Ararat Rural City Council has endorsed the draft Community Vision 2031, allowing the community consultation process to begin.
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Cr Peter Beales moved the motion to endorse the draft at the council's meeting on Tuesday, May 18. He said he was eager for the public to have its input on the vision.
"When you go out to the community you can't make a bad decision," he said.
"I'm very happy with the document as it stands, and I'm very happy for it to go out to community consultation.
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"It is a very important process to go through... it gives the community some expectation of where we are going."
The draft Community Vision 2031 lists six points it wants the community to be "characterised by":
- Strong population growth.
- Continuous and sustainable economic development with a focus on job creation.
- Leadership in pragmatic approaches to local environmental management.
- Sustainable and effective local transport networks.
- Increased access to artistic, cultural, sporting and recreational opportunities.
- Strong and robust democratic processes.
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The draft also includes various key performance indicators to measure how effectively the council has achieved these points.
These include increasing residential land 600 lots by June 30, 2025, a 50 per cent increase in tourism visitation and stays by the same date, and the completion of a planning and funding project for Aradale by June 30, 2023.
Cr Gwenda Allgood seconded the motion and said the community consultation phase would help ensure the council represented its residents.
"It will be great to see if we're thinking the same way as those people out there," she said.
"This is their chance to come in, and if they disagree with some of the things we've got within this document then we'll certainly hear about it, and we can change, nothing's set in concrete."
Mayor Jo Armstrong also encouraged people to provide feedback on the draft.
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"It's one page. It's succinct, it's beautifully condensed and distilled down to the essence of what we believe our business ought to be for the next 10 years," she said.
"We would really welcome participation from the community, either through the Engage Ararat platform or the community workshops as they are rolled out in the coming weeks."
The Community Vision 2031 will also inform the Council Plan 2021-2025, which the council similarly approved the draft for public exhibition.
People can provide feedback on the plan by heading to engage.ararat.vic.gov.au/.
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