The Residential Land Supply and Demand Assessment City of Greater Shepparton September 2019 and the Industrial Land Supply and Demand Assessment City of Greater Shepparton September 2019 updated the UDP work and assessed residential and industrial land supply as across Greater Shepparton as at 31 March 2019.
The updated UDP reports are critically important in assisting Council:
- maintaining an adequate supply of residential and industrial land in Greater Shepparton in response to actual land consumption and demand. Ordinarily, 15 years’ worth of land should be zoned to ensure sufficient land is available for development. This helps to maintain housing affordability, encourage diversity in dwelling types, and facilitate industry expansion and job creation in the region;
- linking land use with infrastructure and service planning and provision;
- taking early action to address potential land supply shortfalls and infrastructure constraints; and
- contributing to the containment of public sector costs by the planned, coordinated provision of infrastructure to service the staged release of land for urban development.
In relation to residential land, the main findings of the updated UDP reports are:
- Population growth has increased on an average annual basis of 1.0% or 609 persons per annum from 2011 to 2018;
- From 2008 to 2019 residential lot construction activity has averaged 352 per annum (compared to 355 residential building approvals). However, since 2015/16, residential lot construction activity has averaged 497. This included 73% broadhectare lots, 10% dispersed infill, 16% aged care/retirement village, and 3% rural residential. 87% of residential lot construction occurred within Shepparton/Mooroopna urban area. 9% occurred within Tatura and 2% outside township boundaries;
- It is estimated that there is currently sufficient zoned land to satisfy between five and nine years of demand in the Shepparton urban area, and between four to eight years in Tatura; and
- For the Shepparton urban area and Tatura Township, there will be a need in the short-term (over the next two-three years) to increase the stock of zoned broadhectare residential land to ensure ample zoned stocks are available.
Since the UDP was updated, the Shepparton North East Precinct was recently approved by the Minister for Planning in September 2019 which will see 1,500 new dwellings built over the next 20 years, which has gone some way to addressing residential land supply issues.
Council is also preparing the Shepparton South East Precinct Structure Plan with the Victorian Planning Authority, which will provide an additional 2,200 new homes. Along with the existing Mooroopna West Growth Corridor, these three residential growth corridors will satisfy the bulk of Greater Shepparton’s future housing needs.
In relation to industrial land, the main findings of the updated UDP reports are:
- The significant growth of Greater Shepparton’s industrial sector has seen the availability of industrial land decline significantly.
- There is 13 to 21 years supply of industrial zoned land across the Greater Shepparton municipality, with an additional 20 to 32 years supply of land identified for future zoning/development.
- The existing supply of zoned broadhectare industrial land is insufficient to meet the requirements in the medium and long term due to the high rate of consumption for industrial land.
- There is little available zoned industrial lots outside of the East Shepparton and Kialla industrial precincts.
The updated UDP reports have informed the findings and recommendations of the Draft Shepparton and Mooroopna 2050: Regional Growth Plan 2019 that is currently on public exhibition up to 1 November 2019.
