The thoughts of our community plays an important role in assisting Council to understand community aspirations, what you aspire Latrobe City to be for you, your family and your friends.
During May and June community members joined the conversation, providing insights and ideas to help Council plan for the future through a range of engagement activities including, listening posts, and online survey, and for our smallest community members, a colouring/drawing activity that focused on what they love most about their community.
Over 1450 community members, ranging in age from 17 to 70 plus years of age, shared with Council suggestions on how Latrobe City could be a better place to live, work, visit and play. The survey invited community members to share their thoughts on current and future challenges that our regional City will face in the coming years and decade.
A number of themes emerged from the data that was collected these included:
Friends are family were noted as the most common reason why people believed that Latrobe City was a good place with Location in Victoria, Affordability and Natural environment rounding off the top four responses. The most common reason people gave for Latrobe City being a good place to work was Distance from home (n=504). The most common reason participants gave for Latrobe City being a good place to study and work was Close to home. Safety, Economy and Built environment were considered the most important for Latrobe City Council to focus on this was evident in both the quantitative and qualitative responses.
A Community Panel is a group of people who signed up to share their ideas about the future of Latrobe City. They were actively involved in a series of engagement workshops and at the end of the process presented their recommendations to Council.
The panel members represented a range of community perspectives and were selected from different demographics, sectors or interest groups within the Latrobe City. The task of the panel was to aid in the development of a draft Latrobe City Community Vision to guide decision-making and to work to provide input to Council in shaping the new Latrobe City Council Plan and Municipal Health and Wellbeing Plans for 2021-2025, along with the 10-year Financial Plan.
Your Latrobe Community Panel
The Community Panel of 100 randomly selected members met virtually over four sessions during July. The face to face weekend panel workshop was to be held in person, however changes to COVID-19 restrictions prevented this from occurring with the sessions held virtually.
The 100-member panel participated in planning for the future of Latrobe, discussing the challenges we are facing individually and as a community, and developed a shared understanding of what is important.
Community Panel members were recruited from an expression of interest to 9,000 households across the municipality. Federation University then selected a sample of 100 people representing the demographic profile of Latrobe City Council including townships, ages, life stages, cultural backgrounds and genders.
What the Panel Looked Like
How the Community Panel worked
This was a ‘deliberative’ community engagement process, which saw the panel discuss the issues, challenges and opportunities in depth.
The panel considered the results and feedback from the Your Latrobe Community Survey, taking into consideration what the broader community thinks Latrobe City should be like in the future. In addition, the panel considered a wider range of information presented by Council officers.
Expert independent facilitators from engagement consultancy, Capire supported the community panel members with different viewpoints to work together respectfully and to reach a shared position on the future of Latrobe City.
What The Panel Told Us
Meet and hear from members of the Your Latrobe Community Panel, as produced by Capire consultancy.
Findings From The Community Panel
Together, the panel discussed the community’s goals and ideas. The panel’s recommendations were compiled to create a Community Vision, which will also influence the Council Plan.