise the Greater Bendigo Managed Growth Strategy.

Results

The peer review of the Housing Capacity and Supply Assessment has found that the overall methodology used is consistent with other housing supply analysis and REMPLAN’s own approach to the preparation of a housing capacity assessment. However, yield criteria and assumptions used to identify sites and calculate supply totals may have resulted in an over-estimate in some areas, and an under-estimate in others. Further assessment and analysis are required to accurately determine the extent of the supply variation that would result from applying criteria that better responds to Bendigo’s urban context.

It is recommended that the COGB primarily rely on the Urban Development Program for greenfield land supply estimates, and supplement these with more nuanced estimates for Infill and Township areas, to enable a complete picture of Greater Bendigo’s future housing capacity and growth plans to be communicated to its citizens. Ideally, these would be combined into a growth monitoring framework that can be easily reviewed and updated.