Beyond the Edge: Australia's First National Peri-Urban Conference La Trobe University Oct 2013

1. Building Community
In a context of rapid growth in Population &
Diversity in the City of Wyndham

2. Role of Local Government
Local Government Functions
 Infrastructure Provision
 Roads, Drains (Local)
 Open Space and Recreation
 Community and Civic Buildings
 Community
Supports/Development
 Planning and Regulation
 Governance
 Services
 Advocacy

3. Population Growth

4. Growth in Population
2013
187788
2011
166699
2009
143405
2007
123778
2005
108795
Population

5. Growth in organisation
2012/13
2011/12
2009/10
2007/8
2005/6
0
500
Total Headcount
Total EFT
1000
1500

6. People
 Higher proportions of residents aged under 18, and
25 to 49 years old
 68 babies born each week in 2011/12
Ancestry
 English or Australian ancestries: 49%
 Other significant ancestries:

Indian, Maltese and Filipino
 1503 migrants to Wyndham in 2012

49% as skilled migrants

About 200 humanitarian visa
 Mandarin, Karen and Italian most common
non-English languages spoken

7. People (cont…)
 % of households experiencing housing
stress in 2011:
 Wyndham: 25
 Metro Melbourne : 20
 Unemployment
 2006 - 5.4%
 2011 – 6.3%
 Reported incidents of family violence for
the 2010-2011 period:
 810 recorded incidents per 100,000
population

8. People (cont…)
 % who are managers and other
professional is rising
 Wyndham: 27.7
 Metro Melbourne: 36.6
 Over half of Wyndham residents Work
outside of the municipality
 Nearly 75% drive to work
 Over 25% of residents spend two or
more hours each day travelling between
work and home

9. Wyndham municipality
Local Government Functions in Wyndham
 Infrastructure Provision
 Established agriculture and vegetable growing; RAAF; Treatment Plant;
Melbourne Water; ocean
 Established industrial (Laverton)
 Freight, Vline and Regional Rail
 Strong developer influence on housing stock
 Planning and Regulation
 State Govt growth boundary extensions and population targets
 Fast growth, developers and state government strong stakeholders
 Services
 Council is largest provider of services
 Small NFP presence

10. Wyndham municipality
Local Government Functions in Wyndham
 Community Supports/Development
 Insufficient infrastructure at affordable rates
 Emerging communities – not one ‘average’
 Seifa index average 1013.4, with lowest 874.6 and highest 1092.8 (9 above
and 9 below Aus av of 1002)
 Governance
 Time poor individuals and families
 Advocacy
 Traffic Congestion and development of road and other State/Federal
infrastructure eg schools

11. Definition of Community
Oxford Dictionaries – in part
1
 Group of people living in the same place or having a
particular characteristic in common
 A group of people living together and practising common
ownership
 A body of nations or states unified by common interests
 The people of a district or country considered
collectively, especially in the context of social values and
responsibilities
2
 The condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and
interests in common

12. What do we know of Community?
John Bowlby (2000, p283-4):
Diminution in social and community involvement due to:
 Time and money pressures – 10%
 Suburbanisation and community – 10%
 Electronic entertainment – 25%
 Generational change and ‘TV generation’ – 50%
Wyndham in 2013:
 Time pressured families (2hrs commuting; mortgage stress)
 Almost 79,000 or 58% of the population arrived in the last 8 years –
42% of the population experienced dramatic change
 Traffic congestion dramatically increased
 Social media influence growing
 Interest based groups multiplying – cultures, faiths, sport

13. Building Community?
Elements of Community Building
1. Community Infrastructure
2. Community Strengthening
3. Community Decision making
4. Advocacy

14. Building Community?
Elements of Community Building
1. Community Infrastructure – Place making
 State Government (GAA etal)
 Developer Contributions
 Community facility stakeholders
Cross department
and
stakeholder
collaboration

15. Building Community?
Elements of Community Building
2. Community Strengthening
 Community leadership and governance
 Council community grants and volunteer
programs
 Service Provision
Community and
Council
department
collaboration

16. Building Community?
Elements of Community Building
3. Community Decision making
 Engagement methodologies
Council and
community
collaboration

17. Building Community?
Elements of Community Building
4. Advocacy
 Local Gov support/campaigns
Community and
Council
collaboration – to
State/Federal

18. How to Build Community?
Physical Infrastructure – (Built Form)

Community Infrastructure Development
 Negotiating space allocations in new facility development
 MCH, kinders, recreation ovals, connective paths, arts, etc.
 Regulation influences – changes without notice – e.g. 15hrs
kinders
 Community Infrastructure Implementation
 Colocation or integrated service provision?
 Competitive environment (EOI to access)
 Negotiating space allocations in context of continuous demand
 Prioritise Council service, community use, growing groups
or new?

19. How to Build Community?
Social Infrastructure – (People Connection)
Forms of community groups






Community Service Organisations (charities, not for profits)
Community based groups (associations and affiliations)
 Committees of management
 Arts and Culture
 Culture based groups
Service Organisations
Faith Groups
Recreation and Sporting groups
Policy dilemmas:
 Policy for access to physical infrastructure and community grants – who to
prioritise?
 Sharing of resources
 Annual infrastructure provision or longer term?
 Facilitate individual cultural identities or broader community identity?

20. How to Build Community?
Role of Organisations/Groups

Bowlby (2000, p339-341):
 Advantages of local volunteer associations:
 Civic skill building, develop democratic habits, participation in civic
life, social connectedness and reciprocity, self esteem

Risks of local volunteer associations:
 Single interests, potential extremism, homogenous ideological views,
anti-democratic

Local Government through allocation of resources and planning decisions
influence the strength of individual groups

Political processes in turn influence Local Government

21. How to Build Community?
Organisational Processes
Local Government Organisations
 Multiple Services
 Multiple Professions and Skills
 Traditionally arranged hierarchically
 ALGA, quoted by Frank Hornby (2012):
 … various council departments still continued a singular and specialised
approach to policy and services planning and in a manner that had only a
basic relationship to other council departments
 In any locality, there are a myriad of services and programs being delivered by
the three spheres of government, their agencies and the wider community.
Often these services are poorly coordinated and integrated, resulting in gaps
and overlaps in service delivery and the inappropriate or untimely provision of
facilities (p353)

22. How to Build Community?
Wyndham Organisation
Initiatives to address Organisational Barriers
 Leadership Development Program
 Encouraging cross-organisational collaboration
 Integrated Planning Group
 Developing integrated service model for community centres
 Community Engagement Skill Development
 Encourage decision making based on community involvement, rather than ‘for
the community’
 Local Area Planning
 Plan new infrastructure based on local profile and engagement

23. Building Community in Wyndham
Context of:
 Local Government Role and Function
 Rapid Growth in Population, Diversity and Organisation
 Pressures on community both societal and arising from the changes
City of Wyndham is:
 Planning physical and social infrastructure with key stakeholders
 Seeking stronger engagement with local community groups and organisations to
influence the community building
 Addressing its own organisational processes to break down barriers and achieve
more integrated planning
 Striving to build diverse, thriving communities which deliver the benefits
community life and strengthen local democracy
heather.johnson@wyndham.vic.gov.au
References:
John Bowlby, Bowling Alone, Touchstone 2000
Frank Hornby, Australian Local Government and Community Development, Australian Scholarly Publishing
Pty Ltd, 2012