Draft Community Infrastructure Plan out for public exhibition

Ballarat City Council endorsed the Draft Community Infrastructure Plan at the 25 May Council meeting and is now open for feedback from the community.  

The plan will guide future planning decisions around investment in facilities to ensure the equitable, efficient, and sustainable provision of high-quality community infrastructure across the municipality that meets community’s current and future needs. 

Community infrastructure benefits the entire community and plays a significant role in enhancing the lives of people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.  

The development of the plan demonstrates that community infrastructure planning and delivery is guided by a robust, consistent, and transparent process. 

The outcomes of the plan have been built on extensive community consultation and analysis of needs through the Community Infrastructure Planning Policy, adopted in September 2020, and the Community Needs and Gap Analysis conducted in July 2021. 

The Needs and Gap Analysis Report considered infrastructure audit results in relation to provision and service standards and demand assessments to identify both current and future gaps in community infrastructure.  

City of Ballarat Deputy Mayor, Cr Amy Johnson said this Community Infrastructure Plan represents a real and positive change to the future of community facilities in the municipality.  

“This is such an exciting new plan for the City of Ballarat,” she said.  

“This plan lays out the ways in which we are making deliberate, considered, and transparent decisions to make a real difference to the lives of the people of our city. 

“By looking at the areas of Ballarat that need these facilities the most and making sure we have a plan that not just provides these in the short term but ensures we are providing these essential facilities for the future, we can build a more equitable and connected community.”  

The draft plan identifies 15 capital projects for delivery over the next 15 years including six multipurpose community hubs and community meetings spaces to service all age cohorts. 

These projects are major community infrastructure projects with minor works on other community facilities continuing to be delivered through a program of works in recurrent budgets. 

The plan details four Community hubs including early years facilities in Alfredton, Sebastopol, Winter Valley, and Ballarat Central as well as two new community hubs/meeting spaces.  

It also includes five kindergarten projects to increase capacity of services with extensions to existing facilities, major refurbishments, and one new facility.  

Three Library projects re also part of the plan to ensure high quality infrastructure that caters to the growing population and service needs including new libraries for Delacombe and Wendouree.  

Community members will have a chance to review and provide feedback on the Draft Community Infrastructure Plan from 26 May - 17 June 2022 via our MySay online platform.