The Bairnsdale Growth Strategy
Planning for the future of Bairnsdale in 2050
The Challenge
Bairnsdale is the regional shopping, service and civic hub for East Gippsland. Its vibrancy, attractiveness and continued development will form the basis of a robust and evolving economy in the Shire. However, in the face of demographic change and economic challenges, revitalisation is required to ensure that Bairnsdale can accommodate a significant share of population and employment growth in Gippsland in the future and maintain its primacy as the regional service centre for surrounding communities.
The Bairnsdale Growth Strategy will provide the strategic policy foundation to guide the sustainable development of Bairnsdale over the next 30 years. Council understands that community and stakeholder participation is vital to any urban change process and will underpin a successful outcome for the Growth Strategy.
What We Did
In partnership with SGS Economics & Planning and Hodyl & Co., CoFutures is leading the community engagement process for this complex and multi-disciplinary project. Feedback from this process will be used to inform a ‘prototype’ Growth Strategy. To date we have:
- Developed a comprehensive Engagement and Communications Plan in collaboration with Council.
- Recruited and assembled a 12-person Community Panel to guide the development of the Growth Strategy.
- Designed a mix of in-person and digital engagement activities and collateral.
Outcomes
Planning and preparation for this project is underway, with community consultation planned to launch later in 2024. The feedback from the engagement process will be used to inform the development of a Draft Growth Plan for Bairnsdale, which will be further tested and refined through a second round of community engagement.
