The Strategic Community Plan (SCP) is the City of Swan’s overarching strategy and planning document that guides the future direction of the City over a 10-year period. It is a legislative requirement that the City prepares and reviews the SCP with meaningful input from our communities.

The SCP contains the community’s vision, needs and aspirations for the future. The vision is defined by five key result areas. Each area has outcomes, objectives and measures with targets that outline what we aim to achieve and how we will achieve it.

What we’ve heard during the SCP consultation so far:

Where did we hear this?

1. Desktop review:
   More than 105 projects occurring between January 2022 and November 2024 were reviewed to identify key themes arising within the community.

1. Targeted key stakeholder workshops:
   Thirty-eight representatives from a range of community groups, service providers, resident groups and also community champions came together to workshop thoughts and aspirations.

Key themes

Governance key themes:

• Enforcing regulations and addressing non-compliance
• Strategic planning and alignment between plans (SCP, LAPs, strategies)
• Effective community engagement and data-driven decision-making
• Accountability and transparency (e.g. "Stop playing catch up – just do it.")
• Addressing governance concerns (e.g. City size, delegated authority).

Summary: The community emphasises the need for strong and accountable governance with clear and consistent enforcement of regulations. They advocate for strategic planning that considers community input and aligns with broader goals.

Effective community engagement is crucial, with a focus on transparent communication and data-driven decision-making to ensure the community's voice is heard and considered.

Natural Environment key themes:

• Biodiversity conservation and green corridors
• Tree planting and urban greening
• Water management and catchment protection
• Environmental sustainability in development and planning
• Protection of natural assets (e.g. Whiteman Park, Swan River).

Summary: The community strongly prioritises environmental sustainability and the conservation of natural assets.

They advocate for the protection of biodiversity, creating green corridors and urban green spaces, and integrating environmental considerations into all planning and development decisions.

Social key themes:

• Community wellbeing and social inclusion
• Provision of essential services (health, education, social services)
• Community safety and security
• Arts and culture
• Addressing social issues (e.g. domestic violence)
• Community connection and social infrastructure.

Summary: The community emphasises the importance of social well-being and inclusion. They want improved access to essential services, a safe and secure environment, and opportunities for social connection and cultural expression. Addressing social issues like domestic violence is also a key concern.

Economic key themes:

• Business support and job creation

• Tourism development and promotion

• Economic diversification

• Industry development and innovation

• Supporting local businesses and entrepreneurship.

Summary: The community desires economic growth and job creation through supporting local businesses, fostering entrepreneurship, and developing the tourism sector. They also emphasise the need for economic diversification and innovation.

Built Environment key themes:

• Urban planning and development

• Infrastructure development and maintenance

• Public spaces and open space management

• Heritage conservation

• Sustainable development and environmental considerations in building.

Summary: The community expects well-planned urban development with a focus on quality infrastructure, well-maintained public spaces, and the preservation of heritage. They also emphasise the importance of sustainable development practices and considering environmental impacts in building projects.

As our community grows and changes, we need to check in and make sure we continue to understand your vision, priorities and aspirations for the future.

While the current 10-year plan is from 2021-2031, we are legislatively required to do a major review every four years. The reviewed plan will also cover ten years from 2025-2035.

Your feedback will directly inform our review of the SCP and help shape the community’s priorities for the next 10 years.

We will take your feedback to Council through a series of workshops as part of the review process. Your feedback will be used to inform the new Strategic Community Plan 2025-2035. We aim to finalise the new SCP and have it adopted by Council in August 2025.

The City will consult the community on the SCP in the following ways:

• Pop-ups in your local area
• Stall at community events
• Meeting with active community groups
• Advertising and inviting the community to Swan Engage
• Workshops.

We can’t wait to see you out in the community and hear what you have to say.

Advocacy efforts are delivered in close consultation with relevant City stakeholders, which includes frequent project status updates. The City meets and communicates regularly with our political stakeholders to keep them informed as projects progress.

As projects are funded or completed, they will be removed from these agendas.

Having endorsed advocacy priorities allows the City to adopt a proactive approach to advocacy.

Similarly, we can – and do – advocate for additional priorities beyond the endorsed list as opportunities are identified, such as when formal funding opportunities arise.

The City’s current endorsed list of financial advocacy priorities spans 2023-2025, however these are reviewed often to ensure projects remain suitable to continue advocacy.

The SCP is the City’s principal guiding strategy. It sets the overarching direction for the delivery of the City’s services and projects to our communities. As a result, it is important that it accurately reflects our community’s priorities, needs and aspirations. This is why your feedback is so important.

This plan will cover the next 10 years from 2025-2035. The next major review of the plan is scheduled for 2029.

It is a requirement that local governments prepare an Integrated Planning and Reporting Framework (IPR). The City’s IPR is illustrated below:

This framework details how we translate community priorities and aspirations from the SCP into the delivery of services, projects and activities to meet our community’s needs.

It enables us to plan appropriately and ensure we have the right level of resourcing including the right roles and right people with the right skills to deliver on our community’s needs.

It details how we will measure, assess and report on performance every year to the community.

The measurement and reporting process facilitates continuous improvement of our performance and progress towards our SCP vision and objectives.

We review and report on performance against our SCP via multiple mechanisms including:

• Annual Community and Business Perceptions Survey
• Annual Corporate Business Plan mid-year performance report
• Annual SCP key result area performance reporting (quarterly updates)
• Annual Report.

To see the City’s latest performance reports against the SCP, visit the Our Performance page on our website.

In addition to our major review every four years, we consult with the community annually through the Community and Business Perceptions Survey to measure how residents and business owners view our performance.

Feedback from our residents and business owners informs our service levels and annual business planning and helps us identify and prioritise areas for improvement to support the on-going delivery of the SCP.

As part of our reporting process, we deliver an annual performance review against each SCP key result area which includes progress updates against our SCP outcomes and objectives, published on the City’s website.