Welcome
The draft Council Plan 2025–29 has been developed in accordance with the City's deliberative engagement practices and sets the strategic direction of the Council for the four-year period from 2025 to 2029, addressing the community’s vision, Greater Geelong: A Clever and Creative Future.
The draft Council Plan 2025–29 will be open for consultation for four weeks, providing an opportunity for the community to review the draft plan and share feedback.
Draft Council Plan community survey
Draft Council Plan 2025–29 Community Consultation (2025)
Plan overview
| In 2017, 16,000 members of our community helped to develop a Community Vision that outlined their aspirations for a thriving Greater Geelong (see the figure below): “By 2047, Greater Geelong will be internationally recognised as a clever and creative city region that is forward looking, enterprising and adaptive, and cares for its people and environment.”
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About
Plan, deliver, manage and optimise core and critical infrastructure across the region
Outcomes
- Responsible and sustainable growth and development.
- Community facilities and public spaces are accessible and fit for purpose.
- Multi-modal transport networks are well-connected and accessible.
About
Identify, promote, advocate for, and deliver equitable health and wellbeing outcomes for our diverse communities.
Outcomes
- A community that is fair, compassionate and inclusive.
- Services and facilities that enhance health and wellbeing are accessible to all.
- A community with the resources and capacity to control their health and wellbeing.
About
Lead efforts to strengthen our diverse economic precincts and workforce to enhance prosperity across our community.
Outcomes
- New businesses, events and investments are attracted to the region.
- Local businesses, industry clusters and precincts are supported to thrive.
- Greater Geelong attracts, retains and develops workforce capacity and capability.
- Sufficient land supply to enable sustainable growth, business expansion and attraction.
About
Champion our unique heritage and culture.
Outcomes
- Increased engagement in arts, culture and heritage experiences across Greater Geelong.
- Increased investment in our creative, cultural and sporting activity hubs.
- Greater Geelong’s diverse culture is shared and celebrated.
About
Protect and enhance our unique natural environment and surrounds.
Outcomes
- Natural habitat and areas of important biodiversity are identified, protected, connected and restored.
- Significant reductions in emissions.
- Increased community resilience to climate change impacts.
About
Commit to the highest levels of leadership, integrity, financial stewardship and meaningful community engagement.
Outcomes
- Public funds and assets are used equitably and efficiently.
- Decision making is evidence-based, transparent and strategically aligned.
- Community engagement, strong partnerships and effective advocacy delivers value and impact.
Council Plan development process
Find out more below about the legislative requirements in developing a Council Plan, how the plan was developed and important information about what happens next.
Community Vision
As per the Local Government Act 2020, Section 88:
(1) A Council must maintain a Community Vision that is developed with its municipal community in accordance with its deliberative engagement practices.
(2) The scope of the Community Vision is a period of at least the next 10 financial years.
(3) A Community Vision must describe the municipal community's aspirations for the future of the municipality.
(4) 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.
(5) The Community Vision adopted under subsection (4) has effect from 1 July in the year following a general election.
Council Plan
As per the local government act 2020 - section 90:
(1) A Council must prepare and adopt a Council Plan for a period of at least the next 4 financial years after a general election in accordance with its deliberative engagement practices.
(2) A Council Plan must include the following—
(a) the strategic direction of the Council;
(b) strategic objectives for achieving the strategic direction;
(c) strategies for achieving the objectives for a period of at least the next 4 financial years;
(d) strategic indicators for monitoring the achievement of the objectives;
(e) a description of the Council's initiatives and priorities for services, infrastructure and amenity;
(f) any other matters prescribed by the regulations.
(3) A Council must develop or review the Council Plan in accordance with its deliberative engagement practices and adopt the Council Plan by 31 October in the year following a general election.
(4) The Council Plan adopted under subsection (3) has effect from 1 July in the year following a general election.
- The draft Council Plan Plan 2025-29 has been shaped by community engagement held between 8 July and 15 September 2024, including online surveys and a representative community panel.
- It has been developed in accordance with the Local Government Act 2020 and links with a range of other key legislation and strategic documents.
This is your opportunity to help shape the final version of the Council Plan 2025 - 29. After the consultation period closes, all feedback will be reviewed and considered before the plan is finalised for endorsement.
Your feedback
Your feedback is important to us, please provide your feedback in one of the following ways:
- Our Online Survey form above. You can request a hard copy by contacting the officer listed in the 'Who's Listening' section of this page.
- By email to strategyandperf@geelongcity.vic.gov.au; or
- In writing addressed to:
Strategy Lead
City of Greater Geelong,
Wadawurrung Country,
PO Box 104,
Geelong VIC 3220
Community Engagement (2024)
Overview
In 2024, we had an amazing response and want to thank you all for your valuable insights. From the feedback we received, we have developed the engagement summary to report on the engagement process and findings. This can be viewed in the document library on this page.
Deliberative Community Panel (2024)
The purpose of the deliberative community panel was to recruit a group of community members that live, work or study in Greater Geelong to form a panel of participants that represent the diversity of the Geelong community. The panel aimed to test, validate and refine the aspirations outlined in Council’s 30-year Community Vision (endorsed in 2017) and contribute to shaping the 2025-2029 Council Plan. This process helped to identify the community’s priorities for the next four years and was an important input to the deliberations of the incoming Council as they drafted the Council Plan.
The panel 48-person panel deliberated over four workshops to come to a consensus that reflected the community’s priority areas. The overarching objectives of the deliberative engagement were:
We thank the deliberative community panel members for their efforts and insights.
More information on the output of the panel can be found in the document library.
Have your say here
Feedback has now closed however you can still view what community members have said are their funding priorities.
The personal information and feedback (collectively the Data) requested on this page is being collected by City of Greater Geelong (City) for the purpose of Council Plan and any other directly related purpose (Project).
A de-identified engagement summary report may be published on our website.
If your personal information is not collected, the Project may not be able to be adequately conducted, and the City may not be able to contact you for further questions or to find solutions.
In order to collect and conduct in depth and detailed analysis of the Data for the purposes of the Project, the City will disclose the Data (including your personal information if provided) to its third-party service providers, including Social Pinpoint Pty Ltd, Converlens Pty Ltd and Amazon Web Services.
Other than as stated above, your personal information will not be disclosed to any external party without your consent, except as required or authorised by law
Our privacy policy is available on our website. If you wish to alter any of the personal information you have supplied to the City, please contact us by sending an email to privacy@geelongcity.vic.gov.au.
