Council adopts new investment attraction plan

An innovative plan to attract new business ventures to the City of Whittlesea that also supports existing businesses to grow while creating more jobs for local people has been launched to boost our local economy.

Council’s first comprehensive Investment Attraction Plan 2021-26 was developed in consultation with businesses, industry, government and educational institutions before being adopted by Council at its meeting on 5 July.

Administrator Chris Eddy said the five-year plan represents a significant commitment from Council to support businesses to start and prosper in the municipality.

“The plan outlines a range of opportunities and activities for Council, and its partners, to help existing businesses prosper as well as attract new businesses to the municipality,” Mr Eddy said.

The plan includes:

• establishing a Business Advisory Panel
• conducting quarterly forums with different business sectors and increasing local business networking opportunities
• increasing tailored communications and engagement with businesses
• enhancing our business concierge service, which supports business operators with grant applications, permit guidance and other resources.

“We will also focus on fostering local job diversity, encouraging greater participation in the workforce and helping businesses and the economy to recover from the impact of COVID-19,” Mr Eddy said.

“The City of Whittlesea is one of Australia’s fastest growing municipalities, welcoming around 8,000 new residents annually; however, local employment isn’t keeping up, with only 1,800 new jobs being created each year.

“To help our residents secure employment near where they live, we need to attract more medium and large-sized businesses that will create a range of jobs at different levels,” Mr Eddy said.

“We are aiming to attract more medium and large sized businesses, particularly in our key sectors of healthcare and social assistance, manufacturing and wholesale trade by raising awareness about the competitive advantages operating from the City of Whittlesea provides, such as proximity to major transport links and Council support options.”  

“We will also increase our advocacy efforts to the Federal and State governments to help secure important investments, while continuing our work with partner agencies including NorthLink, Northern Councils Alliance and National Growth Areas Alliance, to attract investment that will benefit our wider region, such as the Epping Food Hub and Beveridge Intermodal Freight Terminal proposals,” Mr Eddy said.