By BEN CAMERON
With Cardinia’s population projected to break the 120,000 barrier within seven years, Central Ward councillor Kate Lempriere hopes a decent portion of the shire’s “exploding population” will be businesspeople.
Cardinia Shire Council’s quarterly performance report outlines how the shire’s population was expected, in 2006, to grow by 4.95 per cent annually over the following 15 years, breaking the 120,000 barrier by 2021 with an extra 60,000 people living in Cardinia.
“Cardinia shire is a growing community,” the report read.
“This places demands on both our service and infrastructure provision.
“It (Cardinia’s total population) is expected to experience an increase of over 62,200 people to 120,748 by 2021.”
Cardinia’s population was 74,176 in the 2011 Cenus.
With the number of planning permit applications averaging around 900 annually over the past four years, Cr Lempriere said the council must ensure it did not create “dormitory suburbs” but rather connected and vibrant communities.
“Councillors and hence council is under enormous personal and professional pressure to provide the facilities and services within a timeframe that our exploding population needs,” she said.
“Councillors and management all realise, recognise and accept the responsibility.
“We are the first-line troops dealing with this fast explosion of first home buyers and their children and all the amenities and services we are called on to provide.
“Now council is faced with the realisation that it is also evident across the shire that an ever-increasing wave of seniors with all the services and amenities they need are calling Cardinia home.
“Of course to achieve this… we need to create jobs. Jobs, jobs and more jobs.
“Economic self-sufficiency is vital to Cardinia’s future prosperity and the ability to work closer to home does so much to improve the quality of life for local residents.
“Currently, up to 70 per cent of our workforce leaves the shire each day.
“This has a massive impact on so many critical areas – it affects our social cohesion, our liveability and it also drains council resources.”
She said the council needed to attract more than 12,000 businesses to the shire by 2036 to secure its economic future.
“Council has been pro-active in creating employment precincts around Officer and Pakenham to create up to 55,000 new jobs,” she said.
The Pakenham Gazette revealed Pakenham was seventh on the list for first home buyer applications for the June quarter, according to State Revenue Office of Victoria figures.
