Some West Vic trivia:

🌨️ When was the last time Ballarat saw snow?

Housing across the patch 🏘️ 

🏚️ Ballarat needs to house 40,000 more people in 15 years, at a rate of 52 a week. Can it be done?

Go up, or go out?

This question is crucial to the future of Ballarat, as the city - like many regional centres around the country - wrestles with the apartment versus urban sprawl debate.

It has long been the norm that country towns and cities do not like apartment blocks in or near the CBD. Development applications for apartments can be met with furious protest - the apartments will be an eyesore; they don’t match the vibe of the location; we are a country town, not an urban city.

The alternative, however, is more suburban sprawl. 

Read the full story here.

🏡 What’s causing Warrnambool’s housing shortage?

Warrnambool’s housing shortage is making it harder for businesses to attract workers, pushing up rents and leaving more people competing for the pool of available homes.

We have a problem: Council documents put the city’s current rental vacancy rate at 0.8 percent, compared to four percent across broader regional Victoria.

🗣️ “We’ve got one of the lowest rental rates across the state,” mayor Ben Blain told the Brolga last week. 

🗣️ “I think our average rental at the moment for a three-bedroom house is $550 or $600 a week.

🗣️ “It is a challenge, especially when you look at our census data, we're at the lower end of wages, so it is a challenge across our city, housing for workers and affordable housing for people to be able to come here and live in Warrnambool.”

Why is Warrnambool short of housing? Council’s 2020 Social Housing Planning Project document identified several factors driving pressure on the city’s housing market, including population growth, an influx of workers for major projects, seasonal demand from short-stay accommodation and Warrnambool’s role as a regional service centre.

Read the full story here.

From Ballarat to Ararat to Stawell 🛣️ 

🏦 Ballarat council makes energy upgrades to save ratepayers millions

Ballarat City Council had a choice: spend money on carbon offsets costing “hundreds of thousands of dollars” or invest it in projects that cut emissions and save ratepayers.

It chose the second option, and in one project helped to shave $480,000 a year off the city’s gas bill.

What happened: Ballarat City Council has scrapped its fixed carbon-neutral target and committed to a new emissions plan focused on projects that deliver real-world cuts and savings.

• The Corporate Emissions Plan, adopted at July’s council meeting, will prioritise upgrades including replacing gas use with electric alternatives, improving energy efficiency in council buildings, upgrading LED streetlights and capturing landfill gas.

• The new plan replaces the council's previous target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

Read the full story here.

🦘 Sede Cafe’s Bishal Khanal travelled the country cooking in resorts before finding a home in Ararat

Bishal Khanal once cooked a kangaroo steak in the Northern Territory, and the customer who ordered it soon tried to poach him.

🗣️:“I sent it out and half an hour later, my manager said, ‘Bishal, a customer wants to talk to you’. So I went out, and he was an executive chef at a major resort,” Khanal said. 

“He pulled out a $100 note and said, ‘Do you want a job?’, and he bought a drink for all my kitchen staff. All in front of my manager.” 

Khanal turned the man down, but said it was an experience he will long remember. 

The 36-year-old has travelled Australia studying and cooking in resorts across Queensland, South Australia, the NT and Victoria. His final destination? The small West Vic town of Ararat, running Sede Cafe, which has just celebrated its seventh anniversary. 

Read the full story here.

⚒️ How many jobs does it take to build a transmission line?

Plumbing, traffic management, crane hire, earthmoving, fencing, agronomy, waste disposal, security, electrical trades - the list goes on. These are the sectors needed to build Western Renewables Link (WRL).

More than 300 people attended sessions across Stawell, Lexton and Creswick last week to find out how their businesses can fill these roles. 

It’s part of a $170 million investment into sourcing materials and local workers. 

Darryn Jenkinson, from Stawell Hydraulics, said he came to see what "opportunities were here for the town”, and to see who is going to benefit. 

Read the full story here.

On Your Feed 📱

❄️ Zara ventured out into the cold for a wrap-up of the Otways Winter Festival:

🧺 And last week, she asked people at Sheepvention what they think has changed the most in farming over the last decade: