The City of Whittlesea is developing a new Economic Growth Strategy to guide our city’s growth and prosperity from 2026 to 2036. This strategy builds on the current Strong Local Economy 2022–2026 strategy and is shaped by the community’s long-term vision, Whittlesea 2040: A Place for All, which aims to create a thriving, inclusive, and sustainable city.
As one of Australia’s fastest-growing municipalities, the City of Whittlesea is located just 21km north of Melbourne’s CBD. Our population is projected to grow by over 40% by 2040, placing increasing pressure on local services, infrastructure, and employment opportunities. While around 2,000 new jobs have been created annually over the past five years, this growth hasn’t kept pace with the rising population.
To support the development of the new strategy, the City of Whittlesea is preparing a series of discussion papers that explore key opportunities and challenges for economic growth. These papers will focus on four priority areas:
- Unlocking Business Growth and Innovation
- Building Jobs, Skills and Training
- Driving Investment, Infrastructure and Industry Forward
- Growing Economies through Culture and Connection
These themes reflect the evolving needs of our community and economy, including the impacts of rapid growth, technological change, and shifting work patterns post-pandemic. They also respond to broader priorities such as climate action, gender equality, and inclusive economic participation.
To ensure the discussion papers reflect local aspirations and priorities, extensive consultation has been undertaken with 67 stakeholders through 12 focus groups and 4 in-depth interviews. Participants included representatives from industry, business, government, education and training, health, community and employment services, and the property and real estate sectors. These conversations have provided valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities facing our local economy and are directly informing the development of the discussion papers.
You are invited to help shape the new Economic Growth Strategy 2026-2036. Consultation will open soon - register your interest to be notified when it goes live and have your say in shaping the City of Whittlesea’s economic future.
