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Mount Barker 'Speaks Out' About the Future of its Town Centre

The District Council of Mount Barker has the state's second fastest growing population and is earmarked for further expansion in the 30 Year Plan for Greater Adelaide. In order to better meet current needs and plan for the future, the District Council is developing a Town Centre Strategy and engaged URPS to assist with community engagement.

Council committed itself to meaningful engagement for this project based on the simple premise that there should be real input from local residents who regularly use the centre. Building on this commitment, URPS utilised the "speak out" approach to community forums as part of the broader engagement strategy. "Open house" forums were held in the Town Hall over a three day period, allowing people to drop-by at their leisure and provide their ideas on the Town Centre.

The open format of the "speak out" sessions allowed a variety of voices to be heard, which will not only feed into the Town Centre Strategy but also other council initiatives, such as its Community Plan. Moreover, the emphasis on listening (there were 4 dedicated facilitators and 4 dedicated recorders at each session), generated significant goodwill with the community and facilitated conversations between participants. The overwhelmingly positive outcomes were reflected at least 5 'opportunities' being suggested for every 'issue' identified in the town centre. In her letter to The Courier, local resident Kym Afford commented:

I was expecting to be taught something and... was caught on the back foot having to disgorge what I thought we could do to improve it all. Mainly young ( to me) and vibrant people were manning the tables, their open mindedness, their frank questioning - all the while taking notes of what was said - left me with, in parlance, "Gob-sacked."

Innovation is important to us at URPS. We like to 'push boundaries’ where appropriate. It keeps us on our toes and delivers the best possible outcomes for our clients who have to adapt to constant change. This is why we take such pride in winning PIA Awards – they provide evidence of our success in striving for innovation.

We were delighted to receive a commendation at the PIA SA 2011 Awards for Planning Excellence for the Mount Barker Town Centre Community Engagement Project – our 15th PIA Award/Commendation over the past 9 years.

A genuinely collaborative project, staff from Mount Barker Council worked closely with the URPS team to deliver a range of engagement techniques carefully targeted to the various audiences. According to the awards publication, "the judges were impressed by the extent of the community engagement process and the use of a wide variety of consultation mediums, including social media, a youth ‘walk out and talk out’ session and a series of 'speak out’ sessions".

We were also delighted to celebrate Marcus Rolfe's elevation to the position of Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia at the Awards evening. The elevation recognises Marcus' ongoing contribution to the planning profession.

URPS Director Nicole Halsey has recently been appointed as a member of the Premier's Climate Change Council and the Board of Renewables SA.

The primary function of the Climate Change Council is to provide independent advice to the Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change about matters related to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change. The Council also takes a leading role in consulting with business, the environment / conservation sector and the wider community on climate change issues.

Key elements of the charter of Renewables SA include:

We look forward to supporting Nicole in these significant roles.

URPS and Natalie Fuller and Associates, together with a team of dedicated staff and volunteers at the City of Salisbury, recently held a "Street Talk" event outside the Len Beadell library for the Salisbury Town Centre Renewal Project.

Over 500 people participated, providing their views on what they like about the Town Centre, what can be improved and how they would like to see it develop in the future.

The Manager Urban Development at the City of Salisbury, Harry Pitrans, described this as a "very successful day for the City of Salisbury", also praising "the opportunity we provided to support the team of engagement volunteers" and our "professionalism and fun during the day".

We would also like to extend our thanks to the engagement team of Brian Pledger, Janine Harding, Jo Lasham, Julie Fyfe, Kate Naumann, Michelle Tucker, Tammie Hamilton and Hiroe Terao.

This type of successful community engagement will have a significant positive impact on the development and delivery of the Town Centre Renewal Project.