City launches Strategic Community Plan 2017-2027

The City of South Perth has officially launched its new Strategic Community Plan, a guiding document for the City and community over the next 10 years.

The Strategic Community Plan 2017-2027 builds on the City’s previous Strategic Community Plan 2013-2023. It is a long term, overarching strategy and planning document that outlines the community’s aspirations and priorities for the future, setting out the key strategies required to achieve these.

The City will use the Plan to: define clear priorities, processes, long and short-term plans; prioritise budget and resource allocations; direct land use, infrastructure, services and asset management, operations and planning; direct workforce planning and inform other key strategies and plans.

A major review of the Plan was undertaken in November 2016 through the Vision 2027 community and stakeholder engagement project, with approximately 1,300 community members and stakeholders taking part in the consultation, completing the Vision 2027 survey and attending workshops. The process helped the City to understand what matters most to the community and guide the way in which it collectively plans for the future and deliver services.

In consideration of the feedback received from the community and stakeholders, the priorities and aspirations have been grouped into four broad categories to form the new strategic directions for the Plan; Community, Economy, Environment (Built and Natural) and Leadership.

The draft Plan was released for public comment in July 2017, with the final Plan presented to Council and endorsed at the September 2017 Council meeting.

The Plan is a living document which is reviewed in part every two years with a full review every four years in order to reflect the community’s changing aspirations and priorities.

“Emphasised in this new Strategic Community Plan is the importance of fostering a diverse, connected, safe and engaged community, a place where everyone feels welcome. Protecting the environment through the promotion of biodiversity and improving the amenity value and sustainable uses of our streetscapes, public open space and foreshores is important to everyone. The plan articulates the central role innovation and learning play in strengthening our identity as an inclusive community harnessing new technologies while protecting and maintaining our natural environment,” City of South Perth Mayor Sue Doherty said.

“We live in a very special City, one that offers a lifestyle underpinned by a blend of beautiful natural areas and excellent recreational opportunities. A key challenge we face is to ensure that local development and growth complements our City’s unique character and enhances our already strong sense of place.

“It is an incredible responsibility to plan for the social, environmental and economic future of a whole City. A Council needs to show bold leadership and have the ability to make tough decisions between competing priorities, manage limited resources, maintain focus on the ‘big picture’ and act for the greater good of the whole City. To achieve this complex task the City must have a clear direction and this is the reason why we have a Strategic Community Plan. As the City’s overarching document, it guides everything we do as a City, ensuring every step we take is a step towards achieving our community’s vision for the future.

“This plan is an inspiring blueprint capturing the vision for our community in the future and in response outlines the City’s strategic directions to deliver on this vision. Delivering this vision is not something we can achieve in isolation. Shared decision making and effective working partnerships with government agencies, non-government organisations, business, and our community are critical components to our success.”

To view the Plan or a summary of the Plan see the document links below. Alternatively, hard copies are available to view at the Civic Centre and Manning and South Perth libraries.