FAQs

The Strategic Community Plan (SCP) is the City’s most significant guiding document and establishes the community’s vision for Fremantle’s future. 

The SCP will drive our planning, budgeting, resource allocation and service delivery over the next decade in order to focus our efforts and align our activities.

The plan provides a clear understanding of what matters most to the people who live, work and play in Fremantle. 

Under the Local Government Act, we are required to undertake a full review of the SCP every four years.  

Regular review of the document is necessary to make sure that it stays up-to-date, and to keep everyone on board. The Local Government (Administration) Regulations 1996 require that it be reviewed every 4 years (though more regular minor reviews are often recommended). 

Apart from keeping the document up-to-date and meeting statutory requirements, review of the document provides a useful form to take stock of where we're at, how far we've come and how to proceed. Keeping aspirations in line with what is realistically achievable is also desirable, though the high level nature of the document also lends itself to longer term, ‘big picture’ thinking.

When the City of Fremantle updates its Long Term Financial Plan, and also prepares a new Corporate Business Plan, review of the Strategic Community Plan ensures that its direction remains current and relevant and is also considered good practice to feed into these 'delivery' documents.

To match aspirations (what we want) with resources (what we can afford to do), the Strategic Community Plan works in tandem with the Long Term Financial Plan and Corporate Business Plan. Every year, an Annual Report is delivered which outlines progress:  you can see these on the City's website under ‘Strategic and key documents’(External link). 

The City’s Corporate Business Plan will also more closely align with the terms used in the Strategic Community Plan so it’s clearer how each of the Council's projects and funded activities contribute to the overarching goals. 

Progress against each objective has been considered in the review which has shown advancement in most areas. In the past, noteworthy areas included the implementation of the Kings Square project (now Walyalup Koort & Civic Centre), attracting new residents and employees to the City, waste reduction, corporate energy reduction as well as tree planting. Council has also been active in advocacy, working with the Western Australian government on areas of focus which are typically controlled by the state, such as the future of port operations.

Some of the objectives are more challenging (like reducing commercial vacancy rates in a difficult economic climate). However, keeping focussed on the goals and being clear and detailed about what can be done, such as through our Destination Marketing Strategy, provide the best opportunities for success. Strategy-specific reports (like those on the One Planet Strategy found here(External link)) provide detailed updates on progress of individual initiatives. 

We are now conducting a more comprehensive review of our Strategic Community Plan. This work was kicked off in 2022, placing us halfway through the Plan’s horizon). The City of Fremantle has delivered a range of projects and outcomes for the community, and will now aim to look ahead to the next 10, 20, 30 years. Our 6 key themes and conversation starters will allow the Plan to be focused on the challenges and opportunities that our community will face.

This is a comprehensive review of our Strategic Community Plan, and will require extensive consultation and involvement with the community versus a smaller review. Our public engagement plan will see our Community Engagement Team, and City staff, interacting with the community from now until June. This will allow us to capture feedback that is responsive and relevant, and will eventually be used to craft a draft set of proposed changes. These changes or updates will be reflective of the 6 hot-button topics that have been defined through the process so far. The draft set of changes or additions to the Strategic Community Plan will be presented to the community for review before being finalised.

On this MySay page you can access digital versions of our community surveys; pre-reading and information on our hot-button topics; and key dates or events taking place around Fremantle for you to get involved in the conversation.

Don’t forget to subscribe to MySay and receive updates directly to your inbox.

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 them via letstalkfreo@fremantle.wa.gov.au.