Numbers from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, published in The Courier this week, show Moorabool's house prices have increased by 56.2 per cent in the past five years, and according to mayor Tom Sullivan, the shire's population could jump from about 35,000 to almost 80,000 in just 20 years.

Stuck between Ballarat and the outskirts of Melbourne, Moorabool's an attractive place to move to, but the council has struggled to get residents to work within the shire as well.

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Infrastructure and services have not kept up, and council officials have cried out for a "fair go" in funding.

According to Cr Sullivan - a councillor for 24 years, returning to the mayoral role for the first time since 2000 - the focus must be on good planning now to prepare for this rapid growth.

He said the shire needs dispersed growth in its smaller towns, including within his own Moorabool West ward.

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This will take some of the strain off places like Bacchus Marsh, he said, as well as provide more opportunities for Ballarat.

"We have a number of projected new growth areas proposed around Bacchus Marsh, and council's done a lot of work around Ballan in that space as well, to make sure we cater for that growth going forward," he said.

"The preparatory work has to start about five or six years before, and doing the strategic work, to make sure it's all going to work together; working with the servicing agencies because it's all well and good for council to say 'we want to develop here' but the local water or sewerage authority says 'we can't service that'.

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"It's got to be done right or it's out of step."

Ballan has several areas that will be submitted for planning scheme amendments, he added.

"You speak to real estate people in Ballan, it's hard to buy a block of land in Ballan at the mooment, which is why council's been doing the work looking at future zoning," he said.

"By the time you start the planning scheme amendment to houses actually being constructed, it can be a lead time of two or three years.

"You want to do it when you're not rushed, so you have time to make sure you get a good outcome that integrates well with the existing fabric of the town, and people feel connected to the town.

"These are the intangible things, but people need to feel it - say people are moving into a new part of Ballan, they have to feel like they're part of Ballan, not on the periphery."

While they still need some services to be connected in smaller towns - Cr Sullivan argued this week for Bungaree and Wallace to be connected to a modern sewerage network - new developments in these towns could have long-term benefits from a community standpoint.

"Ultimately, you want living in your municipality to be an enjoyable experience for the people who want to come there," he said.

"On a larger scale, where are schools going to be located? Councils don't build schools, so there needs to be a lot of discussion and work done with the agencies who do provide those services - they all add to the fabric of what makes a good community.

"An observation I've made is when you see someone put out a greenfield site, they don't have community, it takes 20 years to grow a community there, but if you build onto an existing community, the social infrastructure and connections are already there, you provide better long-term outcomes.

"For example, there's a school at Bungaree already there, there's a kindergarten at Wallace, there's a sunk amount of infrastructure provided by council and government already

"You wouldn't need all that other social infrastructure that you'd require to provide a good outcome.

"We think that would be a sensible way to do it - it would also complement some of the growth in Ballarat."

The shire is also facing other challenges - as well as the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project causing anger in the community, and a proposal to dump contaminated soil at the Maddingley Brown Coal Mine, with population growth comes increased demand on a road network already stretched by massive infrastructure development.

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Cr Sullivan said the shire will need more funding from all levels of government to keep up.

"We could certainly always use more money and use it quite well - we have gradually sought to improve the road network, but given the cost of construction, it's not cheap," he said.

"If the population continues to grow to 80,000 people, we have to plan for that and make sure those people are catered for."

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"I've done it before, I think I have experience in that area and I have something to offer.

"My fellow councillors were supportive of me, so I think that's always a good start.

"We have a good group of councillors, four returning and three new ones.

"We have some stability from the old council - not saying that's the be all and end all, but then there are new councillors coming in.

"We've got a very good executive team led by our CEO Derek Madden, and very good people.

"I think that's important - my experience in local government is you have to have all those elements to have a good council.

"You have to have councillors who are prepared to listen to discussion, who don't go in there with any preconceived ideas, and try to come out with the best outcome for the municipality and the people who reside there, for the long term.

