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Facilitation of Workshops, Seminars and Strategic Planning Sessions

We are frequently engaged to bring our high level skills in strategic planning, analysis, synthesis and group work. Facilitating such sessions allows organisations to focus their energies on identifying new directions, managing change, or reviewing their achievements. We work closely with our clients to understand the needs of their organisation, political sensitivities and personalities so they can develop an agenda that will best achieve their desired outcomes.

Clients for whom we have provided facilitation services include:

  • Local Government Association of SA
  • South Australian Community Housing Authority
  • Minister's Housing Round Table
  • Department for Environment and Heritage
  • City of Salisbury
  • Seniors Information Service
  • Aged Care Services Community Network
  • Adelaide Mt Lofty Ranges NRM Board
  • Murray Darling Basin NRM Board
  • Uniting Care Wesley Port Adelaide
  • Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide
  • Office for The Ageing
  • RSCPCA

The Minister for Urban Development & Planning released the Ministerial Mount Barker Urban Growth Development Plan Amendment (DPA) in June 2010 for public consultation. This DPA proposes to rezone approximately 1300 hectares of rural land on the edges of Mt Barker and Nairne for residential and light industrial use.

With the aim of ensuring that its community was well informed and empowered to comment on the Ministerial DPA, the District Council of Mt Barker engaged URPS to run a series of information sessions for the local community. These six sessions were extremely well attended, with more than 300 people able to hear about and ask questions regarding the Ministerial DPA process and how to go about getting involved in this part of the planning system.

In a letter to the editor of the Mt Barker Courier, Jean Lovell of Nairne said that "Mt Barker Council is to be congratulated for its commitment to proper community consultation" and that URPS was "highly professional and responded in detail to questions in an articulate, honest and informed manner".

This is evidence of the success of these types of community information sessions and the goodwill and engagement that Mt Barker Council has fostered with its community through the process. We also believe that this type of process leads to informed and valuable input from the community to key planning initiatives such as this Ministerial DPA."