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Community Engagement Plan for the Implementation of the Regional Pest Management Strategy

It is well known that the effectiveness of any plan or strategy depends on its coordinated implementation and how much the community 'buys-in'. This is certainly the case with NRM planning when the actions are often to be implemented on privately owned land. However, engaging landowners in NRM action is not always easy.

In recognition of this, the South East NRM Board engaged URPS to develop a community engagement plan as part of their Regional Pest Management Plan. The project sought to explore how the Board could best work in partnership with rural landholders, the wider community and other stakeholders to achieve the Board's pest plant and animal control objectives.

This partnership approach recognised that a range of people need to be informed and involved in pest management. Helping people to understand the key pest issues as identified by the Regional Pest Management Strategy; involving people in pest control using the right techniques; and focussing people's energies in the right direction are critical to ensuring effective pest plant and animal control.

The preparation of the plan involved a number of key information collection processes, including a widespread, statistically valid market research telephone survey with 408 rural, and 375 urban, landholders. Additionally, targeted consultations were undertaken, including one-on-one interviews, meetings and the review and analysis of existing Board community engagement activities.

Building on the key messages identified by the information collection and consultations, a number of community engagement activities were recommended in an action plan under five key goals. This project served to highlight the diversity of skills among URPS personnel, including expertise in both community engagement and natural resources management.

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.