With community submissions for Alpine Shire Council's draft Community Vision and Council Plan 2025-29 now closed, Council would like to take this opportunity to thank the community for their input.
Alpine Shire Mayor, Cr Sarah Nicholas, said with engagement for the draft Plan starting back in July last year, it had been a monumental effort to get to this point.
"We started with our initial survey in mid-2024, followed by pop-ups at local markets, a follow up survey, the formation of a Community Panel, who attended six intensive sessions earlier this year, and an additional six pop-ups just in the past month," she said.
"We thank everyone for the tireless work done over the past 11 months to engage with a broad cross section of our community; in fact, this has been one of our largest engagement projects to date."
Cr Nicholas said Council had received a broad range of feedback during the submission period over the past four weeks.
"We welcome all feedback on the Plan – it’s an important document that guides the future of our community, and robust conversation is a healthy part of that process," she said.
"We look forward to exploring all of the comments, suggestions, ideas and questions our community has put to us as we strengthen the final Plan even further prior to adoption."
Cr Nicholas explained that Alpine Shire Council’s draft Plan is a high-level, strategic document that sets our direction for the next four years.
"It is not a detailed action plan; the detail of delivery is developed as part of the plan-design-deliver cycle of good governance, throughout the life of the Council Plan," she said.
"We have built on previous achievements, such as reaching our carbon neutral target in 2024, and new initiatives include developing a Tourism and Events Strategy, as well as refreshing our Economic Development Strategy, over the next four years.
"We also acknowledge that some of our communities’ needs sit outside our jurisdiction, requiring an advocacy role by Council, and this is clearly demonstrated in the draft Plan."
Improving customer service and response times is a key priority in the draft Plan, with a particular focus on planning matters.
“To support this, a new Customer Charter is being developed to set clear service standards and ensure our customers receive timely, transparent, and consistent communication,” Cr Nicholas said.
“We know how important it is for our community to feel heard and supported and the Customer Charter will help us deliver a more responsive and reliable experience for everyone.”
Cr Nicholas said Council remains open to constructive feedback; however, it is also very proud of the work that’s gone into developing the draft Plan.
"We remain committed to working alongside all sectors of our community to ensure the final document reflects the diverse needs and priorities of the people we serve, and benefits our Shire as a whole," she said.
"We can reassure the community that we won't be rushing the final adoption of the final Plan and will take the time needed to consider the feedback we've received and present the best possible Plan for our community."