baw baw shire council futures workshop · rapidly growing suburbs in melbourne and done it well -...

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Baw Baw Shire Council Futures Workshop 25 January 2017

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Baw Baw Shire Futures Workshop On 25 January 2017, 60 people representing community groups, local organisations government and Baw Baw Shire Council met for a workshop to discuss the future of Baw Baw and the challenges and opportunities the Council needs to be considering in developing the next Council Plan. The workshop included a series of conversations around the present circumstances faced by Baw Baw, key facts and possible desired futures for the Shire, facilitated by Dr Peter Hayward, former Program Director of the Master of Strategic Foresight at Swinburne University.

This document captures the conversations and key themes emerging from the Workshop.

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Digital transformation is old news – the future is digital automation “The future is increasingly defined by data not location. Critical factors are: access to data; data analysis skills; data transparency. Many job functions will be automated. It is not clear how that translates into actual jobs though”.

- Extract from presentation by

Dr Hugh Bradlow, Chief Scientist, Telstra

Image: Jessamy Gee, Think in Colour www.think-in-colour.com.au

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An introduction to strategic foresight

“The future of Baw Baw Shire is unknown, as it has

yet to happen, and it is created by the actions and

inactions of everyone, especially those who assume leadership.

The future is never ‘perfect’ – it comes with its own faults and challenges – but from that future it is good if we can look back and say ‘we have improved things for all/most of us’ ”.

- Extract from presentation by

Dr Peter Hayward

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Where are we? Stories of now… These are the stories that capture where Baw Baw is right now for the workshop participants. These are true stories which happened to a participant or someone they know. The stories can be happy, sad, frustrating or puzzling – they are the stories that could not be forgotten and give motivation to create the future.


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Image: Jessamy Gee, Think in Colour www.think-in-colour.com.

The Brutal Facts Here is a selection of key facts and challenges that we need to keep in mind when developing the Council Plan.

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Where do we want to be? In 2025 a new Council will be planning its future. These are the stories of an “improved’ situation that participants could imagine Baw Baw achieving between 2017 and 2025.

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Image: Jessamy Gee, Think in Colour www.think-in-colour.com.

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Stories of Baw Baw in 2025 The following stories were written voluntarily by participants in the days following the workshop as their more detailed stories of Baw Baw in 2025.

Alternative Baw Baw Future #1 The Baw Baw Shire Council continues to develop and implement strategies in the Baw Baw region that support continued Economic development. The Council has set an agenda to pursue these initiatives and manage activities and projects in the inter-related strategic areas of investment, innovation and infrastructure. The Council recognises that people come to the area to explore the area’s natural beauty and vistas that span from the Alpine region to the Coast yet remain within close proximity to the metropolitan fringe. The Council understands this and promotes it’s enviable lifestyle, much lower property/ living costs, combined with excellent transport links and connections to attract and retain new residents who are keen to experience the region’s natural beauty yet provide financial stability for their families. Further, the Council is actively working to progress new transport infrastructure including the Very Fast Train whilst ensuring the ongoing maintenance of existing dual carriageways and the continuance of a reliable public transport system to support those who choose to relocate to the area yet who still want to commute for work.

You will build the future through

action and inaction – It won’t be perfect but we aim

to make it better.

- Dr Peter Hayward

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The Council recognises that the future of business is defined by data, not location, and is embracing technology as an enabler. As such the Council is actively investing in technology centres, innovation hubs and the provision of shared infrastructure resources to attract new businesses and foster an entrepreneurial spirit that empowers existing industry and excites future generations. Combined with its ongoing collaboration with progressive organisations and stakeholders such as Dr Hugh Bradlow from Telstra and working closely with Federation Training and other progressive local Vocational and Higher Education providers, the Council is building the capacity and capability of its workforce to fulfil the opportunities in the emerging knowledge economy. The Council has streamlined its Planning and Infrastructure Investment frameworks and is now recognised for its ability to not only retain and attract businesses and people to the region but to work collaboratively with and advocate for capital investment whether it be Commercial, Industrial or Residential in nature. The aforementioned benefits of investing in Baw Baw and the wider Gippsland region are clearly articulated in the Economic Development strategy and are promoted consistently and widely. This story is communicated as ‘one voice’ to manage strategic growth in a collaborative manner that engages with and enriches our communities, pays homage to our past yet leverages our unique natural resources and builds upon our existing infrastructure.

