Housing targets for the Macedon Ranges are set at 13,200 dwellings by 2051 but council queries about how those figures were formulated have so far been unanswered.
The state government set targets for each municipality last year and warned councils they would need to unlock land for housing or it would “do it for you”.
However, Macedon Ranges Shire Council revealed in March councillors did not have all the information needed to make informed decisions.
MRSC wrote to the Minister for Planning on March 10, seeking details on what types of housing would count towards the target.
The council also sought the “activation date for MRSC’s housing target” and the baseline for the council and each township on that date.
Council sought an update from the minister on May 19 and again on June 2 but reported “no response has been provided”.
Cr Jennifer Anderson said “it would be really good if the council could get an acknowledgement” of its correspondence.
“We’ve only just had part access to some of the numbers, and how the figures have worked out, so how can we plan and know what we need to do in the future to protect our distinctive area and landscape?” she said.
“We don’t know where these numbers are coming from, what’s been included and what hasn’t.”
Cr Cassy Borthwick moved the original motion requesting additional data on the housing targets and was disappointed that questions remained unanswered.
“If we’re expected to plan for the growth, we should at least be given the information that we need to plan well,” Cr Borthwick said.
“The council continues to navigate housing pressures, growth expectation, planning proposals across the entire shire.”
According to a council officer report, between 2023 and 2025, records indicate that 170 dwellings were built, making the current housing target 12,450 or 479 dwellings a year.
The report also said the council recently received an indication that the shire had “more than adequate housing capacity to meet the state’s housing target for the shire”.
It followed the state government’s Housing Capacity Assessment Platform assessment. However, the council did not have access to the HCAP system at the time of writing the report.
Access to the system was expected to occur sometime over July or August, and is expected to answer some of the council’s questions.