The City already makes decisions regarding sport and active recreation, the Framework will be our rule book, explaining how we makes decisions. This is your chance to have input.

Are you part of a sport or active recreation organisation that are seeking Council support or investment in projects, programs or activities? Is your sport or active recreation organisation planning capital works? are you part of a regional community seeking sport or active recreation improvements? The Framework will support fair, equitable and consistent decision making. This document doesn't identify specific programs or projects to be supported by the City. It provides transparency around how we support and invest in sport and active recreation by providing principles and targets for decision-making.

The guiding pillars are the values that we will apply in every approach and decision for sport and active recreation, while the priorities are the key actions within particular focus areas.

The pillars are:

• Value sport and active recreation - All levels of both the provider organisation and the community must ‘value’ and fully understand the benefits of a healthy lifestyle through participation in sport and active recreation, in contributing to the liveability of Greater Bendigo.
• Engage with all stakeholders - Planning, developing and providing for sport and active recreation is not the sole responsibility of the City. Rather it is the shared responsibility of a range of community partners.
• Equity with industry benchmarked planning principles and process - Provision must be equitable across the community and municipality. Planning must be sustainable within the capacity of the City and community and be based on industry methodology and practice in order to provide relevant services.
• Participation by varied opportunities - Sport and active recreation services will be provided from a basis of supporting a healthy and vibrant community. This will encourage and support participation across a broad range of sport and active recreation opportunities.

The priorities are:

• Equity – ‘One community’ approach, for all ages and abilities and/or for a diversity of purposes.
• Accessibility – consideration of transportation options to facilities, incorporate Universal Design and Crime Prevention, provision of services and facilities, access to information and booking systems.
• Promote wellbeing – deliver upon objectives and enable target groups identified in the Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan.
• Partnering – Maximise sport and active recreation opportunities through developing partnerships.
• Sustainability – Consider facility provision and operational costs; and explore Placemaking, adaptive re-use, resource recovery and climate resilience.

Sport and active recreation are an integral part of our community and are essential to our health and wellbeing. The targets were chosen so that we can measure progress through the Victorian Population Health Survey, which collects data on a number of health indicators for Victorian adults.

The City’s investment in projects, programs and activities will continue to include children, but due to the availability of data for adults, these targets will be used as an indicator for the change that we’re looking to achieve across the whole community. The targets are:

Exercise:

• more adults doing enough time & sessions
• fewer sedentary adults

Diet:

• more adults eating enough fruit
• more adults eating enough vegetables
• fewer adults drink sugar sweetened drinks daily

Smoking:

• fewer adults smoke

Alcohol:

• fewer adults with lifetime risk of harm
• fewer adults at risk of injury (binge drinking)

Gender:

• more participants and board members of sport and active recreation organisations are female

This framework does not reflect detailed policy, but rather outlines the policies required for fair and transparent allocation of resources, with the intent of the policies summarised in policy statements:

Priority Policies:

• Shared use of education facilities
• Support for rural communities
• Capital contributions
• In-kind contributions
• Hierarchy of facilities
• User fees & charges
• Healthy Facilities

Other Policies

• Commercial Signage
• Female Friendly Sport
• Facility hire & allocations
• Smoke Free Recreation Reserves
• Loan guarantee policy