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Alternative Baw Baw Future #2 The rapid transformation of technology, energy, transport and manufacturing that occurred since the end of the council plan in 2016 took many in in our community by surprise. As has the climate that has begun to change the look and feel of the countryside in Baw Baw with even further reductions in rainfall and more hot days than only 8 years ago. Frequent storms, bushfires and heavy rain events have necessitated more spending on damage to roads and other infrastructure at the same time as the rising cost of insurance coupled with decreased household incomes due to reduced employment have led more families to choose not to insure their homes. In 2025, the need for strong community supports and volunteerism to help those in need has never been higher. Although we have not yet reached crisis time, the signs of stress after each natural disaster are showing. More and more people are aware that our community would be more resilient if there was a fairer way to distribute the wealth that has been created by more efficient manufacturing with robotics working 24hrs a day, self-driving cars, garbage trucks, street cleaners, taxis as well as robotic dairies and tractors managing our farms. Even retail and postal jobs have been further decimated with more online ordering and drone delivery of items. Inequality that began soaring about 50 years ago with the rise of neoliberalism has left many people disaffected, resentful and ready for change.

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There are, however, some reasons for celebration in these tough times. One has been the widespread transformation of our energy system. Five years ago we finally stopped building poor quality homes and offices that required massive energy input to keep us comfortable. Since 2020 every new home must comply with the Passive House standard and because of the volume and improved designs since then, the cost of building a home has not increased at all. There is no need for any heating or cooling system and our all electric, highly energy efficient appliances coupled with almost universal uptake of solar PV on buildings means that all new buildings actually produce more energy than they use. From 2017 we began systematically retrofitting existing houses to bring them to as close to this new standard as practical. Boy did that take some doing- there are hundreds of people doing that work in Baw Baw alone and some of our local businesses have developed such a good reputation for their expertise, they are training Americans who were sadly left behind a few years ago. Our larger, industrial users of energy are covered by a mixture of local production with solar, wind as well as from a large local biomass plant that produces heat and electricity which is fed with some of the waste streams that have not been diverted to recycling and also from the massive tree planting program we started 8 years ago. We also import some from the huge solar thermal plants now operating north of the divide who are also sending their power back to the Latrobe Valley via the same transmission lines that used to export the coal sourced power years ago. When Latrobe City realised they could become the natural home of heavy power using industry as Australia transforms into a

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renewable energy superpower, they successfully attracted data hubs, more manufacturing businesses, education and research facilities and in contrast to expectations, they're booming! Just like the previous era of coal power stations, many Baw Baw residents now also work in Latrobe. In order to deal with the rising summer temperatures making living in Baw Baw unpleasant at times, our council planted a lot of leafy street trees which cool our towns by evaporation and providing excellent shade. What is left of our carparks, which are progressively being turned into public spaces since the trend to driverless cars and falling car ownership picked up, have been covered in community owned solar panels, providing more shade as well as power for the community owned electric bus network which has made access to services possible for all shire residents. Possibly the best thing that happened in 2019 was the decision to stop any more of our agricultural land being developed. We made the decision to cope with increasing population by embracing apartment living in 3-4 storey blocks that now give Warragul, Drouin, Trafalgar and even Yarragon a more vibrant feel with more people using the public spaces, more nightlife and very popular community gardens at the same time as cementing our position as a reliable supplier of organic food locally, nationally and in overseas markets.

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More Detail: Where do we want to be? The following tables detail the exact comments made by workshop participants, either in the workshop or following the workshop. These have been grouped according to theme and strategies listed under BawBaw 2050, the community vision for Baw Baw Shire. Bold text is the stories from the image “where do we want to be?” Numbers in brackets indicates the number of votes the item received at the workshop (see the image on page 8)

Theme Exact comments from workshop participants

Residential development, landscapes and agricultural land

Preserve feeling while providing for a growing population (7)

Protect agriculture from other land uses and encroaching urban sprawl

Resolved tensions between land development for housing and agriculture

Changes to planning:

innovation of landuse

environmental v farming housing

Retaining and enhancing natural beauty of the area and sustainability of farming and community.

High value land retained for agriculture

Stop growth on prime red soil agricultural land

Preservation of what's unique in Gippsland (really important)

By 2025… Managing our growth to protect our landscapes and its beauty

Higher density development, and innovative land uses

Development of policies for the farming land retention versus population growth that are available and understood and including low to medium density encouragement

How do we manage growth into the future in a collaborative way that doesn’t isolate our communities nor lose our sense of community identity?

