Structure plans

Council’s stated vision for the municipality is that: “By 2009 Moorabool Shire will be characterised by viable communities and towns forming an integrated Shire with a strong identity”.

Council’s Social Development Plan (SDP) was produced via an extensive community consultation process throughout 2001 and, as a result, identified 5 key themes or areas of social infrastructure provision considered by the community as the top priorities for action. These were:

• Public environments – improving the quality of space available for passive recreation
• Building community capacity - enhancing capacity of community organisations
• Community facilities – gaps in provision for youth, arts and culture, need a larger venue
• Service provision – supply gaps in child care, residential care, crisis intervention
• Leadership and change – need for a planning framework to support social well-being

Council is considerate of the need for social infrastructure and amenity within
towns in the Moorabool Shire and aware of the economic potential that their existing infrastructure offers. It will:

• Provide social infrastructure and encourage lifestyle and community opportunities in Moorabool’s towns and villages
• Promote the lifestyle choices offered by these towns
• Promote events and cultural activities to enhance lifestyle opportunities and attract visitors to these towns
• Encourage an appropriate mix of business outlets that effectively service local resident and visitor needs
• Pursue effective signage and tourism information, particularly along the Western Highway exits to encourage stopovers by visitors travelling through the Shire
• Undertake further strategic work to facilitate the better utilisation of existing infrastructure within small towns across the various regions within the Shire, taking into account their relative location to each other and regional centres and other factors such as access to transport infrastructure, land capability and suitability to different economic activities
  

Health and wellbeing strategy

The Moorabool Health and Wellbeing Strategy aims to provide the basis for future actions in protecting and improving the health of the Moorabool Shire community.

The strategy is directly linked to the Community Social Development Plan, and it is also intended to include a whole of Council approach to health and wellbeing planning. As with the emphasis on the development of community partnerships within the Community Social Development Plan, the strategy also emphasises the further development and enhancement of health partnerships particularly around specific public health action areas.

The strategy is grounded within the Social Model of Health; it is recognised that good health comes from the combination of interdependent and changing factors that affect individuals and communities. These factors include the following:

• Economic: education, work, income, services
• Environmental: food, water, conservation, transport, safety, housing
• Social: family connections, social connections, life skills

Recreation and open space strategy

The purpose of the Recreation and Open Space Strategy is to provide a framework to guide Council’s decision making for the future provision of recreation and open space. In particular this strategy has provided:

• A ‘vision’ and principles that will provide the rationale for future decision making and provision
• An understanding of current participation trends in the community and of future community aspirations in relation to recreation and open space
• An understanding of current gaps in provision and future needs
• A framework for future planning and development of recreation and open space assets
• Policies, and an understanding of the additional policies required to ensure informed decision making
• An understanding of the community’s capacity to provide for its recreation needs
• An understanding of infrastructure priorities, both maintenance and development
• An ‘Action Plan’ that makes recommendations relating to strategic as well as local issues