New to Ararat Rural City

Recent data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates Ararat Rural City has welcomed its 12,000 resident to its boundaries in the past 12 months. The data, which was released on Thursday 31 March, indicates that Ararat Rural City is second to only Horsham in terms of growth in the 2009/2010 period with 0.9% growth. This 0.9% growth attributes to a further 106 residents calling the municipality home.Mr Peter Kettle, who moved from city life in Berwick on the outskirts of eastern Melbourne with his wife and five children, is one of the new residents and maintains that open spaces, friendly people and lovely climate attracted him and his family to Ararat.

"The region suits my family perfectly, it is not over populated, and it has a diverse range of cultures which is very important to us."

Mr Kettle and his wife, who are qualified bakers and pastry chefs respectively, first came to Ararat whilst visiting Halls Gap fourteen years ago.

"I enjoyed visiting Ararat back then and I enjoy it now. There is minimal traffic in Ararat as opposed to Berwick where I would spend up to 40 minutes per day driving 12 kilometres to drop the children at school in the morning and then another 40 minutes to pick them up again in the afternoon."

Mr Kettle said meeting with Ararat Rural City Council's Economic Development team was invaluable as Council was able to offer vital information, including possible contacts for employment opportunities.

"It is very enticing to come to a stress free environment; there is now an abundance of activities for the children to participate in, including sporting groups, and allows us to spend more time together as a family. We chose Ararat over other regional cities such as Ballarat and Geelong because there is so much congestion in those areas."

"Eventually, I would like to purchase some property in the area and become fully self-sufficient. That is the long-term goal in the next three years."

Three of Mr Kettle's five children attend Ararat 800 Primary School, whilst his youngest son attends kindergarten at Jack and Jill and his daughter spends time in local child care in Ararat.

Mr Kettle said education for his children is a main priority and he has already undertaken research into secondary schools within the municipality.

"Ararat has a great choice of education providers for toddlers all the way up to teenagers, and this was an important factor when we decided to move from Berwick to Ararat. I think high quality education is imperative to anyone who is looking to move from one region to another."

Whilst his family currently rents a property within the municipality, Mr Kettle said they will be looking to purchase a property in the coming months.

Ararat Rural City Economic Development Manager, Mr Clyde Humphries said there has been a shift in people looking to move from metropolitan areas to rural areas such as Ararat Rural City.

"Peter's scenario is unto familiar. We are seeing a greater percentage of enquiries of people looking to improve their lifestyle by moving to Ararat. The municipality is thriving in terms of growth and we can expect more families to make the move to Ararat in the coming years."

"The Australian Bureau of Statistics data is pleasing to see as it indicates that Ararat Rural City has encountered six successive years of growth at 0.7%, which in population terms means a further 410 people have become residents since 2005," he said.

"It is predicted that these figures will further increase in the coming years with large developments such as the Ararat Prison redevelopment attracting a vast amount of contractors to the region during the construction phase. A percentage of these people will most definitely consider Ararat Rural City as a destination of choice." Mr Humphries said.

"In 2010 Ararat Rural City Council distributed almost 40 new resident kits to welcome people and families to the municipality. Of these resident kits distributed, they accounted for over 106 new residents in the region. So far in 2011, we have distributed almost 20 new resident kits, which have attributed to almost 60 new residents within the region. These figures are extremely pleasing." He said.

For more information regarding Ararat Rural City Council new resident kits or population data, contact Ararat Rural City Council on (03) 5355 0200, email chumphries@ararat.vic.gov.au or go to www.ararat.vic.gov.au