Rapidly growing suburbs in Melbourne and done it well - how did they plan it (knowing it takes 10 years for green to grow)

Autonomy in land use - more options (0)

Autonomy of land use in certain areas. Communities will be able to deal with change through accessing education and using land better.

Will have worked crashing through/around development barriers

High rise development

Medium density will manage and protect our value agricultural land (low impact) - story structures.

Socially and environmentally sustainable housing development

Encourage development of people/ family friendly housing incorporating community aspects – mixed housing to encourage a mix of ages, socio-economic mix

I think that all new homes being built should be “off the grid” and fully self sufficient

By 2025… Sustainable estate development – zero waste living

Warragul CBD CBD improvements (walkways and accommodation across town) shopping group (replacing the old Bonlac building) connection of Williams Square. Footpaths and linear trials done. Sporting areas done?

I would’ve liked to have seen the Milk Factory demolished by 2025 but it didn’t get a Guernsey on our table!

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Baw Baw in Gippsland Part of a new regional city (2)

City of Greater Baw Baw

Population largest in Gippsland

Community facilities are world class from health, recreation, cultural and educational

Strong economic centres

Destination of choice for Melbourne for food and tourism/lifestyle

Agriculture excellence – clean and green

Daily newspaper (0)

Work as a region- recognise that we are ‘too small’ to do it on our own

How does Baw Baw Shire fit into the broader Gippsland Region and how does it leverage this?

Social services and infrastructure Social networks: hospitals, libraries, aged care, child care, youth affairs, committee support

Council plan to focus on increasing asset renewal gap and need for firm financial commitment in our long term capital works program for asset renewal type projects. It’s important that we ensure level of service that our community enjoys today is maintained in the future unless we reset expectations around level of service.

Where the community can move about in a safe and efficient manner surrounded in a picturesque balanced urban and rural environment with well-maintained infrastructure for access to business, education, sport, recreation, health, art and cultural services

Great infrastructure to service the community: roads, parks, sporting facilities, shopping precincts, civic hubs, paths

Equity of services across the shire For many people out in the bush [well 20+ kms from the Princes Freeway], the story changes from one of how to cope with demand, but rather how to maintain services. Key issues that affect “remote” people:

Poor quality roads

Lack of connectivity – mobiles/internet/community

A general feeling that they are taken for granted

A lack of $ investment

Services are hard to access and if provided are unreliable/not flexible

A lack of empathy and understanding from “government” about how things work

Basic service loss as they are classed as inefficient or not warranted by a “town” mind

Expectations that the standards applied to the remote areas is the same as others yet the tools are not available to meet the standard…failure is a result

A general feeling that remote areas are a “nuisance” and an inconvenience

A somewhat patronising attitude is applied…communities not listened to and treated poorly Possible solution - a “mobile” council. This would help break down some of the barriers; perceived or real.

Mobile Council (2)

Connect the greater community and smaller towns - inclusive.

Public transport connections Usable transport: 3rd train line, buses, uber (12)

Fast train services to between Melbourne and Baw Baw equipped with WiFi and NBN access

I thought it was a good session. I was a supporter of improved public transport. New subdivisions to CBD, inter-town and dedicated V/Line to Southern Cross with more trains.

Public transport comparable to cars (we will have a third railway in and bus Services between our towns) - better than Ikea in 2020

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(council service will exceed this model). Use of technology to grow.

Vibrant community Vibrant cohesive art, culture, open spaces, inclusive, healthy (12)

Community hubs - support, gathering, education - remotely around the shire (6)

By 2025… Have invested in our libraries for greater quality as community hubs for wellbeing and greater connectedness

By 2025… Supported education and early learning in integrated hubs

Over the past few years, we have listened to our communities and all have spaces and places to gather, exercise in and work together

Develop/encourage a cafe culture at Warragul/Drouin

Vibrant cohesive art, culture, open spaces, inclusive, healthy (12)

A network of Gippsland Performing Arts Centre/Galleries with the purpose of promoting greater Gippsland but using Baw Baw as a gateway proposition by targeting Casey/Cardinia catchment area

Real desire to draw from leadership of local communities (work land in a more economic sustainable way)

Citizens involved in the strategic life of the place

Sports and recreation Inclusive sporting clubs - age, gender, abilities etc (4)

Community sporting clubs have become:

Opportunities to participate

Welcoming and inclusive

Leadership – including women

Sustainable financially

Enough volunteers

Engaging women and girls

Family friendly

Facilities – women and girls

People with disabilities

[No] illicit drugs, smoking, alcohol

Healthy eating

Have a good experience

Develop more space for people to play. Growth area is women’s sport (broader range of participation). Includes the broad range capacity to accommodate a wide range of sport and participation type. My mother 89 long term bowler (couldn't stand for 21 ends) - encourage sports (redesign the game and facilities

