Thousands of people on the Mornington Peninsula have been dreaming big about what they would like life to look like here in 2040.
It's all part of an ambitious project to create a shared community vision for the future of the Peninsula, with the next phase starting in June.
More than 2,000 people have shared their ideas via Mornington Peninsula Shire's Imagine: Peninsula 2040 survey while hundreds more have spoken with Peninsula 2040 ambassadors, attended online forums, met for community group discussions, shared drawings or written on postcards.
Community engagement ambassadors have worked their way across the Peninsula and its townships, connecting with hundreds of people in shopping centres, schools, business groups, community groups, markets and more.
More than 150 people from across the Peninsula recently joined the Shire's five online community forums, hosted by community engagement specialists MosaicLab. Targeted forums were also held across themes such as youth, arts and culture, aged and disability and transport.
Across all the engagement, the community have been asked the same four questions:
- What do you want life to look like on the Mornington Peninsula in 2040?
- What do you love most about the Mornington Peninsula and want to protect?
- When you think about the future of the Peninsula, what is most important to you?
- If it were up to you, what would you change about the Peninsula?
The next phase of the visioning process is the Citizens' Panel – a randomly selected group of more than 40 people who will represent the community. They are tasked with taking all of the community feedback and distilling it down into a shared community vision.
The Panel will meet online across several sessions in June and July, which will be facilitated by MosaicLab. They will receive a comprehensive report of the data collected from community engagement plus in-depth information that helps them to understand the issues and options related to the decisions they are making.
Participants are given the time and support they need to consider and discuss information and ideas, weigh up issues and options and agree on recommendations.
The Community Vision agreed upon by the Citizens' Panel will be presented to Council in July. The Shire will then use this to develop policies, programs and projects that steer the Peninsula towards this shared vision.
The Shire will share the Community Vision with the public and highlight the key themes and priorities that will be incorporated into the next four-year Council Plan and other strategic planning.
