Virtual Developer Forum: Council launches Investment Attraction Strategy
Melton City Council welcomed partners and stakeholders from over 30 organisations to its Developer Forum last week.
During the milestone event, staff presented Council’s new Investment Attraction Strategy, and introduced guest speakers Richard Brice from Ernst & Young, who prepared the strategy document, and Rhys Quick from Urbis, who gave valuable insights into the latest City of Melton population forecast data.
The Melton City Council Investment Attraction Strategy outlines an ambitious yet achievable plan that will have wide reaching and positive impacts on the local and state economy.
The strategy would return $19 billion to the state economy and create 100,000+ jobs locally, but relies on an accelerated delivery of key projects by the State and Federal Governments.
Director of Real Estate Advisory Services at Ernst & Young , Richard Brice, told the forum that the strategy would bring job increases in high value sectors such as transport and warehousing, manufacturing and professional services.
He said the health, education and construction sectors would also provide stable and proportionate employment opportunities as the overall population increases, and projects in key activity centres - such as Melton Hospital (2022-2026), and Cobblebank Education Precinct and Cobblebank Justice Precinct (2026-2030) - are completed.
He said the State and Federal Governments could help create more than 100,000 jobs in the municipality by meeting a number of key timeframes for infrastructure delivery, including:
Melton Hospital construction (commencing 2022, operational 2026)
Melton Highway Upgrade (2023-2027)
Western Highway Upgrade (2025-2030)
Melton Rail electrification (2025)
Western Intermodal Freight Terminal construction (commencing 2025, operational 2028)
Outer Metropolitan Ring construction (commencing 2030).
Urbis Director, Rhys Quick demonstrated that recent actual growth in the City of Melton is already tracking ahead of forecasts from 2014 and 2016.
He said strong internal migration (58% of growth), steady natural increase (25% growth) and the relatively low reliance on overseas migration (17% of growth) meant that Melton was less susceptible to the impacts of COVID-19 in the short term.
He said Melton’s growth is expected to peak in 2025/26 with 10,000 new residents settling in the municipality and with a total of 79,600 new residents between 2021-2031 (+53% increase).