LODDON MALLEE SOUTH REGIONAL GROWTH PLAN BACKGROUND REPORT Authorised and published by the Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne Printed by Finsbury Green, Melbourne If you would like to receive this publication in an accessible format, please telephone 1300 366 356. This document is also available in Word format at www.dtpli.vic.gov.au/regionalgrowthplans Unless indicated otherwise, this work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence. To view a copy of the licence, visit creativecommons.org/licences/by/3.0/au It is a condition of this Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence that you must give credit to the original author who is the State of Victoria. 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April 2014 Table of contents 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 2 Project information ......................................................................................................................................... 2 2.1 Frequently asked questions .................................................................................................................................. 2 2.2 Preparation and process ....................................................................................................................................... 3 2.2.1 Workshops .............................................................................................................................................. 3 2.2.2 Draft issues paper ................................................................................................................................... 4 3 Background information ................................................................................................................................. 5 3.1 Overview of the Southern Loddon Mallee Regional Strategic Plan 2010 ............................................................. 5 4 Population, settlement and housing ............................................................................................................... 8 4.1 Population ............................................................................................................................................................. 9 4.2 Housing ............................................................................................................................................................... 13 4.3 Disadvantage ...................................................................................................................................................... 21 5 Economic health and growth ........................................................................................................................ 23 5.1 Economic sectors ................................................................................................................................................ 24 5.2 Structural drivers for regional growth ................................................................................................................ 25 5.3 Exports ................................................................................................................................................................ 26 5.4 Employment change and growth ........................................................................................................................ 27 5.5 A changing regional economy ............................................................................................................................. 30 5.6 Major and emerging businesses ......................................................................................................................... 31 5.7 Agriculture .......................................................................................................................................................... 32 5.8 Natural resources................................................................................................................................................ 35 5.9 Challenges for the regional economy ................................................................................................................. 37 5.10 Land supply – employment ................................................................................................................................. 38 5.10.1 Industrial land supply ............................................................................................................................ 38 5.10.2 Commercial and retail land supply ....................................................................................................... 39 5.10.3 Rural land .............................................................................................................................................. 39 6 Environment and natural resources .............................................................................................................. 40 6.1 Environment and heritage assets ....................................................................................................................... 41 6.1.1 Cultural heritage assets ........................................................................................................................ 41 6.1.2 Significant landscapes ........................................................................................................................... 44 6.1.3 Terrestrial habitat ................................................................................................................................. 44 6.1.4 Waterways (rivers and wetlands) ......................................................................................................... 46 6.1.5 Catchment health ................................................................................................................................. 47 6.1.6 Soils ....................................................................................................................................................... 49 6.1.7 Public land............................................................................................................................................. 50 6.2 Natural hazards and risks .................................................................................................................................... 51 6.2.1 Flood ..................................................................................................................................................... 51 6.2.2 Bushfire ................................................................................................................................................. 52 6.2.3 Climate change ..................................................................................................................................... 53 6.2.4 Soil health threats ................................................................................................................................. 54 7 Transport and infrastructure ......................................................................................................................... 57 7.1 Policy context transport ...................................................................................................................................... 58 7.2 Transport in the Loddon Mallee South region .................................................................................................... 59 7.2.1 Road traffic flows .................................................................................................................................. 59 7.2.2 Train passenger traffic .......................................................................................................................... 61 7.2.3 Journey to work patterns ...................................................................................................................... 63 7.2.4 Guiding future transport opportunities ................................................................................................ 66 7.3 Urban water supply ............................................................................................................................................ 68 7.4 Rural water supply .............................................................................................................................................. 71 7.5 Waste management............................................................................................................................................ 71 7.6 Wastewater management .................................................................................................................................. 72 7.7 Communications and information and communication technology .................................................................. 73 7.8 Energy ................................................................................................................................................................