Kingborough Council has given the green light to a $45 million proposal to build a new shopping center in the growing Kingston suburb.

The Spring Farm Village development proposed by Tipalea Partners was unanimously approved by council members at Monday night’s meeting.

The project will transform the bushland into a hub with 20 businesses, including a Coles supermarket and Chemist Warehouse, to serve the expanding suburbs of Spring Farm and Whitewater.

Mayor Paula Riedt said the development is a response to the region’s population growth.

“If I look back to when I moved to Kingborough 35 years ago… I remember thinking at the time, ‘Gee, this is a strange place, isn’t it?’ There are three different shopping centers here and I now realize how much we need more supermarkets and shopping centres,” she said.

“So I have to admit I’ve been a bit puzzled at times to see comments from the public saying, ‘Oh, we don’t need another supermarket.’

“Well, the numbers show that we are doing that, and my practical experience going around parking lots and things like that is that we are experiencing such an influx in population that we have the population to support an additional facility.”

Councilman Aldo Antolli said the community is “hungry for this kind of development” and advised the council not to get in the way.

“We need this to happen sooner rather than later because the developer has engaged one of the leading construction companies to do the work,” he said.

“And it needs to be done by the beginning of 2026, otherwise the whole development will be in jeopardy because they have other projects blocked.”

However, the council did pause the meeting for 12 minutes to examine the security of bike racks following a question from Councilwoman Amanda Midgley, and agreed to impose conditions that some bike racks on site be secure and include access codes.

Councilor 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.

The council’s planner responded that the additional traffic could be handled by the development and said State Growth had approved the application.

The developers hope that the complex will be able to open in early 2026.