Moreland City Council Plan

Contents

Mayor and CEO Foreword 3

Executive summary 5

Background 6

Your Councillors 7

How council works 7

Challenges and opportunities 12

Our Planning Framework 13

Our Strategic Plan 14

Our Strategic Objectives 15

Strategic Objective 1: Connected Community 15

Strategic Objective 2: Progressive City 17

Strategic Objective 3: Responsible Council 19

Monitoring and reporting 21

Implementation and resourcing 21

Appendix A: Four Year Implementation Plan 22

Mayor and CEO Foreword

Following Council elections in October 2016, this Council set about to develop their Plan for the next four years. This Council Plan establishes priorities and sets an agenda for this Council term while keeping sight of long term future challenges and opportunities.

As the closest tier of government to the local community, councils play a vital role in the everyday lives of their residents and ratepayers. From waste collection and road maintenance to leisure centres and maternal and child health, councils are responsible for a diverse range of services that are critical to their communities’ wellbeing.

Managing the changes associated with an increase in population and development, a changing economy and a different social mix is a key part of Council’s remit.

This plan is a reaffirmation of the important core services already being delivered by Council, as well as a roadmap for new initiatives with the future firmly in mind.

Our overarching vision in this plan for 2021 is that ‘Moreland will be known for its proud diversity, and for being a connected, progressive and sustainable city in which to live, work and play’.

To achieve this vision, three strategic objectives have been set:

· Connected Community

· Progressive City

· Responsible Council

These three strategic objectives guide a range of priority actions which Council will implement during this term.

Through this plan, we are actively planning for the future.

We are considering our service mix in light of the changing demographic, in particular the growing number of senior residents and young families. We will make significant investments in upgrading our sporting facilities, swimming pools and other spaces to encourage healthy, active and connected communities.

We are working on further improvements to the built form and development in this city. We are planning for more parks and open space and improving transport options that provide an alternative to the car. We will provide ongoing support for local businesses to respond to changes in markets and technology and maintain a thriving local economy. We will continue to invest and support Moreland’s vibrant creative sector.

We will continue to be a local government leader in environmental sustainability, with a goal for zero net carbon emissions by 2040.We will take the lead on a range of progressive social issues that we know many of you hold close to your hearts. We do so proudly and in the great tradition of advocacy which is part of Moreland’s DNA.

In total, we are budgeting for an investment in excess of $750m in our community over the next four years. The priorities set out in this plan have been informed through consultation and engagement with the community, input from Councillors and Council officers, and will be implemented along with a range of partners in the community.

We thank all of those who contributed to the Council Plan for their input, and we look forward to working closely with our community on making this plan a reality.

Cr Helen Davidson Dr Nerina Di Lorenzo

Mayor Chief Executive Officer

Executive summary

This Council Plan sets out three Strategic Objectives for the period 2017-2021, for a:

1. Connected Community

2. Progressive City

3. Responsible Council.

These Strategic Objectives guide the actions that will help us make the changes necessary to address our community’s most important challenges and opportunities. This Council Plan describes what these Strategic Objectives are, why they are so important, and the actions that Council will execute to achieve them for the benefit of the Moreland community.

The Strategic Objectives must be seen in the context of Council’s ongoing responsibility to continue delivering a large, diverse and growing volume of services across Council departments. The day to day delivery of these services is critical to the wellbeing of our community and will continue to form the backbone of Moreland City Council’s activity over the next four years. The Strategic Objectives, and the actions detailed in this document, describe how we are changing and improving these services to enhance the way we support our community, for the duration of the Council Plan.

This Council Plan was informed by extensive consultation with the community, Councillors and staff between January and April 2017. This consultation included three community engagement sessions held in March 2017, an online survey, Councillor workshops and staff consultation sessions. They were also informed by the Moreland 2025 Community Vision and other existing strategies, policies and plans, and through community review and feedback during the process of drafting and finalizing the Council Plan in May and June 2017.

Background

Where we are

The City of Moreland covers Melbourne’s inner and mid-northern suburbs and is located between 4 and 14 kilometresnorth of central Melbourne. It is bordered by the Moonee Ponds Creek to the west, Merri Creek to the east, Park Street to the south and the Western Ring Road to the north.

The City encompasses a total land area of 50.9 square kilometres and includes the suburbs of Brunswick, Brunswick East, Brunswick West, Pascoe Vale, Pascoe Vale South, Coburg, Coburg North, Hadfield, Fawkner, Glenroy, Oak Park and Gowanbrae. Small sections of Fitzroy North and Tullamarine are also part of Moreland.

Who we are: An overview of our diverse community

Reference: ABS Census of population and housing 2011, exception being population projections from ID consulting May 2017

How council works[1]

What is local government?

In Australia, there are three levels of government: local, state and federal. Local government, including the Moreland City Council, is responsible for matters closest to local communities, such as libraries, aquatic centres and waste collection services.

Victorian councils are established under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1989 (“the Act”). Each local government consists of the elected members (councillors) who form the council and council officers (the administration) who are paid employees. Councillors’ authority can only be exercised when they meet as a council at a properly constituted meeting.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is directly accountable to council and is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations. The administration is formally accountable to the CEO and provides advice, usually as written reports, to council to assist decision making. It is also responsible for implementing council decisions and provision of services.

Purpose of local government

The purpose oflocal government under the Act is broad. Eachcouncil can make its own decisions on its collective beliefs, the diverse needs of its community, the advice itreceives, financial considerations, and legislative requirements.

