All idyllic in theory

OUR future, if you believe the council’s latest vision, is so bright you’d have to wear shades if it wasn’t for all the new tree-laden streets.

As Radiohead declared: we’ll be fitter, happier and more productive.

Geelong residents would be better educated, have better health, be more artistic and more likely to walk, cycle or use public transport.

More people would be employed, and we’d have more jobs in creative, new-tech and innovative industries.

The city would have zero waste and be carbon-neutral due to a suite of renewable energy projects.

We’d be able to get to Melbourne within half an hour and catch a flight from Avalon to Asia, while being confident that our house won’t be broken into.

Ninety-five per cent of us will agree we live in a safe area, because crime across the city is 20 per cent below the state average.

Large ships will cruise into Corio Bay, large conventions will be held and there’ll be plenty of open space and natural environments to enjoy.

It all sounds idyllic. Who wouldn’t want to live here?

But just how Geelong arrives in this utopia within 30 years is the uncosted question.

The Our Future strategy — developed over the past 11 months — is more about the destination than the journey.

This is highly aspirational, but is it realistically attainable?

The wishlist of infrastructure alone is enough to make budget-conscious councils and governments squirm.

The aims are also listed in a virtual grab-bag, with no clear hierarchy.

There’s so much in this vision that getting consensus and focus among political leaders will be difficult.

The mud map is here, but much more work needs to be done on the detail.

Otherwise the shimmering oasis will prove to be nothing more than a mirage.