Kaya,

I hope that you’re well and managing these hot days. If you’re having trouble keeping your home cool, you might find the home energy audit kit useful.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about community, and all of the small ways that we weave it together. With the international landscape looking increasingly unstable, our local communities end up being the space where we deal with shocks and crises.

Neighbours help out during extreme weather, and local organisations are often on the frontline when it comes to helping with rising food prices and housing insecurity.

Building community doesn’t happen easily or quickly, and everyone does it differently. It might involve volunteering, taking the time to say hi to your neighbours, setting up a street chat group, or joining a local club. Whatever you do, it all helps to make a difference.

This newsletter covers:

• Getting involved;

• Behind the scenes at council;

• Coming up in March: the Draft Economic Development Strategy; 10 Kent St; METRONET and Long Park; the Elizabeth Baillie investigation into trees removed; and the much-more-exciting-than-you-might-think Corporate Business Plan Q2 Progress Report;

• Decisions made in February: the community group and club development plan; response to the State’s plan for higher-density precincts around train stations; and a request to defer the report on unapproved tree removals at Elizabeth Baillie Park.

• Inspiration from elsewhere: Kiezblocks, community wealth building, and coal-free power for Ireland.

Get involved

• The Annual Meeting of Electors is coming! Put Monday 16th March, 6pm in your calendar (with drinks and snacks from 5pm), and put on your thinking cap because this is a great opportunity to share your ideas for a better Vic Park If you have any questions about how it works, let me know!

• Are you part of a local non-profit organisation with a great idea for bringing local streets alive? Applications for funding are now open!

• Stories of the Strip is a beautiful celebration of our community’s history, running on 18th March - I went last year and highly recommend it.

• Do you like community, art, and soup? Enjoy more of all three at Vic Park Community Soup on 30th March!

• If you use Perth’s Principal Shared Paths, share your experiences to help plan for heat adaptation.

• Do you know a young person who wants to share their view of the community? More information here!

• We’re incredibly lucky to have after-school Noongar classes running again at the Community Centre: sign up here.

• The Vic Park Community Garden will be open on Friday 20th March from 5pm to 8pm for a sundowner and book launch.

• Want to stay in touch with what’s happening around town without relying on social media algorithms? Subscribe to the Town newsletters, or newsletters for the Library and Community Centre.

Behind the Scenes at Council

A lot of what elected members do isn’t visible to the community. Part of our job is representing residents' concerns to Town staff. This doesn't mean fixing a particular individual problem - it's often about ensuring that we use our connections with the community to help Town staff understand how people are experiencing Town projects and services. 

Recently I got a few messages raising concerns about a mismatch between the information being given to residents in the Town's bin tagging and information on the Town website. Often with questions like this I would go directly to staff, but in this case I know that Deputy Mayor Miles has a good depth of knowledge about waste management so I checked in with her first.

DM Miles has been looking into what was happening with bin tagging, FOGO, and the sometimes mixed messaging around waste and recycling services in the Town. The staff have advised that the rules for FOGO will be changing across the entire State shortly, and some of the educational material will need updating. The bin taggers have been following the newest rules, and more information will be available shortly. This work all feeds back into a more effective program.

Coming up in March

As always, I’ve listed a few items of interest here but to see full details I recommend that you read the Agenda Briefing Forum minutes. You can also watch the full ABF meeting recording (where we ask questions about agenda items) here. The Ordinary Council Meeting will be held on 17th March.

Item 11.2: Code of Conduct for Council Members Committee Members and Candidates

This suggests changes to our Code of Conduct to ensure that it aligns with new State regulations.

Item 12.1: Endorse for Public Advertising: Draft Economic Development Strategy 2026 - 2030

This draft, to go out for advertising if endorsed, sets out our focus areas for economic development. At the moment I’m exploring an amendment that would ask some extra questions during the consultation process, to gauge community interest in:

1. Doing a larger evaluation of the Economic Development Strategy in 2028, rather than 2030,

2. Considering inclusion of community wealth-building ideas in shaping the next Economic Development Strategy, and

3. Broadening our measures of economic development to paint a better picture of how the local economy supports sustainability, well-being, and resilience.

Item 13.1: 10 Kent Street, East Victoria Park - Evaluation of EOI submissions

This recommends an applicant to be offered a lease for the Town's building at 10 Kent Street.

Item 13.2: METRONET - Agreements

This recommends a path towards finalising agreements for the Town to take over management and maintenance for Long Park, with a funding agreement from the State for the first five years of maintenance. Officer notes here detail various outstanding issues, such as issues with the irrigation system, that need to be rectified before handover.

