THE South Gippsland Shire Council is thrilled to have been awarded a State Award for Planning Excellence for the South Gippsland Coastal Strategy.

The award in the Climate Change and Resilience category, recognises the joint undertaking of Council and community to help protect our coastline and coastal townships.

The strategy includes bold actions such as the removal of all coastal township greenfield areas from the planning scheme and restricting development to one dwelling per lot. It seeks to preserve our environment through nature-based adaptation like the Common Ground community initiative, and support land management through a township character study. It also guides how Council can work with the community to promote emergency safety and build social resilience.

Shire CEO Kerryn Ellis was delighted with the recognition for such an important project.

“I am thrilled that South Gippsland Shire Council has been recognised with a State Award for Planning Excellence by the Planning Institute of Australia,” Ms Ellis said.

“There are a number of Local Government Areas (LGAs) facing similar coastal challenges, and South Gippsland Shire Council has taken a proactive step to publicly identify and plan, through the development of a dedicated Coastal Strategy, the actions we will undertake to ensure our coastal communities are resilient into the future.”

To develop the strategy a significant community engagement process was undertaken, which attracted responses from 827 people. The consultation included a survey and community pop-up events as well as an in-depth deliberative discussion where participants explored the impacts of limiting growth through the lens of the environment, infrastructure, population/community, and economy.

The awards were held in Melbourne and facilitated by the Planning Institute of Australia.