Media Release on first round of community consultation

Community Voice Shapes a New Plan for Council

In developing a new Strategic Plan for Naracoorte Lucindale Council, a wide range of voices have been heard highlighting future aspirations and priorities for the community. Strong community voice is critical as the new Strategic Plan will be a “guiding light” for Council and the community, will be the principle driver of key decision making, and through the Plan, our community will understand what is important and why.

During the month of March, Council hosted focus group sessions, community meetings and a community survey to ascertain what was important to the community in both the short and long term. A total of 129 people participated in the first round of community consultation:

• 83 people attended focus group and community meetings in Naracoorte and Lucindale
• 46 people completed the community survey either via hardcopy or online

So, what did we hear?

The community feedback highlighted that the top 3 short-term and long-term priorities are:

• Housing
• Roads
• Environment, Open Spaces and Climate

And, not surprisingly when asked to rank Council functions, the community viewed Council’s most important functions as “Advocating for community issues such as education, health and housing” followed by “Maintaining a quality road network” and “Preserving the natural environment”.

Consistent themes heard throughout the community consultation process focussed on key areas such as:

• Improved health and education services for the district
• Housing availability and affordability
• Roads, car parking and footpaths
• The environment and climate adaptation
• Social inclusion including seniors and people with a lived experience of a disability
• Diversity in the community
• Arts, culture and wellbeing
• Developing Naracoorte as a regional service hub
• Supporting and encouraging business and employment opportunities
• Tourism as an economic opportunity
• Better communication and collaboration between Council and the community
• Maintaining, improving and developing open spaces and community facilities

Council has prepared a ‘What We Heard Report’ - a summary document outlining the feedback from the meetings and the survey. This report and a link to the consultation page (with further resources) can be read in full on this Your Say project page in the Documents Library.

Elected Members will now workshop the feedback and a Draft Strategic Plan will be released for a second round of community consultation on Thursday 20 April, with consultation closing on Thursday 11 May 2023. Council then will take on board further feedback and make any necessary final adjustments with the final Strategic Plan to be presented to Council in June 2023.