"A good administration attracts good people to the organisation - I have seen councils elsewhere in the past where there's been a breakdown in the administration, or the relationship between the councillors and the organisation, and it usually didn't end very well.

"To set the background, at the moment the Shire of Moorabool's about 35,000 people, and the projected growth, in 20 years it could be 65 to 70,000 people.

"If the growth rate tracks the way it has been in recent times, it could actually be over 80,000 people.

"A significant amount of work's been done by council in planning for that growth.

"We have a number of projected new growth areas proposed around Bacchus Marsh, and council's done a lot of work around Ballan in that space as well, to make sure we cater for that growth going forward.

"There's opportunities for growth in Bungaree and Wallace as well.

"I think we've hit on the idea that it's better to have a dispersed growth model - municipalities can go down two pathways, one is to have a centralised growth model, or a dispersed growth model.

"In centralised growth, all your development occurs in whatever the designated town is, the primary town.

"There's one school of thought to say that's a good outcome, because in your distribution of services, you've got all your population all localised.

"But the other side of that is, it creates congestion traffic-wise, and impacts on the liveability.

"To have a dispersed growth model - you have bits of both.

"To make the municipality as liveable as possible, and that's not just where you reside, it's being part of the whole community, we see that having that dispersed growth model will afford us to do that.

"If people can come in, we will offer whatever residential opportunity they desire, whether that's urban, rural, semi-rural, you can cater for more spectrum of choices.

"Particularly when you start looking at where the future residential areas may be, the preparatory work has to start about five or six years before, and doing the strategic work, to make sure it's all going to work together; working with the servicing agencies because it's all well and good for council to say 'we want to develop here' but the local water or sewerage authority says 'we can't service that'.

"It's got to be done right or it's out of step.

"There's a lot of work done in that space, council's done a lot in that, and probably in the next 12 months or two years, a lot of those planning scheme amendments will come in to allow us to start the building block process for that.

"It's also important to determine what type of development we want.

"People talk about development in a general sense, but do you want larger-type blocks, or more concentrated?

"Ultimately, you want living in your municipality to be an enjoyable experience for the people who want to come there.

"On a larger scale, where are schools going to be located? Councils don't build schools, so there needs to be a lot of discussion and work done with the agencies who do provide those services.

"They all add to the fabric of what makes a good community.

"You don't want to travel huge distances, or if there's no good public transport - that depends on how the development works, all the transport linkages through that.

"There are a lot of moving parts to it.

"I'd like to see us continue with the work being done to see that through to completion, because the decisions that have been made some years ago, or will be made this year or the following year, will have long-term repercussions on the shire.

"The decisions we make now will have a 10 or 20 year impact, so it's important we get it right.

"Coupled with the residential development, where are the sporting activity areas - you want to make sure there are good linkages so people don't necessarily have to use their cars.

"It's their overall wellbeing, because it's not just where they reside, and for the families to feel safe and secure and for kids to get around to their mates or activities.

"It's important sporting things are involved in it all.

"Certainly, we can't do it alone, we need the assistance of government, but we're putting forward good business cases to say this is what we need, so they have confidence in investing in what we're proposing, that's ongoing.

"My own priorities, hopefully we can see some progress in the sewering in Bungaree and Wallace.

"The thing is, where the City of Ballarat is located in their municipality, it's jammed up against the western boundary of Moorabool.

"It's so close to it - it wouldn't just benefit the shire, it'd benefit the region.

"These things take time and there's been a lot of work done by council in the land use investigation, but also we've had discussions with Central Highlands Water - they're the service provider, they have to plan in advance, it's making sure it works well together.

"Where Bungaree and Wallace are located, there are good road linkages, Wallace has a full diamond interchange and natural gas, which could hopefully be extended to Bungaree eventually.

"It's moving in that direction - I'm as confident as I can be, and we're not going to leave any stone unturned in Moorabool to make sure it happens.

