22 October 2021

The future of Spotswood and South Kingsville - captured in a Place Guide

Better Places is focused on taking a more placed based approach - thinking in terms of overall ‘places’ rather than individual ‘pieces’ - and providing a new model for the way that Council designs and delivers projects.

After 12 months of consultation with our local community, the Better Places program has developed 16 projects designed to make Spotswood and South Kingsville better places to live, work and visit. Thank you to everyone who shared their ideas and took part in the Better Places process.

The Spotswood + South Kingsville Place Guide provides a summary of the visioning process undertaken, the community input and key findings and sets out the projects and improvements that will be undertaken into the future.

We invite you to view the final Spotswood + South Kingsville Place Guide, which was adopted at the Council Meeting on 12 October 2021.

Background

A new approach to change

The Better Places program has recently been developed by Hobsons Bay City Council to provide a more holistic and integrated approach to thinking about and designing for change into the future. Better Places is focused on taking a more placed based approach - thinking in terms of overall ‘places’ rather than individual ‘pieces’ - and providing a new model for the way that Council designs and delivers projects.

Better Places also aims to more actively involve the community in the process of shaping the place they live in, helping to create a vision that not only reflects their values, ideas and priorities, but also provides practical ideas and clear steps towards turning the vision into real improvements into the future.

The Better Places process has taken around 12 months for Spotswood and South Kingsville which is done in three main stages:

At the first stage of the process we asked stakeholders three simple questions:

  • What do you LOVE about the area?
  • What would you CHANGE?
  • What big IDEAS to you have for the future?

The second stage was completed in April where a draft Vision, with guiding principles and project ideas were presented. Stakeholders were asked whether they agreed with the vision and whether the projects would help achieve the vision. People were also asked to provide any other ideas they felt had been missed.

In the final stage of the process, we asked for input on each individual project shared in the draft Place Guide. We also offered the opportunity to register your interest on a project-by-project basis by visiting the project website www.better-places.com.au

Previous engagement

16 Projects designed to help make Spotswood & South Kingsville better places to live.

A program of projects has been refined throughout the process based on input and feedback from all community stakeholders. The projects are a mix of short, medium, and longer-term initiatives with some able to be completely delivered by Council. For those projects that are larger and more ambitious in terms of their impact on the area, a collaborative effort will be necessary between Council, Community, Industry and State Government. The delivery program can be found in the last section of the place guide above.

A project website has been setup to gather final feedback as well as provide opportunity for people register to stay involved or informed.

Visit www.better-places.com.au

Please find in the document library information about Better Places translated in Arabic, Greek, Italian, Serbian and Italian.

We invite you to:

  • explore www.better-places.com.au to register and stay involved
  • chat with members of the Better Places project team and share your feedback in-person during one of our community engagement sessions. Register to attend these using the links provided on the right-hand side of the page
  • provide any general comments and feedback on the Place Guide or Better Places program, please do so on the form below
We are seeking your feedback between Wednesday 30 June until 5:00pm, Wednesday 11 August 2021.

Key themes

Better Places Spotswood and South Kingsville Key Themes

The vision is further broken down into four (4) key themes:

  • Remembering Our Past, Shaping Our Future
  • Changing How We Move Into The Future
  • Improving + Greening Our Spaces and Places
  • Enhancing Our Village Lifestyle