Mildura Housing and Settlement Strategy

The Mildura Housing and Settlement Strategy was a major piece of strategic planning work that addressed all urban areas within Mildura Rural City Council, Victoria’s largest and most remote municipality. Our work looked beyond the usual 20-year timeframe to provide long-term guidance based on localised issues and infrastructure.

Early on in the project, we identified a number of issues that made it clear the project should have a strong focus on the design of new neighbourhoods. In response, our strategy pursued two key themes:

1. Improving the walkability and promotion of active transport choices within new neighbourhoods.
2. Ensuring that future residential development was more responsive to local climatic conditions – among the hottest in Victoria – in order to help improve local community resilience and long-term wellbeing.

While most of the municipality’s growth was occurring within the main urban centre of Mildura, our strategic planning work also ensured that the future of smaller, more remote settlements was acknowledged. We also addressed the vexed issue of the relationship between dwellings in farming areas around urban settlements and the impact of this type of housing on urban residential demand and orderly development.

Overall, the strategy addressed a wide range of housing and settlement related matters, including long-term growth options, supply and demand for residential land, densities and housing diversity, special housing needs and neighbourhood design. We provided a solid evidence base for future demand for a range of different types of residential development and clear directions for future growth.