title: Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 council: golden-plains state: vic category: strategy classification: MAJOR status: adopted last_compiled: 2026-05-30 source_docs:

Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf
Att 7.5 Draft EDTIA Strategy.pdf

Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032

The Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 sets a 10-year economic planning framework for Golden Plains Shire around four linked themes: small towns and enterprise, productive sustainable landscapes, tourism, and shire-based health and education. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.9) Its planning significance is that it treats economic development as a land-use, infrastructure, service-access and local-capacity problem, rather than only a business-support program. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.4-5)

The strategy is classified as MAJOR because it directs future work on employment land, the Gheringhap Employment Precinct, the Bannockburn Industrial Estate, settlement planning, rural land-use policy, transport advocacy, digital connectivity, health-service locations and education access. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.12, 21-24, 31-32)

Background

Council prepared the strategy with SGS Economics and Planning as an overarching 10-year Economic Development, Tourism and Investment Attraction Strategy 2022-2032, with a four-year action plan intended to focus Council implementation activity. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.2) The strategy process used stakeholder interviews, a councillor and senior management workshop, community input and SGS background economic analysis on the local economy, broader trends and economic development drivers. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.3)

The strategy follows the Golden Plains Community Vision 2040, which was adopted in 2020 and includes a prosperity pillar covering local shopping, services, tourism, events, employment pathways, training, partnerships, local producers, agriculture and business support. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.7) The final version records that the draft was exhibited from 25 August 2022 to 22 September 2022 and attracted two submissions, with suggestions either included in the strategy or passed to the responsible Council unit. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.6) The draft document confirms that, before exhibition, the draft had the same core engagement base but did not yet include the post-exhibition submission outcome. (Source: Att 7.5 Draft EDTIA Strategy.pdf, p.6)

Analysis

Economic Structure and Leakage

Golden Plains Shire is described as having slower economic growth than Victoria and growth below population growth, which means local output per resident has been weakening rather than simply rising with population. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.4) Bannockburn is identified as the only area with positive economic growth since 2013, with that growth linked to residential development and household-serving industries such as construction and retail. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.4)

The local business base is broad but small-scale: the strategy records 1,474 locally registered businesses with turnover above $50,000 per year and another 543 with turnover below$ 50,000 per year. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.4) It also states that 99% of local businesses are small businesses, using a turnover threshold below $2 million. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.4)

The key structural problem is leakage: more than 70% of residents travel outside the Shire for work, while local services and retail are limited. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.4) In plain planning terms, the Shire functions partly like a house where many people sleep locally but spend much of their working day and household spending somewhere else. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.4) The strategy therefore links local employment, local retail and service provision, transport, digital infrastructure and township vitality as one connected system. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.11-12, 23-24)

Spatial Economic Framework

The strategy uses four focus areas rather than a single town-centre or industry-only program. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.9) Small Towns and Enterprise focuses on business skills, business networks, innovation capacity, local-centre vibrancy, sustainable population growth, tourism, retail and hospitality. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.9) Productive Sustainable Landscapes focuses on landscape management, value-added processing, sustainable agricultural output and a low-carbon circular economy. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.9) Escape the City focuses on tourism branding, businesses, attractions and events for domestic visitation linked to food, culture and nature. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.9) Shire-Based Health and Education focuses on health and education infrastructure and services to contain expenditure, support population growth and create local jobs. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.9)

The mechanism is a three-horizon model: consolidate existing economic functions, enhance them into related functions and supply chains, and then transform into functions not currently present but supported by local advantages. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.9-10) This matters because several actions are not immediate projects but pathway-setting actions, including employment land review, infrastructure capacity review, township economic visions, health and education gap analysis, and transport and digital advocacy. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.21-24, 30-32)

Employment Land and Township Growth

The most direct land-use action is a medium-term review of employment land capacity, with a possible planning scheme amendment if additional employment areas are required. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.22) The action is paired with a review of infrastructure network capacity for identified employment growth areas, meaning the strategy recognises that zoning more employment land is not enough if roads, drainage, utilities or access constraints cannot support development. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.22)