Bike and walking paths (2)

Green space and parks

By 2025… Communities have better pedestrian and cycleway facilities – safer and health and wellbeing. Better recreation facilities

Recreational: sport, tourists, walking trails, history

Connections and social inclusion More connected - to each other, to education, to aboriginal culture, for mental health (1)

Socially diverse and cohesive society

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Do not want out larger towns to become ‘commuter’ towns

Welcoming and accepting community (gender equity) which is reflected in our services across the municipality

Socially inclusive and celebrating community

Diversity of community, multicultural community – changing food/culture/language. Change, connection, understanding.

Maintain law and order

Youth development and support Invest in young people - youth council, support, mentorship, connect with community (7)

Improve tertiary/technical skills development for our kids

More investment in young people (mentoring programs) to get inspired and involved in the community. Community volunteer participation. Young representatives in council in 8 years is very apparent.

Aged support Universal design in anticipation of an aged population

Outlying communities/ urban growth

Access to age care in home – helping farmers stay in home. Nursing home in farm environment

Climate variability and change Planned withdrawal of underutilised infrastructure and climate change ready – embracing the opportunities

The theme of climate variability and how this might be addressed/managed could be worth further consideration.

Environmental protection The importance of clean water and air could be made as well as protection of soils and nutrients. For the CMA this means healthy waterways and Baw Baw has some of the best in our region (think upper Latrobe and Thomson etc). It also worth remembering how connected Baw Baw is to the Gippsland Lakes being the upper most LG area in the GL catchment. It would be great to reflect this in any future plan developed by the Council.

On reflection I it was interesting that many of the ideas were underpinned by a healthy and sustainable environment (let call them healthy landscapes) or natural resource base.

Weed strategy

Road sides

Private land

Plantations Outcomes

Reduced use of chemicals long term

Government and community working together

Reduce neighbour conflicts eg organic/non-organic

Involve non-resident land owners

Energy disruption and renewables Energy disruption and its impact on future infrastructure needs. There needs to be some ongoing commitment and vision around this in our council plan.

Need a means of renewal energy attracted to the area or developed ‘quickly’

By 2025… Celebrated having reached 100% renewables in the shire

Baw Baw Shire Council Great customer service (0)

As a community member I can access up-to-date and relevant information on Council website for council business in supporting and delivering the community services.

Transparent in council

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Baw Baw Council will have a close and engaging relationship with the Southern Alpine Resort Management Board, who act as the Committee of Management of Mount Baw Baw. Whilst primarily at officer level between the General Manager of MBB and the Director of Economic Development as facilitators of the mutually beneficial relationship, the board members and councillors meet at least annually to discuss issues that may be of mutual interest. The importance of MBB is recognised by Council, in that MBB provides a sizeable number of direct employment opportunities to residents of Baw Baw Shire, and purchases a significant proportion of the goods and services consumed in the resort. The relationship goes beyond this as the Council is:

Contracted to provide Emergency Management Planning Services to the board to enable the board to fulfil its legislated responsibilities

Contracted to act as the public food and safety…………..

Contracted to provide building inspection services to the board.

Committed to the maintenance of the South Face Road access road to MBB for which it has responsibility (during the declared snow season)

Contracted to provide waste removal services for MBB

Jointly promoting the touring route that encompasses, regional tourism places of interest including, Noojee, Tanjil, Mount Baw Baw, Walhalla, Rawson, Erica, Moe, Warragul and Drouin

Appreciative of the role played by MBB staff in the development of local tourism body strategies.

Pleased that it worked with the SARMB and other regional organisations to successful win approval and funding for the sealing of South Face Road (as the auspicing body?)

Inclusive of the MBB management team and staff in selected aspects of its staff training and professional development program (MBB to contribute financially)

Appreciative of being invited to participate actively in discussing the strategic direction for MBB

Provided with the opportunity to quote on the provision of civil works services and/or the hire (dry or otherwise) of plant and equipment needed by MBB from time.

Welcoming to MBB visitors and staff who want to be involved with the BB Shire community and its sporting, arts and cultural offerings.

Working in partnership with MBB to foster relationships with the Gunaikunai people to recognise traditional owner cultural heritage.

