Ballarat mayor down on Matthew Guy's regional Victoria high-rise living proposal

News that the Baillieu government is planning to encourage the building of high-rise towers in regional centres of Victoria has sparked concern from mayor of Ballarat as well as the state opposition.

Victorian Planning Minister Matthew Guy has revealed plans for future high-rise towers and residential hubs, including a proposal for a Docklands-like development in Geelong.

The state government’s planning department has already drawn up proposed maps of where high-density developments could be allowed, with the regional centres of Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong earmarked for development.

Guy told the Herald Sun on Saturday such urban development would turn the CBDs of Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo into “terrific residential hubs where there are more restaurants, where there is more activity and less necessity to drive to work”.

However, the idea of Manhattan-style living in regional Victoria has not been welcomed by Ballarat mayor Mark Harris, who says such plans would not receive any enthusiasm from the Ballarat City Council.

Harris says he has spoken to Guy, who has assured him that Ballarat City Council would have control over its own destiny.

“The minister phoned me on Saturday to reassure that this zoning concept won’t be mandatory for Ballarat or Bendigo,” Harris told The Ballarat Courier.

“While there may be elements of it that we may choose to look at more closely, there is no enthusiasm in this council to look at that sort of zoning as appropriate for Ballarat at all.”

The proposal has also been slammed by opposition spokesman for planning and sustainable growth Brian Tee, who says the Ballarat community should be “very afraid of what is at stake”.

Guy has previously said he would like to increase the size of the Melbourne CBD by five times its current size.