The strategy names the expansion of the Bannockburn Industrial Estate, the Gheringhap Employment Precinct, road upgrades, the NBN fibre-to-the-premises rollout in Teesdale, supermarket projects in Bannockburn, Smythesdale and Meredith, and community-benefit funds from wind farm projects as projects that can support the small towns and enterprise focus area. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.12) The Gheringhap action is facilitative rather than statutory: Council is to liaise with landowners to guide an appropriate industry and development mix. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.22)

Bannockburn has a specific growth role because the action plan directs Council to facilitate residential growth there to support additional supermarket and retail activity. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.22) This creates a cause-and-effect chain: housing growth increases local demand, local demand supports retail feasibility, retail and services reduce expenditure leakage, and reduced leakage supports local employment. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.4, 21-22)

Rural Land, Agriculture and Renewable Energy

Golden Plains Shire covers about 2,700 square kilometres, and the strategy treats land as a central economic asset for agriculture, tourism, renewable energy, carbon farming and landscape restoration. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.4, 13) The document records 19,000 hectares of National Park and State Forest and 120 hectares of Council reserves for passive recreation. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.13)

Agriculture is the core production sector: the strategy states that agriculture has more than 10 times the Victorian average share of jobs, accounts for about 25% of local output and about 20% of local employment, and is growing in intensive poultry, pig, beef and goat dairy production. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.13) The action plan links this economic base to the Golden Plains Settlement Strategy by requiring review and update of the 2008 Rural Land Use Strategy directions so agricultural and natural lands are protected. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.25)

The strategy identifies the Golden Plains Food Production Precinct, the Golden Plains Wind Farm, Barwon Water’s Regional Renewable Organics Network at Black Rock, Sustainability Victoria funding and electric vehicle charging investigations as projects relevant to productive sustainable landscapes. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.14) The practical planning issue is balancing productive rural land, intensive agriculture, renewable energy, waterway protection, carbon reduction and landscape restoration within the same rural land base. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.13-14, 25-27)

Tourism, Heritage and Movement

The tourism focus area is built around food, nature, heritage, events and trails. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.15-16) Named assets include the Golden Plains and Meredith music festivals, rail trails in the north, the Moorabool Valley wine region, historic townships and buildings, local food producers, local events such as the Inverleigh Dachshund Derby and Shelford Duck Race, and regional sports facilities. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.15)

The Three Trails project is important because the strategy says it will improve infrastructure for walkers, hikers, cyclists and horse riders across the Ballarat-Skipton Rail Trail, Rainbow Bird Trail and Kuruc a Ruc Trail. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.15) The strategy also proposes a tourism wayfinding and signage strategy, tourist kiosks in each township, free WiFi feasibility at key tourist destinations and town centres, and digital and print maps for tourism sectors and experiences. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.29-30)

The movement dependency is clear: tourism development depends not only on attractions but on paths, signage, road travel, digital information and connections between towns. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.15, 29-30) This links the strategy to transport, open-space trails, heritage, digital connectivity and township public-realm planning. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.15-16, 29-30)

Health, Education and Service Hubs

The health and education theme is a population-service strategy as much as an economic strategy. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.17) The document states that Golden Plains Shire has no university and no TAFE, which means higher education is accessed outside the Shire. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.17) It also states that health care and social assistance was the largest local employing industry in 2016, that the Shire had 18 allied health services, and that 16% of residents are projected to be over 65 by 2041. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.17)

The strategy identifies barriers to health-service provision, including proximity to Geelong and Ballarat, no hospital or 24-hour health clinic in the Shire, and lower-than-state-average ratios of general practitioners, allied health providers and dental services per person. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.17) The action plan responds by proposing a community needs analysis, engagement with health providers, measurement of labour gaps by sector, and engagement with Deakin University, Federation University, TAFE and specialist providers about possible local services. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.30-31)

