Mayor’s Message - Friday 1 September 2023

I am delighted to launch for community consultation our draft Housing Strategy 2023–2041, as well as the associated documents including the draft Neighbourhood Character Study Assessment. It provides the City of Ballarat with a framework for managing population and housing growth.

By 2041, the Ballarat municipality will have grown by up to 55,000 people and will need 29,000 more dwellings for those residents to call home.

We have a responsibility to plan to accommodate housing growth for at least 15 years. But we have taken into consideration our current housing capacity and propose a longer-term strategy, until 2041.

Our Strategic Planning team has commissioned reports on housing, demography, accessibility and bushfire risk. They have also undertaken assessments of neighbourhood character across the city. All of these reports are available for your viewing, alongside the Draft Housing Strategy.

We have little scope to direct when new dwellings will be built. However, we do have control over where and what kind of new dwellings should be built. 

Our city is growing, and we have a responsibility to ensure our residents have access to safe and well-located homes, that fit in with the neighbourhood character.

The consultation will open on 4 September and run through until the 6 October.

You can review the documents and get involved via our MySay or in one of our 9 in-person drop-in sessions throughout September across Ballarat.

We encourage the community to review these documents, as it’s important we plan for the future so everybody has a place to call home.

- Mayor Cr Des Hudson