Installation of a toilet block at Long Park is currently waiting on finalisation of these agreements (see note 26 on page 30). I’ve heard from many people that the lack of toilet facilities is making it difficult to enjoy Long Park - particularly for women and girls - so I’m hopeful that we can make progress on this soon. My question (at 55min) on this item at the ABF was intended to better understand how a failure to sign off on our agreements with the Public Transport Authority might undermine delivery of a good outcome for the community.

Item 13.3 Strategic Waste Management Plan - Progress Update

Officers recommend that the revised Strategic Waste Management Plan be presented to council during third quarter of 2026, noting the need for a post-implementation review of FOGO and Verge Valet.

Item 13.4 Elizabeth Baillie Investigation Report

This notes the outcome of the investigation (presented in appendix 13.4.1) and recommends a review of the Town's project management framework; policy and project documentation processes; and standard contract requirements. It also recommends that a planting program be established to replace the trees that were removed. As you might imagine, there were quite a few questions asked about this both during public participation time and by elected members (1hr 7min).

Item 13.5 TVP-25-19 - Tree Planting and Watering

This recommends that council award the contract for our seasonal tree planting and seasonal watering program works. There have been a few questions from elected members about whether there might be a business case for doing more of this work in-house.

Item 14.3 Mid Year Budget Review 2025-2026

Budget variations include variations for projects that have costs more or less than was budgeted, and for projects that have been postponed.

Item 15.2 Corporate Business Plan Quarter 2 Progress Report (October - December 2025)

This might not sound exciting, but I've started looking forward to it! The attachment (15.2.1) lists the goals that the Town has achieved over the last quarter, linking them to our objectives. This includes a celebration of two years for the Lathlain Bike Bus; changes allowing police to have a live view of CCTVs in public areas; identifications of areas requiring better lighting; outreach and planning to support people experiencing homelessness; celebrations for Seniors Week; the Summer Street Party and Light Up Christmas events; a new Young Teen collection at the library; community planting days; the installation of a fertigation unit at Fletcher Park; continued work on the Higgins Park and Playfield Masterplan; design underway for the Temple and Gloucester street intersection...and much more (43 pages of more).

Decisions made in February

As always, this is a summary of a couple of key items: for full details you can read the meeting minutes online or watch the recording.

12.1 Community Group and Club Development Plan Adoption

Cr Ingram argued against the adoption of this plan (42min on), primarily (as I understood it) on the basis that it might be seen to be imposing support for diversity on clubs and groups. He moved a procedural motion to refer the Plan back to a concept forum: this lapsed for want of a seconder. The Community Group and Club Development Plan was adopted with Mayor Vernon, Cr Anderson, Deputy Mayor Miles, Cr Biondi, Cr Minson, Cr Melrosa, Cr Gordon-Manley and myself in favour, and Cr Ingram against.

12.2 Response to WAPC Station Precincts Improvement Plans

This item provided council with a draft response to the Western Australian Planning Commission's request for comment, with a recommendation that we do not support or object to the current plan given the lack of information; and that we note our general support for higher-density development around stations.

Cr Minson successfully put forward an amendment to the recommendation (see page 35, or 1hr 2min), strengthening our call for the State government to draw on the existing Oats Street Precinct Plan for this area, and to include direction to develop a mechanism for financial contributions that would support local government delivery of community infrastructure.

Inspiration from elsewhere

• Germany’s Kiezblocks are a bottom-up, resident-driven solution to the problems caused by traffic and rat-running. I’ve enjoyed exploring Mitte’s process for facilitating community feedback on Kiezblocks.

• The Community Wealth Building Bill was adopted in Scotland this year, working towards local economies that serve local people’s needs. You can read stories about what this looks like on the ground here.

• Ireland has joined other European countries in phasing out coal! (Okay, I’m a few months late to the party here, but I’ll take whatever good news is available.)

We are all connected

While Vic Park feels, at times, very far away from the Middle East, I know that many people here are horrified by the expansion of Israeli and US bombings. We are also feeling some of the ripples of this violence here, partly through increased fuel prices.

As well as working to strengthen our local communities, we need to strengthen global networks calling for solidarity and compassion. Our lives are interconnected, well beyond national borders, and a better future for all depends on our willingness to support justice internationally.

If you have money to spare, consider donating to some of the organisations working urgently to support civilians through violence and dispossession. There are also many organisations within Australia working to support those who have fled war.

Boordawan!

Thanks for reading! As always, if you have questions, ideas, or concerns, please do feel free to get in touch. And if you’ve read this far and found it useful, please consider sharing with friends!

best wishes,

sky.