Oral Presentation Public Works Conference 2022

Melton City Council’s Asset Plan 2021-31 (The Plan) has been prepared in accordance with the Local Government Act 2020 and was adopted by Council in September 2021. The Plan incorporates a suite of strategic asset management documentation including the Asset Management Policy, Asset Management Strategy, Asset Management Plan – Transport , Asset Management Plan - Stormwater, Asset Management Plan - Open Space and Asset Management Plan – Buildings.

Section 92 of the Local Government Act 2020 requires councils to develop or review the Asset Plan in accordance with its deliberative engagement practices. The Plan has been developed with the support of strategic asset management specialists and key internal stakeholders, together with extensive consultation with the community and Councillors.

Council, for the first time, engaged a community panel to provide input into the development of The Plan. The community panel brought together 43 residents, who were representative of the community as a whole, and reflected the diversity of locations, ages and backgrounds of the City of Melton.

The community panel was given the broad remit to consider ‘what are our aspirations for the growing City of Melton in 2041 and how should we prioritise and resource in order to get there?’. Their contribution to the Plan was to develop guiding principles to guide Council’s asset management decisions.

Through the deliberative engagement process, nine guiding principles were developed to guide Council’s asset management decisions and assist in achieving The Plan’s vision. The application of these nine guiding principles (Community-focused, Equity and inclusion, Quality, Leadership, Community voices, Health and wellbeing, Innovation, Sustainability, Integration) through the development of the suite of documents within The Plan ensures Council considers the role of our community and their guidance to achieve the organisations vision of ensuring that infrastructure assets support services that are appropriate, accessible, responsive, timely and sustainable to the community, in accordance with responsible asset management that will preserve the life of the asset and ensure that the community is receiving the best value for money from Asset Management Programs.

The community panel was key to ensuring the community’s voice was at the heart of Council’s strategic asset management planning. The consultation and engagement process was designed and led by Council in accordance with the requirements of the Local Government Act 2020 and Council’s Community Engagement Policy.