Former Site of the Kyneton Primary School
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Former site of the Kyneton Primary School Engagement report DELWP Loddon Mallee © The State of Victoria Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning 2018 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit the State of Victoria as author. The licence does not apply to any images, photographs or branding, including the Victorian Coat of Arms, the Victorian Government logo and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) logo. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Disclaimer This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. Accessibility If you would like to receive this publication in an alternative format, please telephone the DELWP Customer Service Centre on 136186, email [email protected], or via the National Relay Service on 133 677 www.relayservice.com.au. This document is also available on the internet at www.delwp.vic.gov.au. Executive Summary About this report This report has been prepared in response to the consultation program undertaken in August - October 2018 on the future use of the former site of the Kyneton Primary School. It analyses the feedback received from the community, businesses, stakeholders and government agencies during this consultation period, and provides recommendations for next steps. Structure of this report The report presents a comprehensive description of the engagement activity undertaken by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) Loddon Mallee. The data has been analysed into key themes, specific site uses and preference of management model. It then addresses the limitations of the engagement process and provides recommendations for the former site of the Kyneton Primary School project’s next steps. Project overview Kyneton Primary School in Baynton Street, Kyneton, was vacated in 29 March 2018. In May 2018, the Victorian Government committed to retaining the former Kyneton Primary School site in public ownership. Loddon Campaspe Regional Partnerships took ownership to progress this matter as a priority. DELWP Loddon Mallee, on behalf of Loddon Campaspe Regional Partnerships, sought community feedback on the preferred uses of the site, what gaps in community facilities and services exist, and what the Kyneton community value about the site. Key elements of this consultation phase This engagement process followed an extensive consultation undertaken by Ethos Urban on behalf of Regional Development Victoria and Macedon Ranges Shire Council in 2017 and 2018, which explored options for the site. The Kyneton Primary School Master Plan outlined three options for the site (Appendix A) - Council-owned, community managed; Council-owned, commercially-owned redevelopment; and part Council and commercial owned. The Master Plan has not been adopted by Council. It was presented to Macedon Ranges Shire Council for consideration in May 2018. Before this process was completed the local member, Mary-Anne Thomas MP, with the support of the Premier, announced that the site would remain in public ownership and that Loddon Campaspe Regional Partnerships would undertake a future consultation process. The objectives of DELWP’s engagement process as outlined in the Communications and Engagement Plan: • Test community appetite for the options outlined in the original consultation paper • Understand views on what the community values about the former Kyneton Primary School site • Consult on what Kyneton needs that this site could deliver with a long-term (25-50 year) focus • Consult on what gaps in community facilities and services exist and whether this site could fill those gaps • Develop a list of reasonable and realistic priorities for the site regarding site use, management and maintenance. The consultation was designed to ensure stakeholders and community members had a forum to present their ideas for the future of the site. Multiple strategies were employed to ensure a cross section of the community were engaged, including online, telephone, and face-to-face one-on-one and group options. The consultation process was an opportunity to gather feedback and responses to inform decision makers on the range of community’s views pertaining to the use and management of the site. Former site of the Kyneton Primary School 1 Engagement report Our consultation program The program has included: • An online survey on the Engage Victoria website from August 24 to October 5. The survey was promoted through social media, media releases, newspaper advertisements and social media advertisements. It received 110 submissions. Interestingly, 57 per cent of the respondents had not participated in the first round of consultation. • Three roundtables targeted at members of community groups, in response to early conversations which identified that many Kyneton community groups want to base their activities at the site. Twenty-six people attended the community meetings and three provided input via telephone conversations. • Flyer drops with a survey to local businesses along Mollison and High streets. Of 40 surveys dispensed, seven responses were received. • Meetings with five Not-For-Profit organisations who have interest in tenanting the site. • Meetings with government agencies and key stakeholders • A meeting with youth representatives, who provided the views of young people consulted during the Macedon Ranges Shire Council youth strategy process. • Written and verbal submissions. All of these methods provided a significant amount of valuable feedback, which is summarised below. What we heard The following is a summary of how the engagement process addressed the engagement objectives. The submission total was 166, as broken down in Table 1. The population of Kyneton is 6951. Table 1. Participant numbers Number How participated 110 Survey 29 Community roundtables 7 Business flyers 5 Not-for-profits 3 Key stakeholders 5 Youth consultation 7 Written and verbal submissions TOTAL: 166 Test community appetite for the options outlined in the original consultation paper The third option in the Master Plan (Appendix A) involved partial ownership of the site by Council, with the majority sold off for commercial or residential development. This is not possible now that the site is remaining publicly-owned. 2 Former site of the Kyneton Primary School Engagement report The first and second options - Council-owned, community managed; Council-owned, commercially managed – were differentiated by the management model of the site. The appetite for the models has been tested by asking stakeholders and community members about their preferred management of the site. Results are shown in Table 2. Table 2. Management model themes Cites Management model 31 Co-operative management model 11 Did not support the co-operative management model 5 Board/committee of management reporting to state government 3 Managed by Kyneton Community and Learning Centre 2 Council-managed 2 Did not support Council-managed 2 Body corporate committee made up of tenants and stakeholders 1 Did not support state government Understand views on what the community values about the former Kyneton Primary School site 38 per cent (63) said the open space was important to them 27 per cent (45) valued the history of the site Consult on what Kyneton needs that this site could deliver with a long-term (25-50 year) focus Themes 53 per cent (88) want the site to be a community hub 47 per cent (78) said the site could foster a sense of social connection between community members of all ages, community groups, new and old residents, and Not-For-Profit groups Specific site use Table 3. Site use themes Cites Site use theme 59 Community gardens, outdoor entertainment, outdoor markets 51 A permanent base for community groups 44 Arts hub – art gallery, performance space, music studio, lost trades artisans 40 Early childhood - child care, kindergarten, playgroup, Maternal Child Healthcare Nurse 33 Education centre – school, TAFE, U3A, university, library 32 Integrated service centre for Not-For-Profits – disability, health, mental health, neighbourhood house 27 Youth services Former site of the Kyneton Primary School 3 Engagement report Consult on what gaps in community facilities and services exist and whether this site could fill those gaps The survey asked questions about gaps in services and businesses offered in Kyneton (Appendix B). Less than half the respondents answered the question. The main gaps identified were: - Cinema (5) - Kmart/clothing stores (5) - Outside entertainment area (4) - Regional gallery (3) From the data collected, there seems to be little evidence of service gaps in Kyneton. However, the data is limited. A specific study may be considered worthwhile. There was evidence of a need for the centralisation of services in Kyneton. Many Not-For-Profits, community groups and individuals spoke about the value in the co-location of a range of groups, services and social enterprises in the centre of town. Develop a list of reasonable and realistic priorities for the site regarding site use, management and maintenance. Utilising the engagement material, DELWP Loddon Mallee have developed a set of principles and attributes that would ensure the future use of the former Kyneton Primary School site meets the community’s expectations. Principles are a set of qualities that the space should facilitate or preserve. Attributes are what the space offers. Principles: • The heritage trees and the bluestone building are preserved. • The site has long-term viability. • The site managers, users and tenants have a commitment to site maintenance. • The open space is retained. • Tenants in the site are to build social capital between different members of the Kyneton and surrounding district community. • The site hosts complimentary services.