Council eyes industry
The lure of generating millions of business-investment dollars for Horsham is continuing to fuel a strong municipal push to expand industrial development in the regional city.
Horsham Rural City Council, having already heavily committed to further opening industrial land at Dooen, is now pursuing plans for greater development at a Burnt Creek site.
The council is also exploring growth options for Horsham Enterprise Estate off Golf Course Road.
The three industrial sites are in areas critically targeting different types of development.
A Wimmera Agricultural and Logistics
Hub sub-division at Dooen, which includes Wimmera Intermodal Freight Terminal, is north of Horsham and suited to logistics involving broadacre produce opportunities.
Burnt Creek Drive Industrial Estate is to the city’s southeast urban fringe off the Western Highway and its stageone area is already home to Horsham Regional Livestock Exchange.
Multi-faceted Horsham Enterprise Estate in Green Park has a relatively central location and has long been home to a light-industry mix with access to highway traffic intersecting the city.
Details about the $1.785-million Burnt Creek project went before the council at its monthly meeting on Monday night.
The council has earmarked $595,267 of budgeted Industrial Estates’ development money for the project and lodged an application for $1.19-million through Regional Development Victoria’s Regional Infrastructure Fund.
If successful in its funding application for the Burnt Creek site, the council would develop stages two and three, opening 10 lots for sale with road and drainage infrastructure and water and power supply.
Horsham mayor Robyn Gulline said before Monday’s meeting that the council was highly conscious of strategically manoeuvring to embrace industrial opportunities that in turn fuelled socio-economic growth.
“It’s basically about getting in front of development to ensure Horsham can meet demand,” she said.
“We’re getting amazing inquiries so the council has taken the lead to help foster and develop opportunities in the municipality.
“We’ve long recognised the potential of land the council has owned for many years. The key now is to ensure that potential is realised.
“We’re talking investment to the tune of thousands of millions of dollars into Horsham if we can make it happen.
“Industrial development equals investment, jobs and growth in our municipality and it is just incredible what could potentially happen in this space. We’re really just scratching the surface.
“The message from the council is that we’re open for the business.”
During Monday night’s meeting, Crs Di Bell, Penny Flynn and Ian Ross and senior officer Kevin O’brien, who responded to a question about motivations for the project, spoke about the importance of providing attractive circumstances for business-industry operators to set up in Horsham.
Cr Bell, while adding that prospective industries at the site needed to be compatible with the livestock exchange, said it was important to have stages two and three ready for sale.
“We need to provide land we can offer them straight away because that has inhibited us in the past,” she said.
Cr Flynn added, “We need to have land ready for businesses that want to set up or even expand. This demonstrates that we need to plan for future needs and future growth and that we have done our planning for when funding opportunities arise.”
Cr Ross: “I really support this. When we sell the allotments we might well double capital investment. It is really a good investment to help develop the municipality and to move forward.”
The funding application for the Burnt Creek project comes after the council opened sales for its Wimmera Agricultural Logistics Hub sub-division at Dooen earlier this year.
The Dooen site is designed as a logistics hub to allow for the efficient road-to-rail transport of bulk produce, particularly from expansive broadacre grains production across the Wimmera.
The move to sell blocks in the 83.3-hectare sub-division has already produced a major business-industry boost, with national multi-modal logistics company and major grains mover SCT Group using the opportunity to expand operations at the site.
Expectations of a bumper 2022 Wimmera grain season is providing momentum for the development, which has involved SCT working with Wimmera Development Association and government, industry and education agencies on broader concept expansion.
Agricultural-based industries such as hay exporter Johnson Asahi have been long entrenched in Horsham, and Australian Plant Proteins at Horsham Enterprise Estate has provided a contemporary example of food-manufacturing potential in the region.
A major upgrade to recycled-water supply in Horsham also has the potential to open further industrial operations.
Cr Gulline said various different types of businesses were looking at Dooen and Burnt Creek sub-divisions for development.
“We have some existing businesses looking to expand and move out of the city boundary, while others are new industries considering their options and what will suit their needs,” she said.
“The benefit of these three estates is that they meet the needs of different businesses. We’re working hard to have sites available to meet the needs of business investors. We’re working hard and spending a lot of money to get this right.”