Thursday 1 February, 2024

Community engagement on the Community Infrastructure Design Guidelines has now closed.

Thank you to those who engaged with us during this time. We invite you to review our Engagement Summary Report.

The City of Ballarat is currently preparing Community Infrastructure Design Guidelines to guide how we plan, design and provide community facilities across the municipality. How buildings are designed plays a big role in making sure everyone feels safe, welcome and included.

To help us shape the way we design our new community facilities, the City of Ballarat engaged with the community to make sure your experiences and perspectives are embedded into the planning and design of community facilities.

Community facilities are City of Ballarat-owned public buildings and spaces where you can join activities, access services, and participate in programs. They are open and available to everyone.

Some community facilities you may know include libraries, community halls, community hubs, kindergartens, meeting rooms and maternal and child health centres.

In partnership with the development of the Community Infrastructure Design Guidelines, the Community Infrastructure Planning Policy was reviewed to ensure the guiding principles are still current and provide the best direction for decision-making for community infrastructure planning.

The Community Infrastructure Planning Policy, including the principles, and community feedback will work together to help inform the development of the Community Infrastructure Design Guidelines.

A four-week program of stakeholder and community engagement was undertaken between November 2023 – December 2023 to understand people’s perspectives and experiences in community facilities across the City of Ballarat.

During the consultation period a range of engagement activities were undertaken including:

• Workshops with young people
• An online survey
• Site visits and informal walk and talk interviews with facility operators
• An interactive Storybook activity for participants to write, draw, record or upload stories about their lived experiences in community facilities in Ballarat