A Community Panel is a group of people who will sign up to share their ideas and aspirations for the future of Pakington North Precinct. They will be actively involved in a series of engagement workshops or sessions and at the end will provide directions and reccomendations for the Final UDF.

A community panel is a ‘deliberative’ community engagement process that puts the community affected by a decision at the centre of that decision. The Community Panel brings the community closer to the decision makers and the work of the City.

An expression of interest process is being used to ensure we gain a substantial ‘pool’ of respondents from which to select the Community Panel.

The final panel will be descriptively representative of the broader community based on census data.

In December 2021, Council adopted two of the three precincts in the Final Pakington Street (Geelong West) & Gordon Avenue Urban Design Framework (UDF), namely Gordon Avenue and the Heritage Core Precincts. Council also requested to undertake further consultation for the Pakington North Precinct, due to significant community concern.

The additional round of community engagement undertaken in 2022 failed to garner sufficient support to proceed. As a result, officers proposed a deliberative engagement process, which was accepted by the community and Councillors - we want to start the UDF with a fresh set of eyes alongside the community.

Everyone is eligible to express their interest for the Community Panel, this includes anyone who has been involved in previous community engagement for Pakington Street. We are seeking 60 community members. Capire will ensure the selection of the Community Panel represents the broader community and their different views. We look forward to receiving your EOI.

The Community Panel will meet over multiple sessions to learn about, discuss and form collective recommendations. Sessions will be held during mid February to April and will be held on weekends or evenings during the week.

The Community Panel’s recommendations will be used to inform the development of the Pakington North Precinct Urban Design Framework.

Community panel members will participate in a series of interactive, facilitated sessions. During the sessions community panel members will hear from expert speakers and a range of viewpoints on key issues and priorities for Pakington North Precinct, and participate in activities to analyse gathered information to develop recommendations.

The Community Panel will be asked to consider several questions relating to the UDF.

The panel will work together (with the support of professional facilitators) to consider a wide range of information, ideas and evidence. Participants will be open to learning about all perspectives and considering them on their merits, and work with other participants toward reaching agreement on what’s important for Pakington North Precinct.

This response will be detailed in a report that the panel members will create together and present to Council.

No. Anyone can apply to participate – your thoughts, opinions and ideas are all you need. We will provide all panel members with the relevant briefing and background materials to support you to participate in the Community Panel.

The City has engaged Capire Consulting Group, a team of experienced engagement practitioners and facilitators specialising in high influence engagement and deliberative democracy, to coordinate widespread community and employee engagement.

The City will work with Capire Consulting Group to provide all the necessary information and support that is required to make this engagement process a success.

Recommendations of the Community Panel will be reflected in the final UDF. The UDF will be reviewed by the Community Panel prior to it moving for adoption in a Council Meeting.

These sessions will be conducted by an external engagement agency, Capire Consulting Group. Their role is to support panel participants in their discussions.

Who are Capire? They are a team of community engagement specialists who work to connect decision-makers with their communities to understand and define what’s important. Capire listen and empower people to create sustainable public policy and social impact.

Unfortunately, we require panel members to attend all six sessions. We understand life happens and unforeseen circumstances that arise during the panel period will be managed on a case by case basis.

Yes, please let us know as early as possible if assistance is required so we can work with you to accommodate your needs. We will work with all our participants to understand how we can support you to participate.

There is a question in the Expression of Interest form that asks if assistance is required to participate, and if so what this might look like.

If any critical information is missing on the form or we want to clarify something, you will be contacted via the contact details you have provided. Your form will still count as a EOI and it will be considered.

Enter the property address in the first question in relation to the commercial street address, and provide further details in relation to whether you are a business owner, landowner or otherwise in the open question: ‘What is your interest in joining the Community Panel.’ You can also indicate in response to the open question that you live nearby to the Precinct and can advise your residential address in this open question.

Please provide the address of the business you operate in answer to the question ‘Residential or commercial street address’. In your answer to the question, ‘‘What is your relationship to the Pakington North Precinct?’ You can let us know that you operate a business.