Bannockburn and Smythesdale are nominated as service hubs, and the action plan requires the Golden Plains Settlement Strategy to identify potential community land-use areas near residential growth and development in those towns. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.31) This creates a planning dependency between settlement growth, land reservation for community uses, health-service attraction and education access. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.18, 31-32)

Current Status

The final strategy records public exhibition between 25 August 2022 and 22 September 2022, two submissions and incorporation or referral of suggested initiatives, so the compile record treats the final strategy as adopted rather than draft. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.6) The manifest lists the initiative status as pending, but the source document itself is the final strategy and should be treated as the controlling source for page content. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.1)

The implementation program uses short-term actions for the next 1 to 2 years, medium-term actions for the next 2 to 4 years and ongoing actions for continuous delivery. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.20) The documents in this compile set do not include a post-adoption monitoring report, budget acquittal or progress update against those timeframes. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.20-32)

Dependencies

Blocks: The strategy itself does not block statutory decisions, but its employment land review may lead to a future planning scheme amendment if additional employment land is required. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.22)
Blocked by: Delivery depends on partner agencies and infrastructure providers including NBN Co, VicRoads, Department of Transport, Barwon Water, Sustainability Victoria, health providers, education providers and state government departments. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.12, 14, 18, 23-32)
Informed by: The strategy was informed by SGS background economic analysis, policy review, best-practice economic thought, stakeholder interviews, workshops, survey responses and public exhibition submissions. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.3, 6, 9)
Implements: The strategy implements elements of Community Vision 2040, the Council Plan and Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Action Plan 2021-2025, the Environment Strategy 2019-2027, township community plans, the Arts Culture and Heritage Strategy 2022-2026 and the Reconciliation Action Plan. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.7, 19)
Conflicts with: The strategy identifies tensions rather than direct policy conflicts, including population growth without enough local employment, rural land productivity alongside non-agricultural rural uses, tourism growth requiring infrastructure, and health and education demand without local higher-order services. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.4-5, 13-18)

Cross-Jurisdictional Links

Golden Plains is economically connected to Geelong and Ballarat because more than 70% of residents leave the Shire for work and because proximity to those centres affects local health-service attraction. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.4, 17) The strategy also identifies access to Melbourne and Geelong, Midland Highway upgrades between Geelong and Bannockburn, and public transport links to Geelong and Melbourne as economic enablers. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.11, 22, 24)

Tourism delivery is regionally linked through Tourism Greater Geelong and the Bellarine, Visit Victoria, Brand Geelong and the Goldfields World Heritage listing bid. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.15-16, 28) Productive landscapes and circular-economy actions are regionally linked through Barwon Water, G21, WestWind Energy, Agriculture Victoria and Sustainability Victoria. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.14, 25-27)

Traditional Owner partnerships are relevant across land management, economic development strategy, regenerative farming, Aboriginal tourism and reconciliation actions involving Wadawurrung and Eastern Maar organisations. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.5, 13, 23, 26, 28)

Gaps in This Analysis

The source set does not include SGS’s background economic analysis, so this page cannot independently test the strategy’s economic assumptions, GRP trend analysis, sector forecasts or leakage calculations. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.3)

The source set does not include implementation monitoring after adoption, so it cannot confirm whether short-term actions due within 1 to 2 years or medium-term actions due within 2 to 4 years were completed. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, p.20)

The source set does not include the employment land capacity review, infrastructure network capacity review, Golden Plains Settlement Strategy outputs, Golden Plains Transport Connections Study, or health and education community needs analysis, all of which are needed to quantify land supply, infrastructure constraints, transport access and service gaps. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.22-24, 25, 30-31)

The source set does not include capital cost estimates, funding commitments or delivery programs for the Bannockburn Industrial Estate expansion, Gheringhap Employment Precinct, Three Trails project, Bannockburn Heart Precinct, Golden Plains Food Production Precinct, Golden Plains Wind Farm community-benefit funds or Midland Highway upgrades. (Source: Att 7.10 Economic Development Strategy 2022-2032 FINAL.pdf, pp.12, 14, 18, 22-24, 27)

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