The Victorian Government's obsession with metropolitan density targets is absurd, and the same poor thinking is being exported to regional centres.
Geelong and regional hubs are being treated as "mini-Melbournes", setting a target of 128,600 new dwellings for Greater Geelong by 2051 based on planning assumptions which seem to ignore the very reason people move to the regions: Value and Space.
People don’t move to the regions for high-density living or apartment blocks. They move for lifestyle, affordability, and a backyard (even a small one).
Forcing metro-style density onto regional landscapes isn't "smart growth" – it’s a disconnect from market realities.
While Melbourne’s own targets are already woefully unachievable due to high costs, taxes, planning delays and a floundering established market, applying the "high-density-at-any-cost" framework to regional areas is 🥜.
Nor should regional planning only put people into major regional hubs like Geelong, Ballarat, and Bendigo. There are dozens of smaller regional towns ready to play their role, if only the state would allow them to grow and help deliver the basic infrastructure to unlock them.
🪙Then there is the cost shifting. The government demands density in existing areas but forces developers of new areas to foot the bill for new infrastructure (as seen with the Creamery Road DCP). Every time the State or Council does this, they price out the very "affordability" they claim to support – whilst wasting limited funds on #boondoggle projects.
You can't solve a housing crisis by ignoring consumer preferences and loading up costs onto future buyers. A proper Plan for Victoria would be a planning reset that: ✅solves real planning and infrastructure bottlenecks ✅actually reduces development costs ✅respects regional diversity ✅allows for greater decentralisation ✅stops treating the property industry as an infrastructure and tax credit card.
🧮Let’s plan for the lifestyle Victorians actually want, not the theoretical density spreadsheets government planners prefer.