What with all the publicity surrounding last weekend’s meeting of the Prime Minister’s thousand best and brightest, the time is ripe to press again for action on planning for the future development of this city. Bendigonians should welcome the effort now being made to develop far-sighted plans for the city’s infrastructure, with the Bendigo +25 Reference Group seeking to involve the wider community. With ideas likely to flow freely, the biggest difficulty will be to obtain political support at all three levels of government, none of which have demonstrated much desire to do anything which does not have an immediate impact; the eye is always on the next election. Only last week the member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan declared no interest in planning for a ring road around Bendigo because it was “something that might happen in a number of decades”. This was a disappointing response from a young MP who should know better. Strong leadership is essential when the time lines for such projects are usually very long, and in the case of a ring road around Bendigo, will almost certainly be measured in decades. Not since about 1854 when the basic design of Bendigo was established has any authority tried to look further than 10 or 20 years ahead. In terms of planning for the development of a city, a couple of decades is just a flash in the pan. Richard Larritt, Bendigo’s early town planner and surveyor, would be rotating in his grave if he could see how the city has squandered his good work, and failed to build on it. Likewise William Calder, the first chairman of the Country Roads Board (VicRoads), would be horrified to think the highway which bears his name has taken so long to bring to a modern standard. A forward view of 50 years should be considered a minimum, and 100 years hence would be much closer to the mark. Short-sighted planning has had a serious retarding effect on the prosperity of Bendigo; no-one need think about much more than the water supply to realise that. All the credit available from the wise work of our forebears has now been consumed. The future welfare of the city depends on effective plans prepared now, and acted upon in an appropriate and timely way. So what is the best way forward? Is it sufficient to ask the public for submissions and hope for the best, or might a concerted effort also be made to bring together people who have demonstrated a capacity to think creatively, to problem solve, and who are not afraid to make plans which will hold good for generations? Even though no-one in Bendigo was apparently considered bright enough to attend the Canberra conference, we are much more confident about the skill and aptitude of our local people. Our backing will go to those who plan boldly and who have the will to make things happen.
