Project Update

Phase 2 Engagement on the Discussion Paper

In April - May of 2023 we sought feedback from the community on the Discussion Paper. We have now reviewed all the feedback we received during the second phase of engagement. We encourage you to read the Phase 2 Engagement Summary Report to find out what we heard.

Neighbourhood Character Conversations

In July 2023, we asked you to come along to one of our workshops to have a conversation about neighbourhood character. These conversations were to help us develop inform the draft Neighbourhood Character Study, which will help us consider the preferred future neighbourhood character of residential areas. We would like to thank everyone who participated in the Neighbourhood Character Conversations. In total, 61 people came to the 3 workshops, and we also held five 1:1 conversations.

In a short summary, we heard that:

What many of you value most about your neighbourhoods is:

  • The village feel
  • The existing character
  • The diversity of architecture
  • Trees & greenery in both public & private realm and open space.

In 2039, many of you would like your neighbourhoods to:

  • Be more diverse, from its people to its urban landscape
  • Retain its eclectic character
  • Have more green spaces, trees, green roofs & walls
  • Have more sustainably designed buildings & public spaces
  • Meet the needs of an ageing population
  • Have more mix use in business areas

Many of you see the greatest opportunities for improving neighbourhood character as:

  • Increasing tree canopy and vegetation coverage
  • Maintaining and expanding open spaces
  • Having a diverse and high quality built form that respects and integrates with existing urban form
  • Increasing ESD requirements for buildings
  • Having diverse housing to cater for a diverse community

Next Step

The feedback we received during the Neighbourhood Character Conversations will inform the development of the draft Neighbourhood Character Statements. You will have an opportunity to review the draft Character Statements during Phase 3 engagement in early 2024.

By 2036, an extra 38,290 people are expected to move to our city and live in an additional 21,480 homes. The Housing Strategy is one of the main ways we plan for our residents' current and future housing needs. It considers population growth, housing demand and supply, housing quality and diversity, affordability, and sustainability.

The Strategy will focus on how we can best accommodate housing growth in Port Phillip, including where and what type of housing is required. Ultimately, it will be implemented through the Port Phillip Planning Scheme.

The Housing Strategy is being developed through extensive research and analysis of housing issues and opportunities, as well as three phases of community engagement to ensure the Strategy meets the needs of current and future members of our community.

The key outputs of this project are:

  • Housing Discussion Paper
  • Housing Strategy including a municipal-wide vision for housing, key principles and strategic directions as well as a spatial plan showing expected levels of change and strategic sites (this is called a Residential Development Framework)
  • Neighbourhood character framework and preferred neighbourhood character statements for identified areas

The first phase of community engagement took place in September 2022. This phase helped us understand what the community values about housing and areas of concern. We used what we heard during this phase to develop the Discussion Paper, which set the strategic context for how we plan for the changing housing needs in Port Phillip and identified the key issues and opportunities to be considered in the Housing Strategy.

Earlier in 2023, we completed the second phase of engagement which sought feedback from the community on the Discussion Paper. It took place over a 5-week period in April / May 2023 and included 3 pop-ups in the neighbourhoods of South Melbourne, Port Melbourne, and St Kilda: workshops and an online survey. We have included the phase 2 engagement findings in the Engagement Report.

We recently (July 2023) completed the Neighbourhood Character Conversation workshops. At these workshops we talked about:

  • what neighbourhood character is, and why it’s important
  • the existing neighbourhood character
  • what our neighbourhoods could look like in 2039 and how we will get there

We will use the feedback we received from the second phase of engagement and feedback from the Neighbourhood Character Conversations to help us develop the draft Neighbourhood Character Study and the draft Housing Strategy.

We are now developing the draft Housing Strategy.

A third and final phase of engagement on the draft Housing Strategy will take place in the first half of 2024.