First look: 41 homes flagged in $13.5 million housing development at Spring Gully, Bendigo

A developer has flagged a $13.5m project to build a new housing estate in Bendigo, with affordable housing earmarked.

A developer is seeking to build 41 single-storey homes in Spring Gully. Picture: Contributed.

A developer has flagged a $13.5m project to build 41 single-storey homes for Bendigo, with affordable housing earmarked.

Developer Piermont Group has proposed the construction of Spring Hill Estate on Retreat Rd, Spring Gully – just outside Bendigo.

The existing single-storey home and outbuildings would be bulldozed, and some native vegetation would be cleared to make way for the new “slice of downsizer’s’s paradise”.

A glimpse of the home that would be bulldozed for the new estate. Picture: Contributed.

34 of the homes would be three or four bedroom with two parking spaces and the remaining seven would be two bedroom with a single garage.

The homes would be built in three stages, with 16.7ha of the 75ha site to be developed into the estate if the project gets the green light.

A developer has flagged a $13.5m project to build 41 single-storey homes at Spring Gully. Picture: Near Map.

The developer has promised to set aside 17 per cent of the development for affordable housing to meet community needs and address the current housing crisis.

The site is identified within Bendigo council’s Planning Policy Framework as an area for a “large amount of growth to occur” while balancing the need to conserve the “significant environmental value” of the area, bordering the Greater Bendigo National Park to the east.

Town Planner Coleby McDonough said it was “regrettable” some native vegetation would be cleared, but it was not “especially significant” and does not provide habitat for any rare or threatened species.

A glimpse of the homes proposed in the Spring Hill Estate. Picture: Piermont Group.

The developer has attempted to “maximise separation” between the forest and the homes to protect the environment and reduce bushfire threat.

“The dwellings have been designed and sited to maximise the separation between the buildings and the forest vegetation … ensure that the site is accessible to the CFA and that there are multiple routes in case of an emergency event.

“This is an appropriate response to the risk posed from a bushfire.

The project is expected to be completed in late 2024, if it gets council approval.