Sandhurst Club was visited last week by Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) representatives, Acting CEO Associate Professor John Fitzgerald and Fiona McKay, Senior Project Officer, Knowledge of Environment and Health. 

VicHealth Acting CEO Associate Professor John Fitzgerald and Fiona McKay,
Senior Project Officer Knowledge of Environment and Health at Sandhurst Club last week
checking out part of the 35km of shared walking, cycling and golf cart paths throughout the development.

The visit follows the recent release by VicHealth of a submission to the Standing Committee on the Environment and Planning Victorian Parliament on the importance of considering health issues in designing and building new housing projects.

Sandhurst, which commenced construction a decade ago, is a rare example of a matured golfing residential project which reflects many of the issues raised in the VicHealth report, including the importance of extending tree planting to provide shade, water conservation and design that encourages healthy living, community activity and safer communities.

Sandhurst is the only Melbourne suburb that has fifty percent of its area designated to open green space which is drought proof, as the entire suburb and every home has A class recycled water available for gardens and toilet flushing.

The VicHealth Submission says a sense of community has been found to be enhanced by urban planning regulations in new master-planned communities take into consideration: