Let's Talk Freo: Strategic Community Plan Review

The City of Fremantle is conducting a review of its Strategic Community Plan and isn’t afraid to tackle the big issues. FREMANTLE MAYOR HANNAH FITZHARDINGE outlines why it’s important to join the conversation

Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to engage with the Let's Talk, Freo engagement campaign.

We're grateful to have an engaged community who genuinely want the best for Fremantle. We truly value your input and recognise that without your feedback and ideas we would not be able to achieve the things we do.

Our aim for this campaign is to facilitate courageous conversations about our City to shape our Strategic Community Plan. Together we will be on the journey and look forward to sharing our findings over the next 6 months.

If you’d like to organise and facilitate your own local community conversation, the Community Engagement Team can help support your event. You can reach us via letstalkfreo@fremantle.wa.gov.au

Freo is WA’s creative heart, a recognised hub for artists and creatives. How can we stay that way?

Anchored by the Fremantle Arts Centre, Western Australia’s creative heart extends to all corners of the City of Fremantle. It exists on the ever-changing murals that grace the brick walls of our buildings. Music and performances reverberate from one grassy backyard to another. Architects, film makers, and artists craft the visual tapestry that makes Fremantle’s city-scape so unique. We are a city flush with festivals throughout the seasons that last for a day, weekend, or an entire month. Our port town is a stage for local and globally recognised creatives across all formats.

How can we continue to punch above our weight when it comes to creative services in Fremantle?

How can our creative strength unlock even greater potential for Fremantle’s economy?

What do we need to offer artists and makers to thrive—be it physical spaces or mentoring support?

What is our vision for a broader industry of creative services that will attract individuals and companies to set up shop here in Fremantle?

This is a “Courageous Conversation” about the crucial role arts & culture plays in the success and future of Fremantle. We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how we can further this hot-button topic together.

Click here for additional reading and information on this topic, and to fill out this theme specific survey.

Fremantle is a place to learn.

How do we leverage our unique advantage and how do we ensure our learning pathways and education facilities remain accessible for all?

The University of Notre Dame Australia is one of the highest student-rated learning institutions in WA and Australia. That’s a great asset for Fremantle.

But we also know that learning in Fremantle goes beyond the university campus that sits in the heart of our historic West End.

Learning happens in our libraries, museums, arts venues, sports ovals and pitches, community halls, primary schools, high schools, and out in our natural park and waterfront spaces across the city. Learning also happens at all stages of our lives—young or old.

So in this conversation, we’re asking how we can leverage our unique advantage of spaces and places to elevate learning experiences for residents and visitors?

How can these spaces for learning enhance connection with our community?

Most importantly, how can we ensure that learning experiences in Fremantle are accessible to people from all walks of life?

This is a “Courageous Conversation” about the crucial role that learning and education plays in the success and future of Fremantle. We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how we can further this hot-button topic together.

Click here for additional reading and information on this topic, and to fill out this theme specific survey.

What is your local area?

If it grows by 20% over 20 years, what needs to change?

Think about how you define your local area. Is it a specific radius around your home? Are they anchor points in your neighbourhood--the park, the pub, the plaza--where you bump into familiar faces for a quick chat or a proper catch up? What makes your local area a desirable place to be?

Population growth in our region will play a crucial role in how we design vibrant local areas in Fremantle. This will mean having good conversations about the future of affordable housing, the types of amenities we enjoy in our local spaces, and our proximity to other people. How do we maintain the characteristics that make our local areas great right now, while also preparing for the future?

Any type of growth will naturally strain a community, but it can also uncover opportunities for how we continue to evolve the local patches where we might live, work, and play.

This is a “Courageous Conversation” about the crucial role that population growth, and its successive changes, will have in the success and future of your Fremantle neighbourhood. We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how we can further this hot-button topic together.

What’s unique about our City centre and how do we enable it to flourish?

Our city centre is a combination of all the things that make Fremantle great. Bordered by the historic port, river, and ocean; an entire West End of officially recognised heritage buildings; a lively destination of food and hospitality experiences; large public spaces for gathering; and all of it accessible on foot within minutes.

COVID-19 blew a major hit to retail, tourism, and other industries that allow our city centres to thrive. The affects of a global pandemic meant that our community had to have some hard conversations about how we enable Fremantle’s city centre to flourish regardless of a pandemic.

This will mean having conversations about population density and the types of housing we allow; how we support new residential communities with amenities and experiences that encourage a neighbourhood to emerge; how we protect heritage and history; the transformation of our port and its effect on the future of Fremantle; and how businesses (small or large) continue to compete on both local and global playing fields.

Ultimately: how do we attract more people to live, work, and play in our city centre?

This is a “Courageous Conversation” about the crucial role that our city centre will play in the overall success and future for all of Fremantle. We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how we can further this hot-button topic together.

What would an increase in temperature of 2–3 degrees mean for our City?

As a community, how do we decrease risk, build resilience and prepare for more extreme weather events?

Fremantle’s location as a coastal town gives our community a front row seat when witnessing extreme weather events. Coastal erosion and sea-level rise are just a few challenges our city will face in our climate future. High winds, rain-storms and flooding, and volatile temperature increases and drops will also have a huge effect on the way we live, work, and play.

Although it can feel as if local governments do not have the jurisdiction or power to affect change for our climate future, there are ways we as a community can anticipate, manage and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Let's consider the risks that will directly affect Fremantle’s climate future.

And then how do we as a community build our climate resilience? How can we focus this large and complex conversation to unpack ideas that can be enacted and championed at the local level?

This is a “Courageous Conversation” about the crucial role our communities will play in navigating Fremantle’s climate future. We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how we can further this hot-button topic together.

Click here for additional reading and information on this topic, and to fill out this theme specific survey.

How do we build a competitive and innovative workforce?

What skills do we need to drive Fremantle’s future and create job opportunities?

The future of jobs in Fremantle starts with a conversation about life after our historic port is transitioned away from its container trade.

However, global shifts in the way people work, and the types of jobs they do, are already having impacts on the role a city can play in attracting workers and businesses to their regions. Fremantle is not immune from this shift.

So how do we as a city encourage and champion innovation, creativity and technology, and drive the development of new trades and new industries to set up shop in Fremantle?

Click here for additional reading and information on this topic, and to fill out this theme specific survey.