City of Greater Geelong Councillors recently acknowledged progress made in the 2018-22 Council Plan.
Updated in June last year, theCouncil Plan identifies the priorities of Council and what they want to achieve for the community. The 2018-22 Council Plan, Putting our Community First, also outlines how Council is working towards achieving the community's clever and creative 30-year vision.
Each quarter Council is presented with a report that tracks progress against the priorities. The report from October – December 2020 was presented to Council at this week's public meeting.
Achievements included the launch of This Girl Can – Victoria campaign, which included a seminar in November and online events to encourage and support female participation in sport.
This work directly addressed the Council priority to promote gender equity and diversity in sporting and leisure facilities, and programs.
Additionally, work started on the redevelopment of the Geelong Food Relief Centre in December 2020, which has been funded through a Council investment of $1.7 million over five years.
This important community project addresses Council's key priority to support the establishment of an expanded Food Distribution Centre in the Geelong region.
The Council Plan set out 124 initiatives for this financial year. The recent report found 106 initiatives were 'on track', six were complete, and 9 projects are yet to commence or are considered to be off-track due to COVID-19 or other reasons.
City of Greater Geelong Mayor Stephanie Asher said the Council Plan quarterly reports were a valuable tool for helping Council to refocus on key priorities and be transparent to the community on our progress.
With 106 of our 124 key priorities on track, we are pleased with the progress we have made over the past three years.
There is still plenty of work to do and many challenges to overcome, but the passion and commitment of this Council, combined with the strength and resilience of our community, gives me great confidence.
Councillor Anthony Aitken said despite the impact of COVID-19, there were some major strategic achievements in the final quarter of 2020.
Particularly given the challenges of last year, it is a credit to our community and the organisation that we have continued to make progress in the areas that are important to us – such as gender equity and food access for all.
I thank the community for collaborating with us and continually stepping up to the mark as we work towards achieving our 30-year clever and creative vision.
