Rural Councils Victoria has welcomed yesterday’s announcement by the Victoria Government that it will fund a trial to bring more municipal building surveyors to rural Victoria.
“Rural communities are in desperate need of more housing and this trial will assist in addressing the housing challenges faced by these rural communities,” Rural Councils Victoria said in a statement.
“It is pleasing to see that the Allan Labor government has taken the RCV Rural Housing Action Plan into consideration and is delivering on the ask to increase rural expertise and capacity to deliver housing projects.
“Rural Councils Victoria is looking forward to working closely with the government to see more projects like this delivered in rural Victorian communities.”
Led by Yarriambiack Shire Council, the pilot is in partnership with Buloke, Hindmarsh and Loddon shires, as well as Swan Hill Rural City Council. The project will be in three phases. It will first identify the challenges and opportunities around sharing surveying services between councils, before establishing a ‘Shared Service Hub’ to support the participating councils with more cost-effective access to surveying services.
The Hub will provide a Municipal Building Surveyor service that can be engaged in a shared manner by all five local councils, instead of councils needing to engage individual services.
The third phase will evaluate the program and lead to recommendations that can potentially be replicated across other regional councils.
The feasibility study will run until early 2026, and the outcomes will then be shared widely with all rural and regional Councils, so other regions can consider setting up their own Hubs to speed up approvals.