"I think it'd be a sound investment by government to get on board here.

"The other major benefit is that you're building onto existing communities.

"An observation I've made is when you see someone put out a greenfield site, they don't have community, it takes 20 years to grow a community there, but if you build onto an existing community, the social infrastructure and connections are already there, you provide better long-term outcomes.

"For example, there's a school at Bungaree already there, there's a kindergarten at Wallace, there's a sunk amount of infrastructure provided by council and government already.

"You wouldn't need all that other social infrastructure that you'd require to provide a good outcome.

"We think that would be a sensible way to do it - it would also complement some of the growth in Ballarat.

"You speak to real estate people in Ballan, it's hard to buy a block of land in Ballan at the mooment, which is why council's been doing the work looking at future zoning.

"There are three or four sites where the work's been done.

"If this growth is coming our way, we have to plan for it now.

"Planning scheme amendments, from the time you start the process, it can take two or three years depending on what happens.

"So by the time you start the planning scheme amendment to houses actually being constructed, it can be a lead time of two or three years.

"You want to do it when you're not rushed, so you have time to make sure you get a good outcome that integrates well with the existing fabric of the town, and people feel connected to the town.

"These are the intangible things, but people need to feel it.

"Say people are moving into a new part of Ballan, they have to feel like they're part of Ballan, not on the periphery.

"Council's been doing work with our Parwan Employment Precinct - it's important, if you can, to create job opportunities in your municipality as well.

"It creates a better outcome, makes the municipality more attractive for people to reside in and work, and it creates a knock-on effect because it keeps the dollars in the economy.

"If people just sleep somewhere and work elsewhere, they tend to spend their money outside - I know council has identified you get retail leakage out of Bacchus Marsh because a significant amount of people move out of town every day for work, mainly in Melbourne.

"If we can create employment precincts, that could help the local economy.

"There'd be a knock-on effect to other businesses and suppliers, i think that's an advantage in itself."

"Council's done a lot of work in that space, we're talking to government about it and we've been quite vocal, we've had assessments sorted to try and come up with the best outcome we can - a lot of it's beyond our control, but we've certainly been advocating for the community.

"One of the things - because the word 'toxic' has been bandied around, it concerns me that connecting toxic to Bacchus Marsh, a lot of the community has been using that word, strongly putting it out there.

"But it concerns me whether it comes in or it doesn't come in, there could be that link between 'Bacchus Marsh' and 'toxic'.

"We have significant agricultural businesses down there, all the salad mix comes out of Bacchus Marsh, they do a fantastic job and they're great operators, but it'd be disappointing if consumers see Bacchus Marsh and think 'toxic'.

"When the dust settles on this, that legacy issue doesn't carry over and have an adverse impact on the agriculture produced in Bacchus Marsh, and also the town itself.

"If people think of moving to Bacchus Marsh then say 'I don't want to because I remember that' - my example is Snowtown, if someone said to you Snowtown, what do you think of? It might be a really nice place, I've never been there, but it identifies that town now unfortunately.

"I'd hatr to see a legacy like that branded on Bacchus Marsh.

"You forget the details but there's little things you remember."

"Council's tested the feasibility of undergrounding, we've got an independent report on that, an independent assessment on the feasibility, and it turns out you can.

"Upfront it might be more expensive, however you have to look at the whole of life cost.

"People might say it'll cost more to build, and the potential fire issues have been raised, but if it's underground, I would have thought that would dissipate.

"In the middle of winter in Ballarat and it's cold, you go to Bunnings and buy a $10 heater, you're warm then you hit the monthly power bill and you think holy moly - that's the whole-of-life cost.

"If you put in a gas heater or another system - higher expense up-front but cheaper long-term.

"The argument needs to be turned around to look at whole-of-life costs.

"If there were an increased cost in undergrounding it, those who benefit might pay a few dollars more?

