Harbourside Project - Community Consultation

Community Consultation

The community was asked to give feedback on a Concepts Summary Document and accompanying Support Document for the Harbourside Project when they were on public exhibition between 23 October 2006 and 20 February 2007. (You can still access the Concepts Documents here for your reference.)

Surveys were also held among residents and visitors, and industry consultation was carried out by the Department of Lands. (See the Department of Lands website).

Copies of the various consultants' reports prepared during the community consultation period and the Consultation Summary Report are available for download below:

Future Consultation

A draft Plan of Management for the Crown lands (land east of the railway line and including the Jetty Oval and Englands Park) was brought forward for consultation by the Department of Lands (Lands) in March/April 2008 and Council is developing a draft Development Control Plan (DCP) for the remaining area of the precinct west of the railway line.

Council has engaged the current planning consultants, EDAW (formerly PSB), to complete a revision of the DCP.

Earlier Community Consultation

Consultation over the future direction of the Harbourside area began in October 2005 when key stakeholders and the wider community started meeting with the consultants PSB. The community is being kept informed via newsletters, events, public displays and Council's website.

The consultation program involves two levels of dialogue - strategic workshops with key stakeholder groups and general information and consultation with local residents, the tourism industry and the general community. The workshops, held in October and November 2005, set the strategic direction for the area and developed a vision for 'Harbourside' with draft principles for guiding the project.

A survey was held in November and early December 2005 to ask the community for feedback on the draft design principles and their ideas for the area. Submissions were received from 348 respondents with feedback and suggestions that lead to some revisions in the original draft planning principles. The effort was instrumental to get an overview at the earliest opportunity of what the community would like to see, and what it most values, in the Harbourside area.

The eleven revised physical design principles will form the basis for the Harbourside Project Masterplan:

Strengthen the Harbourside Precinct's identity as an outstanding destination
Support the function of the harbour as an international port for small vessels
Enhance the recreational functions and amenity of the Harbourside Precinct
Enhance the environmental quality of the Harbourside Precinct
Establish and maintain landscape as the dominant element over built form
Incorporate and re-affirm the Aboriginal meaning of the place
Promote and incorporate the settlement history of the Harbourside Precinct
Strengthen the small-scale character of the built form within the Harbourside Precinct
Establish ecological integrity as a component of local character
Develop the Precinct as a recognisable seaside village
Create development opportunities which are sustainable in an environmentally, socially and financially sound way