Community feedback remains vital to Romsey’s future

Published on 03 May 2022

Local residents participating in recent community consultation activities delivered strong feedback in surveys and submissions that will help shape the draft Romsey Structure Plan this year.

The six-week consultation period on the project’s Emerging Options Paper finished in early April and Councillors were briefed last week on how engagement around the project is progressing.

Council’s Director Planning and Environment Rebecca Stockfeld said a total of 419 online and hardcopy survey responses were received, as well as 56 written submissions.

“Minutes from a community-led meeting attended by Council representatives have also been included as a submission,” Ms Stockfeld said. “This is all vital feedback for the project team to consider.”

“We thank Romsey community members, businesses and landowners for their genuine interest and involvement in this project so far. It’s so important to tap into people’s local knowledge and concerns.”

“It’s fair to say Council hears the calls from local community members for services and facilities to match any future growth in Romsey, as a large district town,” she said

Council hosted two face-to-face drop-in sessions involving 60 people. Ms Stockfeld said the Romsey drop in sessions were the first chance for the strategic planning team to be face-to face with the community in two years due to COVID risks.

Project consultants Plan2Place ran an online presentation with a Question and Answer session attended by 76 residents. Questions raised in the webinar focused on the development options presented, and several issues around the potential effects of residential growth in Romsey.

The main themes of these questions included township growth and waste-water impacts, adequate services and facilities, sustainability, transport and the project’s engagement process.

”We are continually improving and expanding our engagement practices and are certainly embracing more face-to-face opportunities to listen to local communities and affected individuals,” she said. ”Our project consultants are already distilling the key issues and concerns raised by the Romsey community through the recent survey responses and submissions.”

Ms Stockfeld said planning officers and consultants are jointly preparing a report for Council to consider on the submissions and how the draft Romsey Structure Plan may best address key issues.

“We are also working on getting redacted copies of surveys and submissions onto Council’s webpage for everyone to view,” she said,

“Development of the draft Romsey Structure Plan will continue with further consultation in future stages,” she said. “We are committed to achieving positive long term outcomes for the community.”

Please register to receive project updates or call the Strategic Planning team on (03) 5422 0333.