The approach of attaching asset management and the future of swimming pools to the town planning program will be shelved and a new integrated approach to its delivery will consider strategic, recreational, cultural, wellbeing and social planning issues.
And while there will be a delay in realising the community wish lists that sit within the Place Based Plan (or PBPs) documents, the end product is expected to be much more palatable for all involved.
When considering the TFPs, which were originally tied concurrently to the PBP process, the council will look at much more than the sale or re-purposing of assets before landing on any decisions.
Discussion continues at council level about exactly how the process will move forward after the decision to align the future of outdoor pools to the PBP/TFP process was rescinded at a March council meeting.
After originally committing not to decide on the future of the pools until all PBPs in the shire were complete, and the TFPs had also been adopted, council rescinded that motion and has — in some way — gone back to the drawing board.
Meanwhile, towns who have completed their PBPs and are awaiting the establishment of TFPs have been left twiddling their thumbs.
Stanhope’s PBP was endorsed by council in 2019, the Tongala plan had input from 600 residents and was endorsed at the June 2023 meeting (as was the Colbinabbin document), while Kyabram was adopted in December 2023 and Rochester in March this year.
Lockington’s nine-member PBP Committee was appointed in April 2024, so it is well behind the other towns due to the significant impact of the 2022 floods and submissions to the draft Rushworth plan closed on March 31.
The TFP process, initially scheduled to be continued immediately on completion of the PBPs, will be re-visited.
It’s seven years since the nine-member council started using the PBP model to engage with the community and develop a collaborative vision for the towns.
And it is four years since the TFP model was adopted to identify which community facilities were required (and not needed) to achieve the aspirations of the PBPs.
In September 2022, the council announced an update to its PBP and TFP process, updating the terms of reference for individual committees and clarifying the role of members.
At that time, the council also extended the timeline for delivery of the process from May to October 2023.
That deadline came and went, then a decision was made to complete all PBPs before acting on the future of the seven outdoor pools.
The council gave its communities two years of free pool use, but the wheel has turned fully, and we are no closer to knowing the long time future of the pools.
A new aquatics study, announced only a matter of weeks ago, is expected to bring long awaited news on that front.
To say the TFP process has been gradual would be an understatement, in fact, a media release on council’s website announced Tongala would be the first town to have a TFP embedded in its PBP has not been enacted — way back in August 2021.
That didn’t happen and the Tongala committee has been stalled in the delivery of its work because the next step in the process was the TFP committee formation.
TFP looks at the future of the town’s assets and sorts them effectively into three areas — those which can be renewed (upgraded), those which can be repurposed and those which should be retired (sold).
Towns who have completed their PBP process have been left in a state of limbo when it comes to the formation of the TFP committees.
This is a further snippet from that 2021 media release about the first TFP being formed: “Council will facilitate an expression of interest process to establish a community-based Tongala Governance Committee as the first to develop a Township Facility Plan for inclusion within a Place Based Plan.
“In the case of existing Place Based Plans, it is intended that Township Facility Plans be developed and then considered (by local committees and council) for incorporation into them,’’ the council release explained.
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