Private/Public partnerships and grants Public/Private partnerships (3)

Leverage grants (0)

Leveraged off the opportunities provided by the Latrobe Valley Authority and other grant mechanisms

Business and development Big increase in industry

Sustainable jobs and changing job structure

Thriving small medium enterprise sector working collaboratively, developing world class products and services providing 85% of our employment opportunities (stable workforce) and providing jobs for young people (retaining them and professionals local).

Incentives for the development of business parks/precincts and supporting value adding industries to take up positions to increase innovation and diversity of the economy

Encouraging the relocation of a federal or state government department to the region

By 2025… Assisting business development in towns

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Industrial development Industrial areas to support businesses: land, transport, utilities water/gas/electricity

Industrial/boundaries for town (road and rail infrastructure - will be key to enable industry and community) - road infrastructure (plan have sufficient road structure - open for industry you will need twice the road infrastructure we have now). Cost to council and planning will be critical.

Attracting new and younger workers How will Baw Baw Shire attract and retain younger/ new workers to the area to address future impacts brought about by an aging population?

By 2025… Enough jobs to keep our younger people in the area (influencing industry/employers)

Developing the Baw Baw identity and marketing it

Confident in our role (5)

Punch above our weight (0)

What does Baw Baw Shire want to be known for and what message does it want to communicate externally?

Who are we and what do we want? What is our unique business proposition? Paddock to plate full chain supply

Baw Baw maintains its core strengths amidst growing population and demographic changes

Baw Baw fully develops its strengths to increase visitation from outside the region

Will have identified comparative advantage

We are the bridge between city and country - identity

Develop an effective marketing plan for the shire in order to:

Promote industry

Agriculture

Tourism

Strategies for integrated tourist information, development of maps, touring information, day tours, electronic app but linked to global Gippsland strategy or Destination Management Plan

Tourism strategy

Emphasis on working opportunities within the shire:

Manufacturing

New technologies

Education

Health

By 2025… Organic industry is recognised as world class

Council’s role in Baw Baw / identity Confident in its role in Victoria (and Gippsland) a defined identity. Review the fundamental role of government. What services do we play in? Greater level of involvement and participation with private sector. Development barriers broken through which are fostering economic development. Part of a new regional city - we will be.

Confident in its role within Victoria and Gippsland.

Conducted a fundamental review of the role of Local Government

Greater levels of private sector involvement/partnership

Communications, innovation and transformation

Innovators in business and technology (12)

Viewed as ‘smart’, ‘innovative’, ‘entrepreneurial’.

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By 2025… Keeping pace with technology and automation and supporting this change ie education

Wireless infrastructure with no black spots for phones and internet

By 2025… Capturing the right data and using it wisely Having in place access and IT connectedness to support a knowledge economy

Connected with key transport (train) and infrastructure (IT). Smart city.

Fast train services to between Melbourne and Baw Baw equipped with WiFi and NBN access

Food, culture and local attraction based tourism

Food narrative and culture - tie into nature, bikes, safety (7) integration with transport, accommodation, tourism, hospitality, arts and culture (3)

Food narrative (food culture) - we write something to invite and attract people to the area (nature base experience and food). Food hub and farmers market, cooking school, harvesting weeds and mushrooms. Paddle in the Latrobe river - and ride either in the best in the Victoria road race or mountain bike at a number of designated tracks (i.e Rokeby)

We have done what we said we would and have communicated it well. Our farmers markets have grown and are the focal point for the many food growing and food related businesses and experiences in the shire

Event tourism - conversations in the SRV the place to be (and world class facilities and accommodation)

Baw Baw is an attractive place to live and visit that offers great places to visit and utilised (playing on its strengths and environment)

Visitor economy connections to the surrounding countryside and Alpine region through buses, Uber bush taxis, wine/deli trail etc

By 2025… Actively supporting our local tourism and its access

By 2025… Utilising past to reap benefits for future

Camping, farm stays, nature based tourism

U-camp (2)

Tourism destination - in 8 years’ time we are talking to our friends in the UK and you can camp on a river (which have great facilities) - designated locations. Historic town - who are we attracting? You farm (like an air B&B) - book to camp on my property? Incentives for farm owners to set up facilities and experience the cafes and arts shows we offer

Tourism

farm stays

local visitors and day trippers Mount Worth State Park

improved access to Park

Include in tourism strategy

What accommodation options in the area

Marketing strategy

Bold text is the stories from the image “where do we want to be?” Numbers in brackets indicates the number of votes the item received at the workshop (see the image on page 8)

baw baw shire council futures workshop · rapidly growing suburbs in melbourne and done it well -...

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