“If you want to get a good return from an investment you need to first work out where you want to go,” said City of Gosnells’ Director Strategic Planning, Stuart Jardine.
Bringing with him an international background in strategic planning and urban regeneration, Stuart Jardine came to Gosnells with the aim of moving the City forward through a strategic plan that had widespread community support.
He adheres to the view of Harvard Professor Paul Murrain that ‘great cities and towns are not created by market forces but by civic leaders having the courage to create them’.
Stuart describes strategic planning as ‘muddling with a purpose’ as against ‘just muddling through’.
“It is a template, a road map if you will, which enables Council to develop explicit strategies and to put down key milestones,” he said.
“A good strategic plan allows the City and its community to see what it is achieving. It has clear performance measures and ensures scarce resources are congruent with priorities.”
The need for a strategic plan to guide Gosnells’ future direction is made more obvious with Gosnells expecting a 25 percent increase in population over the next five years. This will entail 750 new dwellings per year.
The plan’s stated economic goal is to foster ‘a prosperous, sustainable, diverse economic base for the future’.
It includes regeneration of the Gosnells City Centre, refurbishment of ‘tired’ older suburbs, new planning guidelines that promote pedestrian activity, and measures to foster new economic opportunities.
These are all designed to meet the needs of residents and ratepayers who have clearly said they want a safer and more liveable City.
Drawn up in 1997, the plan has already won a major Local Government Industry award.
However, Stuart Jardine said there is no question of Gosnells now resting on its laurels.
He added that 90 percent of strategic plans fail through a combination of a lack of commitment and effort, but that there was no possibility of this happening in the City of Gosnells. Somehow you know he is probably right.
