prepared by here studio22 April 2013

Creswick Ward Community Plan 2013-2017

Facilitators’ Report

for Creswick Ward Community Committee (CWCC)

The Creswick Ward Community Committee (CWCC) is developing a Community Plan, which aims to set out the future vision for Creswick between 2013-2017. In December 2012, the CWCC produced an Interim Plan for feedback and ideas from the community.

Here Studio was invited by the CWCC and the Hepburn Shire Council to facilitate three community workshops. Here Studio’s facilitation approach was to use asset-based methods and to see the workshops as an opportunity for skill-sharing and community development.

The key ideas and issues from the workshops are intended to be used to inform the CWCC in developing a draft Community Plan to present back to the community in May 2013. CWCC will then submit the revised Community Plan to the Hepburn Shire Council in June 2013.

Workshop processThe community workshop process was an opportunity for residents to meet face-to-face to discuss and share tools for the community’s own work to develop a Community Plan.

Workshop activities and discussions facilitated by Here Studio were designed to encourage the community to think creatively about the following three theme questions:

• Who are we?• How do we come together?• How do we do it?

Workshop activities and outcomes have been outlined in the Workshop Summaries in Appendix A.

About this reportThis report is a summary of key findings from the Creswick Ward Community Plan workshop process undertaken between February and March 2013. The report references the Workshop Summaries in Appendix A where necessary but aims to avoid duplication of content. All workshops were held at the Doug Lindsay Recreation Reserve:

• Workshop 1 on 6 February 2013 (Wednesday) from 7:30-9:30pm and was attended by approximately 50 people

• Workshop 2 on 20 February 2013 (Wednesday) from 7:30-10:00pm was attended by approximately 50 people

• Workshop 3 on 20 March 2013 (Wednesday) from 7:30-10:00pm was attended by approximately 20 people

The report also offers a suggested Community Plan structure and content based on these key findings, which could provide a starting point for the CWCC’s draft Community Plan. The notes in blue italics are to guide CWCC on potential ways of developing or synthesising the input received from the community during the workshops.

LimitationsAs all three workshops were held in the evenings on a Wednesday night and quite late in the evening 7:30-10:00pm on average, some members

of the community may not have been available to attend at this time.Further, the majority of participants were aged 55+, with some aged 30-55, and one primary school student attending. No teenagers or young adults were present at these workshops.

Audrey Winther from the CWCC also conducted surveys at the three primary schools in Creswick, and the input from these children should also be considered in the development of the Community Plan.

While the first two workshops were well attended and positive feedback was received, the final workshop had a significant drop in the number of participants. This is likely to be due to number of reasons such as conflicting events being held at the same time, a lack of communication/advertising about the workshop in the month between workshop 2 and 3, a lack of interest and/or burn-out or disengagement due to over-consultation.

Concurrent to this workshop process, two other community engagement processes were being conducted by others. On Sunday 17 February 2013, the Hepburn Shire Council conducted a community workshop for engagement on Council’s 4-year plan and launched an online engagement website Oursay.org for feedback from the community on their “Big Ideas”. On 27 March 2013, the Creswick Bendigo Bank Forum was held for local community groups to flag their intention to seek funding from the bank for their projects.

Introduction

Community Input

Community valuesThroughout the workshop process, there was a resounding sense that the people who live in Creswick love Creswick.

The things that people said that they love the most about Creswick were: the natural environment, the people, the community, the potential that it has, that it is small and quiet, its location, its heritage, the lifestyle, and that it is a great place to raise children.

The defining qualities of Creswick that are highly valued by the community are:

• Its friendliness and welcoming nature as a small country-town• Creswick’s heritage as represented in its buildings and streetscapes• The natural environment and physical features including forests, parks, lakes, creeks, reserves and walking/cycling tracks• The level of volunteerism and number of active community groups

Key issues for CreswickFeedback has indicated that the key issues faced by Creswick to be addressed in the Community Plan are:

• Heritage buildings and places need to be enhanced and restored, made more accessible and visible• Safety in streets to be improved with increased security,

better public spaces especially paving, better maintenance, and eventually a truck bypass• Environmental sustainability should become more of a priority• Natural environments need to be protected (flood mitigation strategies, bushfire plans) and celebrated (walking/cycling trails)• More communication between the many active community groups (the directory was a good starting point!)• Lack of local food and produce shopping options• Need for improved public transport amenity and infrastructure• Light industry and businesses for employment need to be encouraged• An aging population

The Community PlanIn workshop three there was an opportunity for participants to present their thoughts directly to CWCC, and CWCC responded back to the groups on what they had heard. The main points out of this discussion are important considerations in the preparation of the Community Plan.

“What do you want your Community Plan to be?”

• The Community Plan should be a clear, concise visual document• The Community Plan should be readable, accessible, and something people want to look at• The Community Plan should include a vision statement that is unique and relevant to Creswick• The Community Plan should include goals and projects that are realistic and achievable in

terms of timelines and budgets• The Community Plan should include projects that all members of the community can participate in• The Community Plan should have a balance of (a) large long-term projects that need forward planning and external funding and (b) smaller short- term projects that can be realistically achieved using resources already available in the community

“What do you want your Community Plan to do?”