"The impact on the rural landscape will be quite significant, and council's part of the group looking at the heritage listing of the goldfields - we have towns built on gold, Egerton, Gordon, Blackwood, all gold mining towns, there were 6000 people in Egerton at one point. They used to say the batteries at Egerton when the gold was being crushed ran six and a half days a week, and when they finally stopped on a Sunday, the silence was deafening.

"If you have these 85m pylons going across the landscape, you're going to detract from the heritage argument.

"We understand there's progress, but we would prefer that be mitigated against, that's all.

"Undergrounding is an option.

"It's going to be an ongoing issue - the fact that there's no route determined yet, just a broad corridor from what I've observed, it doesn't give you more comfort than that.

"Because it goes across large agricultural areas in Moorabool Shire, that could have issues with potential uses, what people can and can't do, apart from the aesthetics - it sort of blights the landscape."

"We're always trying to get funding.

"Over the journey, we've been thankful for the money we have got from state and federal governments, we've made good use of that and prioritised where we spend that money to make sure we get the best outcome for it.

"We could certainly always use more money and use it quite well - we have gradually sought to improve the road network, but given the cost of construction, it's not cheap.

"The other issue that may potentially arise now, because of the COVID response and the desire of state and federal governments to generate infrastructure, there's only a certain quantum of infrastructure capacity in the whole country - that is, there's only so many yellow machines out there.

"It's one of the concerns I have, if all of a sudden they say we're going to release hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure, there's not the capacity within the infrastructure industry to be able to do the work.

"The likelihood of that is it's likely to put up the price of construction.

"I've seen it in the past - there's only a certain amount out there that can do it.

"The state government's got some big projects, and the larger contractors usually win those, but when the council comes to do some local roads construction, then you go to the market, are you going to get a good price or an inflated price? We don't know at this stage, it's a question mark going forward in the next six months about where that might land.

"I had a chat with our chief executive on Wednesday, if there's a chance for council to tool up.

"We have a great works team who do a lot of work, they do a great job - but is there an opportunity to tool up and perhaps get more people on staff to do the work internally.

"They're investigating that now, it could be an option - that way, you've got a bit more certainty over the pricing.

"Our engineers estimate costs based on previous work, they might say a stretch of road will cost $500,000, and it comes in at $800,000 or a million, then what do you do, halve the project? The road still needs to be fixed.

"You can get the yellow machines, interest rates are fairly low, but the important thing is to get the skills and the people, and we have that good resource at council.

"Several years ago, council initiated a program to develop traineeships.

"Our outdoor workforce was ageing, they were great people, but in 10 years time, there'd be all this intellectual knowledge walk out the door.

"If council deliberately started these traineeships, call them apprenticeships, to teach these young people how to build roads, and make it as versatile as possible, so a guy could jump on a backhoe or an excavator or a grader, rather than have everyone typed in.

"That was quite successful, so we've sought to bring in more young people - I think it's incumbent on local government to do that.

"Sometimes they leave for other jobs, but I'm thinking, if that's the case, so be it, it doesn't stop them from doing it.

"Quite often they were young people from the municipality anyway.

"There was an allocation of funds to do that, because it was a recognition from council that our workforce was ageing, they were going to retire, then what do you do?

"I think it was a good idea, I continue to support it."

"There's definitely scope for improvement (in securing state government funding), our offices have been building these business cases which clearly articulates we're not getting a fair go compared to like municipalities or surrounding municipalities.

"We're putting out a cogent argument, and as a result of that, it puts us in a stronger position.

"We've done the homework and we're making those impressions on government, and particularly our local members.

"We've sort of been disadvantaged, to some extent, because we fell into that safe-seat syndrome and we've been a bit overlooked.

"Hopefully going forward there's a recognition we need that support.

"If the population continues to grow to 80,000 people, we have to plan for that and make sure those people are catered for.

"Council can do so much but we do need the support of government."

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity