The Long-Term Community Vision 2031 defines the community aspirations for the future of the City of Casey, which is to become a more connected, bold and resilient community.  

 The Vision is a high-level strategic document, which is a legal requirement under the Local Government Act 2020, Section 89, that describes the community’s aspirations for our municipality for the next ten years and the type of city they want to see. 

The City of Casey developed the Vision using the feedback and insights obtained through Council’s largest ever community engagement program Shape Your City.

 The Vision should be read in conjunction with the City of Casey Council Plan 2021-25 (Council Plan), which details how Council plans to deliver on the Vision through a range of Strategic Objectives, Strategies and Strategic Indicators. The Council Plan is centred on what Council will achieve for the municipality in a four-year period and must reflect the Vision.

Council’s Integrated Strategic Planning Framework guides Council in identifying community needs and aspirations over the long term (the Vision), medium term (Council Plan) and short term (Annual Budget, incorporating the Annual Action Plan and Capital Works Program), and how it will hold itself accountable (Annual Report and Audited Statements).
The following illustration demonstrates Council’s Integrated Strategic Planning Framework, including the hierarchy and how our strategic documents fit together to help achieve our community’s vision for Casey.

As part of our largest-ever community engagement program, Shape Your City, we reached out to our community via online forums, webinars, surveys and a community panel to find out what their aspirations, needs and priorities are their community. The findings went into producing a roadmap for the future, which included shaping our long-term Community Vision.

Key Findings and Development of the Long-Term Community Vision 2031 

Through the Shape Your City engagement program, the following key themes emerged: 

• The aspiration to live in a truly safe place 
• The desire for greater social connection 
• Clean and green public spaces 
• The need to improve transport infrastructure
• Re-thinking urban growth 
• A thriving and resilient local economy 
• Sustainable and resilient municipality
•  Better and more transparent governance 

Our community is faced with a number of complex issues in this ever-changing environment, which cannot be solved by one person, group or organisation.  It requires Council and community – together – to work as one to help solve these complex issues. 

As we strive to ensure Casey becomes a more connected, bold and resilient community, we have developed a set of high-level themes to guide Council’s strategic direction, help realise this vision and support the community’s aspirations. 

Our high-level themes include:

Theme one: More Connected

Whether we are talking about connecting people to places, or Council and community, we know that connection is important to our community

Guiding Statement

• Physical connection, with better roads, public transport, pedestrian, and bike paths.
• Welcoming environments that encourage social and cultural connection. 
• Strengthened culture of collaboration, partnerships, and community-led networks

Theme two: Bold

We will become more innovative in embracing change and exploring opportunities that creates services for our community, whilst building a sense of pride.

Guiding Statement

• Desire to become more innovative with technology.
• A willingness to embrace change and build a sense of community pride.
• Design more ways where community can contribute to the shaping of initiatives, they wish to see take place across the municipality.

Theme three: Resilient

To be a great city long into the future, we will become even more adaptable in how we respond, creative in how we evolve our economy, and sustainable in how we use our resources.

Guiding Statement

• Create an environment that can respond to and bounce back from external impacts such as COVID-19 or natural disasters.
• Use data and research to design the future. 
• Help build a resilient community ready for the post-pandemic opportunities.
   

The Council Plan 2021-25 outlines how we will achieve our Long-Term Community Vision 2031 (the Vision) to – become a more connected, bold and resilient community –while also focusing on how we will work with our community, key stakeholders, community organisations, surrounding municipalities and other levels of government.  

The Council Plan was developed based on the feedback from Shape Your City, Council’s largest ever community engagement program. Shape Your City identified eight key themes from what our community told us are their priorities for the future of our city. These key themes have helped shape the strategic objectives and priorities set out in the Council Plan. 

It gives me great pleasure to present our community with Year Four of the Council Plan 2021-25.  

Our Council Plan has been informed by extensive consultation and deliberative engagement with our community, via the Shape Your City engagement program.  

As the state’s most populous municipality and one of the fastest growing, it is important that the City of Casey continues to deliver services and infrastructure to meet the growing needs of our city.

The Council Plan positions us to proactively do just that, whilst balancing the economic challenges and pressures impacting our community and the organisation. We continue to face financial pressures and rising costs, coupled with the challenge of operating in a rate capped environment. However, we’ve worked within tight budget parameters and developed partnerships where necessary to create a plan that is both responsible and achievable.

We will modernise Council’s services and ways of working to provide the best possible outcomes for the community, as well as consolidating our Capital Works Program to help ensure we’re a future-ready and financially sustainable organisation.  

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the challenges not only facing the community, but also Council following the release of the Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) Operation Sandon report. Released in July 2023, the report uncovered serious corruption risks and vulnerabilities based on evidence gathered during a detailed investigation process.  

Council is focused on delivering reforms that uphold integrity and transparency through clear, contemporary policies and decision-making. Following the findings of the report, we want to assure our community that any new councillors elected will be of the highest standard. To help achieve the best possible democratic representation of the Casey community, we will be supporting a Councillor Induction Program in the lead up to the October 2024 elections.

Finally, as we approach the final year of our Council Plan, our focus will continue to be directed towards the priorities of our community, which include open space and recreation, climate change and our environment, transport and infrastructure, and safety. In 2024, we are looking forward to again engaging with our community to develop the next Council Plan and new Community Vision.
 

As we approach the final year of our Council Plan, we will continue to work hard as an organisation to deliver on the priorities and aspirations of our community.  

Through our Council Plan, we have outlined our objectives to support our community in driving stronger connections and places, developing platforms for community empowerment and ensuring the organisation becomes future ready.  

This plan will help us continue to deliver essential services, projects and key infrastructure, particularly in line with the key areas our community has told us are important to them. These priorities include open space and recreation, climate change and our environment, transport and infrastructure and safety.  

Each year the economic, political and environmental settings differ and are considered when we’re planning and budgeting to ensure we’re delivering on our Council Plan. Our strength is in the way we adapt and prioritise to ensure we continue delivering critical services and infrastructure for our community.  

This year, we’re working within tight budget parameters due to the economic pressures and rising costs being experienced by our community and the organisation. This is made more challenging by cost of living pressures and also the imposed State Government rate cap which will have an impact on Council’s ability to deliver infrastructure and services to a significantly growing community. However, we will budget in a financially responsible way, focussing on the long-term to ensure Council is economically equipped for the future.

Council remains optimistic and committed to continuing to find a balance between financial sustainability whilst being responsive to the needs of our residents and ratepayers.

We’ll continue to ensure our operating budget is directed towards priority services for the community which will be delivered in a sustainable manner. We will also continue our investment in much-need infrastructure and upgrades in 2024/25 through our Capital Works Program (CWP). This financial year, the program focuses on renewing and maintaining our existing assets while we carefully plan for new infrastructure that supports our growing community. 
 

All data provided above can be referenced in the full version of the Council Plan.

Strategic Direction 1:  Drive stronger connections and places

Whether we are talking about connecting people to places, or Council and community, we know that connection is important to our community.

Objective 1:  Deliver sustainable infrastructure and activate places

Objective 2:  Grow Casey's current and emerging sectors

Objective 3:  Foster environmentally sustainable practices and work towards being climate ready

Objective 4: Advocate to State and Federal Governments for key service and infrastructure delivery

​​​​​​Strategic Direction 2:  Develop platforms for community empowerment

We want to unite our individual courage into a collective force capable of tackling the big issues we care about.  To be brave enough to explore new ideas, and bold enough to lead the way.

Objective 5:  Create a resilient, active and connected community

Objective 6:  Ensure good governance and transparent decision making

Strategic Direction 3:  Become a future-ready organisation

To be a great city long into the future, we will become even more adaptable in how we respond, creative in how we evolve our economy, and sustainable in how we use our resources.

Objective 7:  Create an adaptable, innovative and financially sustainable organisation that delivers maximum community benefit

The Domain Strategies are pivotal strategic documents, which sit within Council’s Integrated Strategic Planning Framework, they are:

• The Economic Development Strategy 2021-25
• The Infrastructure Strategy 2021-25
• The Environment Strategy 2021-25, and
• The Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2021-25
• The Transformation Strategy 2022-26

These Domain Strategies set Council’s strategic direction across a diverse range of areas inclusive of economic development, environment, health and wellbeing and infrastructure.

The strategies are a key piece in relation to Council working with its community, they outline objectives and targets, and provide high level strategic direction for the Casey region over the next four years.

Departments and Teams across the City of Casey worked to produce these Domain Strategies, which are both the culmination of the Shape Your City engagement program, and major streams of the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework, such as the Long-Term Community Vision 2031 and Council Plan 2021-25. 

These Strategies are community facing and will outline the strategic direction for those respective domains and their major priorities and strategic objectives over the next four years.
 

This strategy provides an insight into the current and emerging conditions of economic development in Casey, strategic opportunities, and risks. Casey’s current economy is reliant on a few dominant sectors, mainly driven by population serving industries, such as Health and Social Assistance, Retail Trade, Construction, and Education and Training. 

In the coming years, as population growth slows in the municipality, it will be increasingly important to diversify our economy to ensure resilience and job growth. Council will boldly shift its economic development focus towards high growth sectors. This strategy outlines a blueprint for innovation and diversification across Casey’s current dominant sectors, and highlights opportunities to leverage our competitive advantages to grow new and emerging sectors. It invests in the upskilling of our people and builds on the protection of employment and revitalisation of key activity centres as hubs of commercial and investment opportunities. Investing in growth sectors also ensures our community will have sustainable jobs of choice. 

By 2025, the City of Casey will be a regional leader driving economic diversity, with quality and accessible jobs of choice, and an increasingly skilled and capable workforce. This strategy will result in Council placing a greater focus and effort to empower our business community, and implement measures that will place us in good stead for the future and allow us deal with the economic climate in Casey.

The future of our natural environment is of increasing importance and emerging issues related to this are now at the forefront of more people’s minds. There are several emerging conditions, challenges and opportunities that we will face, which include climate change, the natural environment, waste management, integrated water management, legislative requirements, regional partnerships and resourcing. One of the major challenges facing the local environment is the rapidly growing population, which if not managed properly can have serious implications for the future of our natural environment.  

The City of Casey’s Environment Strategy 2021-25 sets out how we plan to achieve the third objective of our Council Plan 2021-25, which is to foster environmentally sustainable practices and work towards being climate ready (resilient). The decisions made in relation to this objective pave the way towards achieving the rapid decarbonization of the municipality to mitigate climate change. Waste management and climate change are two of the biggest challenges being faced by not only Council, but all levels of government and the broader community.  

As part of this strategy, Casey has determined several objectives, which include to ‘Become a climate resilient city through mitigation and adaptation’ and ‘Contribute to a circular economy through waste management and resource recovery. Also connected to this strategy are several ambitious targets. The City of Casey has been bold in our planning, and we hope to see the Casey community commit to these targets as well, to ensure their success and progress towards a more sustainable and resilient future. This strategy will guide Council’s future direction for environmental sustainability over the next four years and ensure Council is well equipped to approach the challenges, and manage our changing environment in a resilient, effective, and cohesive way.

The City of Casey Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2021-25 outlines the health and wellbeing priorities for City of Casey over the next four years. The Strategy builds upon strengths from the previous plan and is a key strategic roadmap to maintain and improve public health and wellbeing at a local level. The Health and Wellbeing Strategy meets the requirements of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 and has been developed alongside the City of Casey Council Plan 2021-25 as one of five domain strategies providing an integrated strategic planning framework for Council.  

The Strategy has been developed in close consultation with the local community and through collaboration with a wide range of agencies, partners, and stakeholders. It details six health and wellbeing priorities (‘health domains’) for the Casey community: 

1. Alcohol, drug and tobacco use 
2. Climate change and health impacts  
3. Family violence and gender inequality 
4. Healthy eating and food security
5. Mental wellbeing and social inclusion6. Physical activity and active living 

The Strategy also identifies key responsibilities and actions that will enable Council to drive system changes, innovation, and new partnerships, which will be critical to supporting the community’s health and wellbeing. The required changes identified are grouped across five strategic themes:

• Resilient, safe and connected places  
• Innovative and responsive models of service and connection 
• Community research and data 
• Health and wellbeing impact across the life course 
• Bold and progressive leadership 

Implementation of the Strategy will be driven by annual action plans which will be designed and delivered in partnership with key stakeholders. Progress against the action plan will be monitored, with reports made to Council and the community on the achievements. Our ambition is that everyone in the Casey community has opportunities to lead happy and healthy lives. This strategy sets the direction for achieving this ambition, building on the great strengths within our community, as well addressing as the complex challenges and causes that lead to poor health outcomes. 

The purpose of the strategy is to provide an overarching direction for infrastructure within the City of Casey. To achieve our Long-Term Community Vision 2031, which is to become a more connected, bold and resilient community, there is a continued need to deliver integrated and connected infrastructure.  The Infrastructure Strategy has been developed to call out our highest need for change, doing things differently and pushing the boundaries to capitalise on opportunities and strengthen gaps in Council’s infrastructure planning, delivery, maintenance, and servicing over the next four years.  There are some key conditions impacting infrastructure that we need to adjust to and take advantage of, this includes:  

• Our changing and growing community  
• Rapidly advancing technology   
• Improved data opportunities to inform decisions  
• Our ageing assets and increasing cost of infrastructure  
• Our changing climate and need for more resilient infrastructure  

The Infrastructure Strategy was developed through understanding these existing and future conditions impacting infrastructure; aligning with local, State and Federal policy and strategy directions; and community feedback via the Shape Your City process, which saw more than 6,000 people contribute to our Vision, Council Plan 2021-25, Budget and Domain Strategies, including the Infrastructure Strategy. The delivery of this strategy will be supported by an Action Plan, and by working in partnership with others to ensure we have the infrastructure that meets the needs of our community both now and into the future. 

The Transformation Strategy sets out Council’s intention to transform the way we operate to ensure we are delivering maximum benefit to the Casey community now, and into the future. It also seeks to ensure Council continues to deliver quality services to the community and leads the sector in many aspects of service delivery and coordinated responses to communities’ priorities.

To achieve the Casey’s Long-Term Community Vision 2031 “to become more connected, bold and resilient”, our organisation must actively pursue its goals to become a future-ready, high-performance organisation.

Council’s workforce is passionate and talented, with clear aspirations to bring new thinking to how we operate and serve our community. As our community continually grows and asks different things of us, we also face some challenges that we need to respond to, to ensure we continue to deliver with the greatest impact where it matters most. These include:

• ensuring our mix of services is aligned to the needs of our community
• enhancing the experience we offer our customers and making it easier to do business with us
• modernising the way our organisation operates
• ensuring our people have the skills and tools they need to successfully deliver on our promises to the community. 

To build on Casey’s strengths and respond to the challenges identified, the strategy outlines the future state we will work towards and provides important goalposts from which to measure our achievement success in line with seven goals and five key focus areas.

Goals

• People focused organisation - We have a diverse workforce that works together as one team. Our people are proud to work at Casey, have the right capabilities and mindset, and are empowered to achieve.
• Strategy and adaptability - We use an evidence-based approach, with strategic focus, to ensure our organisation is ethically governed, responsive and adaptable.
• Sustainable business model - We have a lean, innovative and sustainable operating model, which enables our people to focus on meaningful work.
• Customers and community - We have a deep connection with the community and deliver increased impact and outcomes. We have a single view of our customers, and we are easy to do business with.
• Service excellence - We have a deliberate and scalable mix of services that are co-designed, appreciate lifecycle and constantly adapt to conditions and emerging needs.
• Shared leadership - Our leaders coach and empower and demonstrate brave thought leadership in how we operate and deliver services.
• Strong partnerships - Our community, commercial and strategic partnerships are maximised, productive, and purposeful, and we deliver shared benefit.

Focus areas

• Customer
• Services
• Enterprise (Organisation)
• Employee (People)
• Technology Essentials
   

This year’s budget totals $560.8 million, with a $460.1 million operational budget and a $100.6 million Capital Works Program. A major focus of this year’s draft budget rests on finding a balance - within the constraints of tighter economic conditions - between financial sustainability and being responsive to the needs of the Casey community.

The Budget 2024/25 balances the needs and expectations of the community, while addressing the financial constraints and challenges brought about, amongst other factors, by State Government mandated landfill levy increases, a 2.75 per cent rates-cap, plus the macro economic effects such as inflation.

In 2024/25, our budget includes:

• An operational investment of $460.1 million, which will see the provision of 26 important strategic services across Casey.
• A Capital Works Program valued at $100.6 million includes a major focus on the allocation of funds towards completing a significant number of in-flight capital works projects, and renewal of existing infrastructure.
• A rate increase of 2.75 per cent, in line with the State Government imposed rate cap.

This year’s $100.6 million Capital Works Program has identified several key projects to be delivered throughout the municipality, while also consolidating works commenced in the last financial year.

This year’s capital works program sees Council committing to a year of, with a view to the longer-term wellbeing of the community, by planning and acting now for a future that is both economically and environmentally sustainable.

The program was implemented in accordance with the Capital Works Policy.

Key projects to be progressed over the next 12 months include:

• $4.6 million for the renewal of the 50-metre pool at Doveton Pool in the Park  
• $2.5 million for the conversion of street lighting from Mercury V to LED    
• $8.1 million for the Springleaf Recreation Reserve  
• $5.4 million for works at the Hardy’s Road Family and Community Centre, Clyde North
• $0.6 million for the upgrade of the Tooradin Recreation Reserve Pavilion
• $1.5 million for the upgrade of the Strathaird Reserve Pavilion, Narre Warren South
• $1.5 million for the upgrade of the Grices Road Recreation Reserve Pavilion, Berwick
• $1.87 million for the implementation of the Greening Casey 10-year Planting Plan
• $1.7 million for the redevelopment of Ray Bastin Reserve, Narre Warren
• $1.8 million for improvements to Tyabb-Tooradin Road (between South Boundary Road and Baxter-Tooradin Road, Pearcedale)

For further examples and more information please see our media release or the budget section above. 

To view upcoming capital works projects in your area, zoom in on the map below. For the best browsing experience, please use Chrome on a desktop/laptop computer.