• The Community Plan should encourage disparate groups to actively work together and describe Council + CWCC’s role in facilitating these community groups• The Community Plan should enable the community to start with things that already exist and getting those up to scratch first and building upon them• The Community Plan should describe CWCC’s role in facilitating groups to achieve projects and that they should be accountable for communicating to the community on how the projects are going• The Community Plan should enable CWCC to advocate for projects in Creswick on behalf of the community• The Community Plan should alleviate concerns about continuity of CWCC members following the June election• The Community Plan should be used to get projects done!

Our history

The historic Victorian gold mining town of Creswick is a picturesque town with a resident population of more than 3,000 people. Prior to white settlement, aboriginal inhabitants included the Djadja Wurrung and the Wemba-Wemba people.

Creswick lies at the heart of the central goldfields, just 16kms north of Ballarat and neighbouring the iconic tourism regions of Clunes, Daylesford, the Hepburn spa country, and the Macedon Ranges.

Built on the proceeds of rich gold deposits mined from the 1850’s, Creswick today proudly displays fine examples of the grand architecture of the era. A stroll down the main street will reveal a number of historic buildings including the former State Savings Bank, Post Office, Library, and Havilah Masonic Lodge.

Far from being ‘just’ a mining town, Creswick is the Australian birthplace of reforestation. John La Gerche began re-planting forest areas ravaged by mining activity in 1882. Today, much of La Gerche’s work survives around Creswick including magnificent plantings lining local streets and a 40min walk which highlights his work.

Creswick has a rich heritage and has produced some of Australia’s most influential bureaucrats, politicians and business people including John Curtin, Australia’s 14th Prime Minister, and the multi-talented Lindsay Family.

Sample Community Plan Structure & Content

Our vision

As a community, our vision for Creswick for 2013-2017 is:

Our principles

We believe it is important to identify the principles that will help us to achieve our vision and guide us in our decision-making processes:

The eight groups (4-5 people per group) at the second workshop each developed a vision statement.

Refer Appendix B: Workshop 3 Visions

•Does the vision statement provide a clear picture of what Creswick will be like in 2017?•Does the vision statement give our community a sense of purpose?•Does the vision statement describe and emphasize what we want to achieve?•Does the vision statement provide us with excitement and inspiration?

Many of these vision statements have common themes. Some frequently used keywords and ideas include: community, sustainability, environment, enhance, liveability, vibrant, inclusivity.

At the third workshop, some participants stated the need for one common vision statement. Alternatively, a number of statements that together make up the vision could be included in the Community Plan to acknowledge the multidimensional nature of a community vision.

Participants strongly felt the need for a vision statement that is unique and specific to Creswick (not a motherhood statement).

This is just sample text. A community profile could also be included.

The groups at the second workshop also developed principles to achieve the vision statements discussed above.

Refer Appendix B: Workshop 3 Principles

•How do we work together to achieve our vision?•How do we make decisions together?•What process do we undertake?•How do we decide who is involved?

We will...

We will...

We will...

We will...

We will...

How we will work together

Responsibility for the success of our Community Plan rests with everybody in our community. To achieve all of the aspirations in our Community Plan, we will require a strong commitment and partnerships between individuals, community groups, Council, businesses and institutions.To coordinate the delivery of this Community Plan, the CWCC will facilitate these partnerships between community groups, Council, and businesses. As these partnerships develop, all members will be required to outline how they will contribute to the implementation of this plan.

Long-term projectsWe have identified a number of long-term projects which will require forward planning and significant funding and time to achieve.

Short-term projects

There are also a number of smaller short-term projects which we will prioritise in our 2013-2017 Community Plan.

How we will implement our community plan

Using the process that participants of the second workshop undertook to develop a project implementation plan, the objectives, strategies, and actions for each project could be identified. Objectives could be categorised into the five themes that CWCC developed for the Draft Interim Plan.

Refer Appendix A: Workshop 2 Summary

•How does the project demonstrate our vision statement and principles?•What assets in the community would be mobilised?•How do we make the project happen?•When will it happen? What are the key events in the project timeline?

How we will evaluate and communicate

As a community we need to measure our progress to ensure that we are on track to achieving our goals for 2013-2017 by fulfilling our objectives, strategies, and actions. The use of performance indicators will help us to see how we are going and which areas need improvement. Our performance indicators will be:

We will communicate this to each other annually by:

Depending on the level of development and engagement with community groups, businesses and Council on the Community Plan this section may be more or less defined. The text here is only included as a starting point.

From the Future 2033 Scenario and other discussions, some long-term projects such as the Aquatic Centre and a Secondary College were identified. While these aspirational projects may not occur immediately, small steps may need to be planned for in this Community Plan.

At workshop 3, it was highlighted by many participants that it is important to choose projects that are achievable within the timeframe and budget, and that all members of the community can participate in.

Given the amount of time and effort spent by the community to engage with the process to develop this Community Plan, it is critical that the Plan is reviewed at least annually and that key indicators are reported back to the community to allow thesuccess of the plan implementation to be monitored.

1

2

4

5Refer Appendix A: Workshop 2 Summary

Objective A

Strategy 1

Action 1.1

Action 1.2

Strategy 2

Action 2.1

When will it happen?

2013

2013

2014

ABC

ABC

ABC

How will we know

it has happened?

Key contacts

Measure B

Measure A

Measure C

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2

3

6

7

8

4

5

9

10

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