June 19th, 2024Time running out for say on Ballarat’s draft footpath plan
The community has just a few days remaining to provide feedback on the City of Ballarat’s Draft Footpath Construction Strategy.
The draft strategy guides how the City of Ballarat will prioritise and fund where new footpaths are built to improve safety, transport choices, health and wellbeing, as well as supporting local economic activity and productivity.
It also identifies where new footpaths are needed most, where sealing of existing unsealed footpaths should take place, and highlights missing links in the city’s footpath network.
The strategy features an equitable approach to the construction of footpaths, outlining a community-informed prioritisation framework for identifying which gaps in the footpath network should be built first.
The strategy is designed to improve accessibility for communities most in need including, but not limited to, carers, people with disability and those without access to private transport.
The Draft Footpath Construction Strategy features a raft of key recommendations, which include:
- Undertake regular demographic analysis of population segments to ensure a clear understanding of which communities may have greater needs from the footpath network
- Explore opportunities to apply special rate and charge schemes to footpath provision, where willing residents could help co-fund their local footpath, if the path is not earmarked for construction
- Engage with Wadawurrung Traditional Owners on each year’s Footpath Construction Plan to support landmarks or sightlines of cultural significance near planned footpath construction
- Investigate opportunities to improve personal security, physical safety, accessibility and connectivity of footpaths to ensure women have equal opportunities to benefit from footpath construction, and
- Prioritise footpath gaps for construction according to a framework that prioritises primary and secondary pedestrian routes aligned to the Principal Pedestrian Network, as well as local connectivity, adjacent road speed and suburb and locality footpath index of need.
So far, about 208 people have provided feedback on the draft strategy.
City of Ballarat Councillor Ben Taylor encouraged those yet to provide their feedback, to do so before consultation closes on Sunday 23 June.
“Footpaths play a vital role in keeping our community safe and connected to others, as well as to community facilities, services, public transport and open spaces,” he said.
“This strategy will ensure that our community has access to footpaths that encourage them to walk to local destinations and better connects them to all that our community has to offer.”
The City of Ballarat held extensive community consultation in the development of the Draft Footpath Construction Strategy.
Community consultation, which was held from 5 February until 3 March, worked to understand how residents use the footpath network and to gather feedback on the proposed decision-making framework.
Workshops were held with key stakeholders including the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation and City of Ballarat’s Ageing Well, Community Inclusion, LGBTIQA+ and Youth Services teams. Two community pop-up sessions were also held at the Ballarat Farmers Market and the Skate Park Leagues Competition.
More than 460 residents contributed to the consultation, with 264 surveys completed and 580 contributions made to the interactive pin-drop map.
Feedback from the Ballarat community will inform the final Footpath Construction Strategy.
Those eager to provide feedback on the Draft Footpath Construction Strategy can do so up until 5pm, Sunday 23 June at mysay.ballarat.vic.gov.au/footpath-strategy.
Words & Image: Supplied
