The Asset Plan is the community facing document that shows how the Council’s Assets will be managed and maintained over the next 10 years, while meeting the community’s needs and interests. It informs the community on how the Council-controlled infrastructure and other assets are to be managed to achieve the Council Plan objectives and Community Vision statement.

The Asset Plan has been developed to guide and demonstrate Bayside City Council’s (Council) responsible and sustainable management of its infrastructure assets, comply with the Victorian Local Government Act 2020, and model the funding required to meet the future service needs of the community.

The Victorian Local Government Act 2020 states that an Asset Plan must:

• Include information about maintenance, renewal, acquisition, expansion, upgrade, disposal, and decommissioning in relation to each class of infrastructure asset under the control of the Council and any other matters prescribed by the regulations, and
• be developed, adopted, and kept in force in accordance with the Council's deliberative engagement practices.
• Councils are expected to complete their Asset Plans by 30 June 2022 although deliberative engagement is not required for the first iteration of the Asset Plan.

The Asset Plan must be aligned with the Council Plan, Council Budget, Annual Report, the Community Vision, and the Financial Plan; and transparently and clearly sets Council’s direction and priorities that support the efficient and responsible use of assets.

The Asset Plan is a new requirement under the Local Government Act 2020 and requires realignment of Council priorities, data, processes, and community consultation. Therefore, this first plan meets the most immediate needs of LGA 2020 and will be subject to an ongoing process of prioritised improvement..

This first iteration of Council’s Asset Plan is written to articulate Council’s current service level standards and the resulting costs to Council in delivering to those standards.

This Asset Plan does not provide details such as:

• outcomes of deliberative engagement on service standards (although some Council strategies that underpin this document do)
• maintenance procedures;
• operational procedures; or
• engineering design standards.

This Asset Plan also does not include:

• Non-council assets, such as highways and arterial roads maintained by the Department of Transport
• Land, parks, and reserves maintained by the Department of Land, Water and Planning;
• Council assets that Council chooses not to maintain or renew; and
• Assets not capitalised in accordance with Council’s Asset Capitalisation Policy.

This Asset Plan is a separate document to Council’s Road Management Plan 2021, the latter being a requirement for Council to comply with its specific responsibilities and obligations under the Road Management Act 2004.

We are seeking community feedback on the draft Asset Plan. It is an opportunity for Council to communicate and gain input into their long-term decision-making considerations in an accessible manner.

• identifying risks and opportunities in the next 10 years that affect the Asset Plan.

• Asset Level Service Standards (ALSS) or Maintenance Service Levels (MSL) in the first year of the Plan because these are already committed in the Budget (we will hold targeted engagements on ALSS or MSL in the next 12 months).

This stakeholder assessment is a generalised understanding of sections of the community that have a connection to the project or matter. This information is used to understand the types of tools and techniques that will achieve the strongest and most effective outcomes for engagement and communication.

Impact: What level of change the stakeholder/community segment may experience as a result of the project /matter

Interest: What level of interest has been expressed or is anticipated

Influence: Reference to the IAP2 Spectrum

The tools and techniques selected for this project are informed by the project content, stakeholders and type of feedback sought. The impact of COVID-19 restricts our ability for face-to-face communication, as well as slower distribution of printed mail.

Key tools for communicating the project

• email notification to Have Your Say members
• website news story and This Week in Bayside e-newsletter
• social media posts – organic and paid
• direct emails to key stakeholder groups, including lessees and community groups

Key methods for gathering feedback

• online engagement through Have Your Say, including opportunity to ask questions, as well as provide feedback
• bookable meetings with the Assets and Investigations Coordinator
• presentation and seek feedback from the Disability and Inclusion Advisory Committee
• phone, post and correspondence.

Community consultation will be open between 15 March - 5 April 2022. It is expected that Council will consider community feedback at its meeting on April 26y2022.

The agenda for this meeting, including the community engagement report, will be published on the Wednesday before the Council meeting via Council's website.

Project subscribers will be notified of the results of the engagement and the Council report at this time. To receive updates on this project, click on the blue 'subscribe' button at the top of this page.

All Council meetings are live-streamed via Council’s website. Interested members of the community can ask a question of this meeting or request to be heard.