Admins’ ‘vision’ expects future councils to follow

Geelong is now on course to a “clever and creative future”, according to the city’s council administrators.
And they expect that subsequent elected councils will adhere to their long-term plan for the city, Greater Geelong: A Clever and Creative Future.
The state-appointed trio voted this week to adopt the “community-led vision document” to guide the region’s development for the next 30 years.
The administrators spent more than $500,000 developing the blueprint amid doubts about whether October’s next elected council or successors would follow the guidelines.
A City Hall statement this week announcing the vision’s formalisation included expectations that councils would fall in line.
Future councils would “report their progress and performance against (the vision’s) milestones”, the statement said.
City budgets and action plans would also be “consistent” with the document, along with any “proposals to council”.
More than 16,000 people had input into Greater Geelong: A Clever and Creative Future, City Hall said.
The document outlined “the community’s desire to be regionally, nationally and internationally recognised as a clever and creative city-region”.
“The document is a blueprint for the region and an important step along a journey to transform the community’s aspirations into reality,” the City statement said.
“The benefits of conducting this valuable piece of community research include clarifying the long-term focus for the region, which will assist the attraction of business opportunities and investment, as well as informing how the region will grow.
“Greater Geelong: A Clever and Creative Future will change the way that the City does business and engages with the community.”
The vision proposes numerous social, economic and environmental goals, including above-average employment, below-average crime statistics, 30-minute travel to Melbourne, an international airport, and more residents living amid an increased natural habitat.
Administrators chair Kathy Alexander, a former chief of Melbourne’s council, said Geelong was following the lead of other global cities in developing a long-term vision.
“The councils of other cities around the world, including Melbourne, have successfully delivered long-term plans by sticking to them, orientating their budgets toward them, influencing the plans of other stakeholders, lobbying government for their support, and facilitating an environment that encouraged private investment.”
Dr Alexander thanked “project partners” and others involved in developing the vision document.
“It’s been a wonderful and enlightening journey, and it’s only just begun.”