Kingborough Council has given the green light to a $45 million proposal for a new shopping centre in the growing suburb of Kingston.
The Spring Farm Village development, put forward by Tipalea Partners, was unanimously approved by councillors at a meeting on Monday night.
The project will see bushland transformed into a hub with 20 businesses, including a Coles supermarket and Chemist Warehouse, to service the expanding Spring Farm and Whitewater suburbs.
Mayor Paula Wriedt said the development is a response to the area’s population growth.
“If I look back to when I moved into Kingborough 35 years ago … I remember thinking then, gee it’s a strange place isn’t it? There’s three different shopping centres and now I appreciate how much we do need an additional supermarket and shopping centre facilities,” she said.
“So I must admit I was a bit perplexed sometimes seeing public comments saying oh we don’t need another supermarket.”
“Well the figures suggest that we do and my practical experience of circling car parks and things like that show that we are experiencing such an influx in population that we do have the population to support an additional facility.”
Councillor Aldo Antolli said the community is “hungry for this development” and told the council not to stand in the way.
“We need to get this happening sooner, not later, because the developer has locked up one of the top construction companies to do this piece of work,” he said.
“And it needs to be done by early 2026, otherwise the whole development is at risk because they have other projects locked in.”
The council, however, did pause the meeting for 12 minutes to explore bike parking security following a question from Councillor Amanda Midgley and agreed to conditions that some bike parking on the site be secure and include access codes.
Councillor David Bain raised concerns about the impact on traffic, particularly on the Channel Highway, which is estimated to increase from 12,900 to 19,720 movements per day.
A council planner responded that the extra traffic can be handled by the development and said State Growth had approved the application.
The developers are hopeful the complex can be opened in early 2026.
