The Bass Coast Neighbourhood Character Study and Housing Strategy
Planning for housing growth and change in Bass Coast
The Challenge
Bass Coast Shire Council is one of regional Victoria’s fastest growing municipalities and is well known for its popular seaside villages, rural hamlets and vibrant urban settlements. These ‘pull-factors’ have seen an influx of new residents to the Shire in recent years, placing increasing pressure on existing residential areas. Bass Coast Shire has also been identified as a State-significant distinctive area and its natural landscape setting is amongst the most valued characteristics by local residents. To ensure that housing growth and change is carefully managed over the next 20 years, Bass Coast Shire Council is preparing a Neighbourhood Character Study and Housing Strategy. These documents will guide strategic land use planning to ensure valued characteristics are protected and new housing is delivered in ‘the right’ locations across the municipality.
CoFutures is leading a comprehensive program of stakeholder and community consultation to gather feedback on neighbourhood character values, housing needs and preferences to inform the Draft Studies.
What We Did
To date, CoFutures has:
- Developed a comprehensive five-point engagement strategy and communications plan to reach a wide range of stakeholders and community groups.
- Developed a bespoke project brand, visually engaging communication materials and feedback surveys for hard-copy and digital formats.
- Created a series of animated explainer videos to explain key concepts relating to neighbourhood character and housing change.
- Delivered a series of in-person community information sessions across the Shire.
- Facilitated online workshops with key stakeholder groups to understand threats and opportunities for housing and character in Bass Coast.
- Reviewed community feedback and prepared a graphic summary report of engagement findings.
Outcomes
The first phase of the consultation was completed in 2022, receiving more than 1,500 individual pieces of feedback across a variety of feedback channels. This has been one of the highest participation rates recorded for Council's strategic planning projects. CoFutures is continuing to work with Council to deliver the second phase of community and stakeholder consultation across 2023/2024.