Moreland’s community includes residents, ratepayers, organisations that conduct activities locally, and people who come to the municipality for work, tourism, leisure or for other reasons.

Councils achieve their goals and fulfil their functions in various ways:

• Planning and monitoring: setting the overall direction for Moreland through long-term planning. This four-year council plan is the key document in articulating Council’s vision for Moreland and how it will be achieved.

• Service delivery: managing and delivering a range of quality services such as public health, recreational facilities, local road maintenance, and public libraries.

• Lawmaking, policy development and enforcement: making and enforcing local laws covering issues such as activities permitted on public land, animal management and use of infrastructure; and developing and implementing policies to guide Council activities.

• Stewardship: maintaining the viability of theCouncilby ensuring that resources are managed in a responsible and accountable manner.

• Representation and advocacy: Representing the Moreland community on matters of concern and advocating on behalf of their constituencies to state and federal government, statutory authorities and other sectors.

• Cohesion: Fostering community cohesion and active participation in civic life.

Each level of government provides different services to the community. For example, state governments have the power to look after laws relating to services such as hospitals, schools, police, public transport, town planning, building and housing services and some roads. The powers of local councils include responsibility for rubbish collection, local roads and pet control. Local Council’s are charged with the responsibility of implementing many state government laws like planning and building regulation.

The differences between the services provided by state governments and local councils may cause some confusion. Using roads as an example, councils are responsible for the construction and maintenance of some, but not all roads in their municipality. It is the smaller, local roads that are usually the responsibility of council and this involves monitoring the standard of these roads and undertaking repairs when required. Main roads (or arterial roads) and are usually the responsibility of VicRoads[2]. Where Moreland City Council does not have direct control over an issue or aspect of our local community, our role is to ensure that Moreland’s needs are understood and acknowledged by the relevant state or federal government and given due consideration in their decision-making.

Services provided by Moreland City Council

Moreland City Council provides a large range of services for our community, including:

• Supporting parents and families through early childhood

• Providing services for young people

• Working to support elderly and disabled community members

• Providing leisure, aquatic, recreation and sporting facilities and services for the broader community

• Contributing to cultural vibrancy and social cohesion within our community

• Working with and responding to social issues and growing population needs within the community

• Supporting and advocating for the management of traffic, transport and mobility throughout the city

• Ensuring compliance with local laws and regulations

• Improving the amenity of the city

• Maintaining and developing local streets, roads, footpaths, drains, open space, parks and buildings under Council’s authority to meet a growing populations needs

• Collecting and managing waste and recycling

• Enhancing the economic capacity of our city

• Facilitating changes to the urban environment to achieve balanced and sustainable land use and development outcomes

• Leading and influencing strategy and action which supports Council and the community towards a sustainable future

• Managing and enhancing the many places and spaces within our city

• Ensuring compliance with State and Local planning, building and environmental health laws and regulations

The quantities of a selection of key services provided, includes:

Item / Annual Volume 15/16
Number of meals delivered / 155,216
Visits to our libraries / 731,325
Kids at story time, rhyme time and toddler time / 17,186
Library loans / 1,236,561
Active Moreland members / 7,056
Total attendance at Active Moreland facilities / 915,623
Attendance at Active Moreland water safety and learn to swim programs / 115,396
Visitors to our 3 outdoor seasonal pools / 69,951
Streets cleaned / 31,023 km
Street trees planted / 5,040
Trees planted at community planting days / 14,000
Tonnes of garbage collected / 30,425
Tonnes of recycling collected / 16,419
Tonnes of green waste collected / 8,598
Tonnes of garbage collected in hard waste / 2,670
Dogs and cats registered / 13,360
Planning permit applications received / 1,976 (a new record)

These externally facing service areas are supported within council by a range of teams which provide support, corporate processes and accountability for provision of council services and include:

• Providing the technology required to operate Council
• Delivering reliable financial management
• Managing the community’s council-owned property and assets
• Ensuring compliance with State and Local governance laws and legislation and providing administrative support to Mayor and Councillors
• Providing quality customer services and communications / • Leading the development and management of council’s people and teams
• Leading the development and implementation of Council’s strategic direction
• Measuring and reporting on Council’s organisational performance and risk management
• Ensuring the occupational health and safety of our people

Challenges and opportunities

Moreland’s most pressing challenges and biggest opportunities reflect many of the major changes underway globally and across other parts of Australia. Global economic, political and environmental factors are driving large-scale global patterns of migration and a shift globally to more people living in higher-density urban environments. Council’s services must respond and plan for this change in order to accommodate the associated changes to cities built form, while maintaining and enhancing our transport and open space networks, community facilities and services, and the wellbeing and connectedness of our people.

This is occurring in an environment where trust in public institutions is declining, the way we communicate and interact with each other is becoming increasingly digital, and our approach to ownership and usage of resources is being reimagined by the rise of the sharing economy. Furthermore whilst global energy demand is growing, the contribution of carbon emissions to climate change is driving increasing investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The impact of many of these changes can be seen in the transition underway in our own city, including the changing cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds of our new residents, and a growing concern for a broad range of social, environmental and economic issues.

Alongside the challenges, this transition presents an enormous opportunity for Council, the community and our partners, to deliver the kind of transparent, responsible governance, appropriate development, access to open space, and quality public assets and services that befit a thriving, diverse municipality in a leading global city.