After a final six-month community engagement process, City of Greater Geelong has presented a clear vision for the future development of Geelong’s waterfront.
Council adopted the Geelong Waterfront Master Plan this week, providing a coordinated framework for the future planning, investment and activation of the stretch of coast between Rippleside Beach and Limeburners Point.
The latest round of community engagement follows on from extensive public consultation in 2023 and 2024, revealing what councillor Trent Sullivan described as a community “passionate about investing in this world-class attraction”.
“This is the number one tourist attraction in our region,” he said.
“People care about it, people want to be proud of it and people are excited about the next stage.”
Councillor Anthony Aitken, while fully supportive of the plan, sounded a note of caution about the dangers of ignoring other, less glamorous areas of Geelong.
“The waterfront is well loved by Geelong, but there are other parts of Geelong, especially our residential areas, that are suffering infrastructure decline and they need renewal as well,” he said.
“This is a very good master plan…but I will be keeping a close eye that it does not cause the prioritisation of funding to be taken away from the suburban areas.”
Councillor Eddy Kontelj acknowledged Cr Aitken’s concerns but said the City needed to “continued to invest, and invest hard, in the waterfront”.
“We will never overcapitalise on the waterfront; our return on investment will come back in multiples,” he said.
