Does your Community Vision need a redevelopment or review? It’s contextual

As we engage with Victorian councils around their community engagement plans to ‘develop’ or ‘review’ their Community Vision, we notice some ambiguity surrounding these two terms and the right approach to adopt.

The Local Government Act 2020 Section 88 prescribes the community vision: “A council must develop or review the Community Vision in accordance with its deliberative engagement practices and adopt the Community Vision by 31 October in the year following a general election.”

The review councils must undertake will vary depending on each council’s circumstances.

The Community Vision should articulate the community’s long-term aspirations for the municipality. The scope of the Community Vision document represents a long-term outlook, defined in the Act as a period of at least the next ten financial years.

Any required changes would depend on how much the current Community Vision remains aligned with the community’s aspirations, interests, and needs, considering recent developments and values shifts within the municipality. This alignment question is at the core of the options to ‘develop’ or ‘review’.

We are aware of at least one council that is no longer certain that their vision accurately reflects the aspirations of their community. Significant changes have occurred within this community in recent years, prompting the council to deliberate with its community to re-imagine the vision. Meanwhile, other councils are opting for less extensive forms of community participation, that is, to review or validate their current vision.

The Act is not prescriptive, and each Victorian council is responsible for determining the most appropriate community engagement strategies for developing or reviewing its community vision. This is aligned with the council’s community engagement policy and the expectations of its communities. The critical consideration is that the community can participate and provide feedback and that the Community Vision reflects the community’s needs and aspirations.

Whether a council determines they need to redevelop or review the Community Vision, what’s critical about it is that it helps lay the foundation for all the organisation’s significant corporate planning documents. Creating the vision first sets the tone for the council’s strategic priorities and will ensure that the council plan’s four-year objectives, projects and priorities align with the community’s aspirations. Including the community in developing or validating the Community Vision equips them to own it and how it guides the council and its financial and asset plans.

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Does your Community Vision need a redevelopment or review?