Traders and tourism

What we heard

Across all four trader associations (Altona Village, Newport, Spotswood and Williamstown), three strong themes emerged:

• The need for greater investment in economic development and activations across the activity centres, and more long-term and strategic funding to support businesses.

• Clearer planning and reporting of projects and initiatives for activity centres

• The desire for larger events and activations to make our activity centres more enticing destinations.

What we’re doing

• We’ll develop a multi-year action plan to define priorities, programs and investments, and we’ll be clearer in our communications about our initiatives.

• We’ll develop a new framework to guide our tourism strategy, and review funding to enable larger or longer activations.

• We’ll work with each trader association to address precinct-specific issues.

Our traders have told us that revitalisation of our business precincts is important to their communities, so as part of our Council Plan commitment to renew and upgrade key activity centres to deliver accessible, safe and welcoming streetscapes that reflect suburb identities, we propose to deliver upgrades to Hudsons Road in Spotswood, and to Borrack Square in Altona North, supported by state government funding.

What we heard

Clubs wanted us to continue upgrading grounds and buildings, to improve lighting, to address demand for netball and basketball courts and synthetic sportsgrounds for year-round use.

What we’re doing

Our sporting clubs shared with us the importance of upgrading recreation facilities to keep up with high demand, so as part of our Council Plan commitment to provide accessible and well-maintained community facilities that meet community expectations and needs we propose to redevelop:

• Edwards Reserve in South Kingsville

• Bond Reserve in Altona North

• Renew irrigation at JK Grant Oval 2 in Altona

• Sealing car parks at three sporting reserves across the city, with part funding from the state government.

While some sports facility upgrades are not scheduled immediately, we’re actively doing strategic work in the background. Asset audits and a sports facility needs analysis, as well as an upcoming sport infrastructure action plan, will help determine the renewal and upgrade priorities across grounds, buildings, lighting and recreation infrastructure.

We’re also finalising an aquatic strategy to guide the funding and activities for our aquatic centres over the next four years.

What we heard

Council engaged in discussions with stakeholders including community groups, market organisers, event producers, and venue users, from Brooklyn Community Hall to the Williamstown Town Hall.

The major themes were:

• The pressure of rising operating costs and the need for Council to increase events funding and consider multi-year grants.

• The need for more flexible ways to access major venues, particularly Williamstown Town Hall, through subsidies or sponsorships.

• Community centres and neighbourhood houses are facing workforce and service delivery challenges and require more than annual CPI-based increases.

What we’re doing

• Recognising cost pressures, we’ll investigate increasing the cap on Make It Happen grants for events.

• No fee increases for markets for 2026–27 and we'll review market models and how we can provide practical support.

• We’ll propose a one-off 15 per cent funding increase for community centres and review the funding model.

• We'll develop a venue subsidy framework for 2026–27.

• No fee increases for Brooklyn Hall to continue supporting community activation.

• Begin developing Council’s new Reconciliation Action Plan

• Develop a new service delivery model for Community Support Services for older people

• Adopt and start implementing a Sports and Recreation Allocations, Fees and Charges Policy

• Develop a Co‑location Policy so external partners supporting young people can operate from Council facilities

• Develop a Community Garden Framework and Guidelines

• Identify gaps in family violence services in Hobsons Bay

• Develop a Tree Planting Policy for Council consideration

• Deliver education programs and campaigns to improve household and business use of waste and recycling bins

• Trial the use of permeable materials in kerbs and channels through a pilot project

• Endorse and implement a Contaminated Land Framework

• Deliver upgrades to activity centres through the Activity Centre Improvement Program

• Develop a Tourism and Visitor Economy Strategy

• Begin development of a Parking Management Action Plan

• Complete Council’s new Creative City Arts and Culture Plan

• Begin implementing Council’s new policy framework

• Develop and begin delivering a Good Governance training framework

• Review funding models for community centres and neighbourhood houses

• Undertake building condition audits to support long‑term asset renewal and sustainability