Surf Coast Shire Council has acknowledged achievements and outcomes delivered through three key economic development and creative economy strategies during the past 18 months.
Council resolved at its July meeting to formally note a combined progress report from its Economic Development Strategy 2021-31, Creative Places Strategy 2023-2031 and Australian National Surfing Museum Master Plan.
The report groups achievements and highlights from 34 projects from across each of the strategies delivered between January 2023 and June 2024.
Central to the vision of each strategic document is a prosperous and flourishing Surf Coast with a strong sense of place and identity, where contributions to wellbeing, environment and the economy are known and valued.
Council highlights from the economic development and creative economy sector from across the past 18 months have included:
· Securing of three international events – the Bells Beach Longboard Classic, 2025 UCI Fondo World Championships and Australian Surf Rowing Championships. The objective was to secure two events by 2026.
· Building of a database of 8300 businesses, to improve engagement and communications with the business sector.
· Supporting 36 businesses through Council’s business concierge service which helps new business owners to navigate permit requirements often involving several different Council departments.
· A Creative Halls Project revitalising Council-owned facilities with installation of arts infrastructure to support exhibitions, performances and community events.
· Announcement that Surf Coast is pursuing Eco Destination Certification and will encourage local tourism businesses to do the same, recognising their best practice sustainable management and our outstanding natural environments.
· A rotating program of exhibitions at the Australian National Surfing Museum.
· Use of Anglesea Art Space, which hosted 17 exhibitions involving 329 artists, attracting 5945 visitors and generating $54,687 in artwork sales.
Outcomes from each of the projects contributed to a customised economic prosperity measurement framework for the shire, the first of its kind for a regional local government area.
The framework identifies 15 factors that, if doing well, are used as a guide to track our progress and to test whether projects implemented have created positive change that will contribute to an improved quality of life for people on the Surf Coast.
The factors are standardised into a rating score out of 10 and grouped into three areas:
· Place (7 / 10): Measurement factors include night-time economy, 20-minute neighbourhoods, off-peak events, recreation and leisure opportunities, and public transport.
· People (6.8 / 10): Measurement factors include tourism expenditure, skilled workers, employment, off-peak visitation and multi-day visitation.
· Business (6.4 / 10): Measurement factors include business creation, corporate sustainability, local expenditure, local jobs creation and growth in health, wellness, creative and emerging industries.
“The combined snapshot from these three key strategic documents highlights many important achievements and innovations supporting our business and creative economies,” Cr Rose Hodge said.
“While 34 projects have been highlighted, many of them include multiple smaller projects which have not been reported in detail, but all of them influence our economic measures.
“Our economic prosperity measure scores highlight areas where we are doing well, and importantly areas which might need more focus – such as encouraging more off-peak and multi-day stay tourism or supporting more businesses to implement environmentally sustainable initiatives – as we strive towards a more prosperous, diverse and creative economy.”
The progress report from the Economic Development Strategy 2021-31, Creative Places Strategy 2023-2031 and Australian National Surfing Museum Master Plan will be published at surfcoast.vic.gov.au/business
