Let's Talk Greater Bendigo
The City owns and/or manages assets worth around $1.99 billion which services a population of around 120,000 people.
The City developed the draft Community Asset Policy for the purpose of equitable and sustainable planning and management of community assets. The Policy provides principles for decision making, asset management, and guides the development of related strategic documents.
Community feedback on the draft Policy was open from July 30, 2024 to August 20, 2024. Seeking community feedback helped to determine if:
All feedback has been reviewed, the Policy updated and at the September 16, 2024 Council meeting the Policy was formally adopted.
The community feedback was considered, and resulted in some changes being made to the draft Community Asset Policy. You can find more details the feedback below.
In response to the feedback, a Policy summary has also been created. You can read it below.
The updated draft Policy was presented to Council at the September 16, 2024 meeting and endorsed.
The below image is a snapshot of some of the things the City includes as assets. These statistics were accurate as of July 2023.
Our City at Work:
The purpose of this Community Asset Policy (Policy) is to guide sustainable planning and management of the City of Greater Bendigo (City) assets by setting clear parameters around usage of a consistent Asset Management framework.
It provides principles and decision-making methodology to be applied to:
The Asset Management framework (including this policy – refer to definitions) establishes guidelines to ensure that suitable infrastructure and physical assets are available to support the delivery of services for the community. It considers current and future community needs and seeks to balance levels of service with community expectations and the City’s fiscal responsibilities.
The principles described in this Policy seek to ensure decision making is consistent, fair and equitable, transparent and accountable – creating a balance between the operational and financial challenges faced by the City, and community benefits and outcomes.
Promotes access for all abilities, aims to be affordable and easy for people to get to. Fair access to facilities and services that are needed across the municipality including healthy, safe and inclusive places, spaces and services.
Socially and culturally considerate, including promoting respect and acknowledgement for Traditional Owner’s culture, history, heritage and connection to land, and furthers healing of Country.
Meaningfully consult and engage with community and stakeholders as appropriate. The level of engagement and community participation will be guided by the City’s Community Engagement Policy (inclusive of the IAP2 Spectrum of Participation).
Fair access to facilities and services that are needed across the municipality including healthy, safe and inclusive places, spaces and services. The City will provide the community with a clear understanding of Council’s role and how decisions are made, so that the community understands what is planned or proposed for the communities in which they live. The City will apply an equity lens across decisions where appropriate, guided by the City’s EIA process.
Consider the City’s current and future financial situation, affordability, asset life cycle planning, value for money and efficiency.
Flexible and responsive the changing needs of the community and can be used for more than one purpose. Supports the delivery of the Council Plan and aims to make decisions that are focused on delivering strategic objectives and priorities, while having appropriate mechanisms in place to consider valuable community led ideas and initiatives.
Integrated with other services where possible and a place for people to come together. The City cannot respond to complex issues and opportunities alone and through partnership based approaches, the City will work with others to achieve shared outcomes for maximum community benefit.
Positively impacts health outcomes for the community.
Guided by defined current and target future service levels, that seek to align community need. Informed by reliable and evidence-based data, including demographic trends. The City will use consistent and quality asset management process to effectively manage assets throughout their lifecycle (i.e. operations, maintenance, renewal, upgrade, expansion and disposal) to support delivery of the City’s services.
Environmentally, socially and culturally responsible, well designed, climate resilient, effectively managed and usage is optimised, now and into the future. Promotes positive environmental outcomes or minimises negative impacts, including planning for climate resilience.
City will invest to support assets being compliant with all relevant laws and regulations and manage risk responsibly to prioritise community safety
Timeline item 1 - complete
Community feedback opens
July 30, 2024
Timeline item 2 - complete
Community feedback closes
August 20, 2024
Timeline item 3 - complete
Community feedback reviewed
End August 2024
Timeline item 4 - complete
Report to Council
September 2024
Timeline item 5 - complete
Community informed of outcome
September - October 2024
Have questions or want to learn more about this project, contact us below:
| Name | Community Infrastructure Project Officer |
|---|---|
| Phone | 1300 002 642 |
| communitypartnerships@Bendigo.vic.gov.au |
