Council adopts new strategy to create a strong local economy

A streamlined new strategy that will guide the City of Whittlesea’s approach to building and supporting a strong and innovative local economy over the next five years has been adopted by Council at its meeting on 21 February.

The Strong Local Economy Strategy 2022-2026 was developed in consultation with community, businesses, industry and educational institutions, while being guided by Council’s Whittlesea 2040 vision of a place for all.

Chair Administrator Lydia Wilson said the five-year plan set a vision for a strong local economy and identified priority actions that would support a prosperous and inclusive economy for all.

“The strategy outlines a range of actions and initiatives that will ensure the City of Whittlesea’s local economy will continue to grow and provide opportunities for local employment for our residents,” Ms Wilson said. 

The strategy sets out priority actions under the following key directions:

• Increased local employment
• Education opportunities for all
• Successful, innovative local businesses

“In conjunction with the development of the strategy, we have also developed the Strong Local Economy Action Plan 2022-2023, which outlines our commitments in the first year of the plan,” Ms Wilson said.

“We will be focusing on creating more local job opportunities by attracting businesses to set up or expand in our municipality and supporting businesses to move to innovative new approaches. As one of the fastest growing municipalities, our aim is to ensure that jobs growth matches population growth for our residents.

“We also will work with partner organisations and providers to ensure that our workforce has the skills required by industries both now and into the future.

Other actions include:

• Developing an incentives package for business attraction and support
• Supporting the delivery of the Job Advocates Program
• Developing a Circular Economy Plan
• Strengthening business-to-business connection

“The City of Whittlesea is fortunate enough to have a wonderful and diverse natural landscape, and we will work with local producers to further promote the agricultural sector as well as attracting more visitors to the area to grow our visitor and tourism economy.”

View the Strong Local Economy Strategy 2022-2026 here.