Community Assembly guides new Open Space Strategy for the Macedon Ranges Shire

Recommendations put forward by an Open Space Community Assembly are being closely reviewed for inclusion in the draft Open Space Strategy for the Macedon Ranges Shire.

Towns and villages in the Macedon Ranges are surrounded by significant landscapes and contain a diversity of open spaces. These have high aesthetic, conservation, biodiversity, social, economic, and cultural heritage values.

Council owns and manages over 900 hectares of open space including public parks, waterways, recreation reserves and bushland conservation reserves.

Some towns are growing, the climate is changing and new recreation trends are emerging. Strategic decisions must be made about the future of parks, sporting fields and recreation to balance the needs of the wider community with protecting the natural beauty of the shire.

Assembly members recommended five key priorities as part of Council’s strategy development and four criteria for a decision-making framework on its future investment in open space.

Assembly members say collaboration with each other, the project consultants and Council’s planners throughout a complex process has been a positive experience.

Twenty-seven community members were appointed to the Assembly via an independent selection process, managed by deliberative engagement specialists i.e. community.

Assembly members reviewed community feedback provided through consultation activities held from February to April this year. This included an online survey revealing community preferences, perceptions and values related to open space, and future priorities for parks, playgrounds, sporting grounds, conservation areas and bushland reserves.

Five top priorities were backed by 87.5% of the Community Assembly, with broad support for:

• Protecting and enhancing biodiversity.

• The standard of maintenance.

• The type of open space.

• Provision of pathways for walking and rolling.

• Physical accessibility of open space.

The Assembly was also asked: “What are the key factors Council should consider from a community perspective when making decisions about investment in open space”?

In response, members voted on their top four criteria to feed into the strategy’s decision-making framework, which will determine investment in open space resources. These are:

• How does open space deliver on the shire-wide priorities?

• How will Council support and sustain local community groups or committees of management to help design and maintain the open space, and implement the Open Space Strategy?

• How will the open space contribute to the adaptation and mitigation of climate change and Council’s Climate Change Strategy?

• How will the development respond to local environmental character (pre and post settlement), town culture and identity?

Director Environment and Planning, Rebecca Stockfeld said the feedback from participants has been very positive about the transparency of the deliberative engagement process.

“Empowering Assembly members to represent community views in future decision-making sets an important benchmark for how we go about major strategic planning projects.”

The project team will integrate the outcomes of the Community Assembly into the draft strategy, for Council to consider in the first half of 2023.

Towns and villages in the Macedon Ranges are surrounded by significant landscapes and contain a diversity of open spaces. These have high aesthetic, conservation, biodiversity, social, economic, and cultural heritage values.

Image: Courtesy Visit Macedon Ranges