This question received extensive feedback in all workshops, with more than 200 comments submitted overall.
The comments covered a range of topics, such as:
- Improving water quality and pressure
- Beautification of specific areas
- Mosquito and pest control
- Access and inclusion
- Looking after the environment
- Telcommunication upgrades
- Aged care infrastructure
- Tourism office in Harvey
- Town centre activation
- Verge planting and maintenance
- Upgrades to skate parks and other facilities
- Streamlining of planning approvals and processes
- Support for small business and employment opportunities
- Updated tourism signage
- Housing
- Road maintenance and safety
- Beach maintenance and safety
- Coastal trails and paths
All of the comments have been recorded by Shire officers. These will be circulated to Council so Councillors are informed on what people are advocating for. Comments that are topical to current projects or advocacy pieces will be shared with relevant managers within the Shire.
FUTYR® Workshop participants were asked to review and provide feedback on the Shire of Harvey vision, Together, towards an even better lifestyle.
Participants worked in small groups to review the vision, and provide written feedback. The feedback included suggested edits to the wording of the Vision and associated strategic priorities, general comments, and an indication as to whether group members wanted to keep the vision as is, make minor changes, or create a completely new vision.
Approximately 33% of participants wanted to keep the vision. 47% wanted to make minor changes, and 20% voted to develop a new vision.
Some of the comments covered topics such as:
- Beautification of areas
- Increased ranger presence
- Protecting the natural environment
- Mosquito and pest control
- Transparency and communication
What is the role of the Vision?
The vision aims to provide an overarching goal, or guiding statement describing what kind of Shire we want to have. It gives us something to aim for.
What will we do with the Vision feedback?
Community feedback on the vision statement will be communicated to Council, who will workshop any potential changes as part of the process of reviewing the draft Council Plan.
In the final activity, workshop participants worked in small groups through nine different objectives, to review the list of priority projects related to that objective. The groups then rated each project as low, medium or high priority, or to scrap the action. They wrote down thoughts or questions about the various projects, and noted down anything else they thought should be added.
Top-rated action items across all workshops included:
- Complete a Lighting Audit of local streets and public places to identify and prioritise hot spots for improvement.
- Promote the Neighbourhood Watch program in Shire communications to increase community awareness and participation.
- Collaborate with key partners to deliver a public education campaign to encourage safer and more responsible use of trail bikes and 4WDs across the shire.
- Investigate the further upgrade of Brunswick Recreation Centre to an emergency evacuation centre.
- Redevelop the Leschenault Volunteer Fire Brigade building.
- Complete a comprehensive review of the existing stormwater drainage network to identify and prioritise cleaning, maintenance and upgrade requirements.
- Promote resources to support and encourage households and businesses to create localised emergency plans.
- Partner with key stakeholders to develop education and awareness initiatives on emergency procedures for vulnerable people.
How will ratings from the workshops influence the drafting of the Council Plan?
Overall ratings of low, medium and high priority will be taken into account in the drafting of the Council Plan. In some cases, where workshop participants questioned the meanings or asked for more detail about particular actions, Shire Officers will work on rewriting those priorities for clarity. Written comments made on the items will be considered in this process, and passed on to relevant managers where needed.
The downloadable documents below provide an overview of workshop feedback by area.