Lancaster Park Redevelopment Plan - Engagement with the local community
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And the last engagement appointment on the redevelopment of Lancaster Park has been done!
It was great to see new faces on Saturday at Olliviers Reserve and it was great to have so many feedback and suggestions. The Consultation with the local community ends on Wednesday 9 March. So, you still have a couple of days to submit, or if you feel more comfortable, come and tell us what kind of development will bring you to the park. And did you know that, back in the days, Lancaster Park was also used for hot air ballooning activities?
How much history this area has! 
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Timeline of the Redevelopment of Lancaster Park
Early 2019 – CCC decides de deconstruct the badly damaged Lancaster Park stadium.
April 2019 - Council invites community organisations bordering the park and selected sports clubs to a series of workshops to develop a broad spatial plan to inform the deconstruction of the stadium.
As result of the workshops, two spatial plans are developed and presented to the Waikura/Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board (Community Board from now on) for approval in mid-2019. The two draft plans provide differing emphasis on the key themes identified and includes a strong focus on the respect the heritage of the park while offering sports fields as a key focus of any park plan moving forward.
September 2019 - Council approves the Community Board’s preferred plan and, as recognition of the relevance of Lancaster Park for the local communities, the CCC delegates any future decision about the landscape plan to the Community Board.
27 August 2020 - the Phillipstown Community Centre Charitable Trust (PCCCT) makes a deputation on Lancaster Park to the Sustainability & Community Resilience Committee. We ask - and Committee approves (Resolution SACRC/2020/00007) - that to progress design of the approved Special Plan elements, a meaningful community engagement - co-designed with representatives of the local communities – is developed.
What is a meaningful engagement for us? It is a process that addresses potential barriers to participation (culture, language, disability and/or transportation, mental distress…) and focuses on the underrepresented; that allows time to build trust and relationship, that is creative and offers a multitude of ways for people to get involved. A meaningful engagement incorporates tools and tactics that can uncover what our communities need and value beyond what they verbalise or beyond what they are even conscious of.
April 2021 – the PCCCT, together with CCC, organises a walk in Lancaster Park inviting the wider community. The purpose is for them to experience the site.
April 2021 – the PCCCT submits on the Long-Term Plan asking that the budget allocated for the competition of Lancaster Park is brought forward to a closer time than what scheduled in the Draft.
23 June 2021 - Council finalises its Long-Term Plan 2021–31 approving that up to $8,065,890 are allocated from 2022–26 for future development on the park, such as a playground, landscape planting and community facilities.
20 October 2021 - the PCCCT makes a deputation to the Community Board to raise awareness about the delay in the consultation of the local geographic communities. The Community Board resolves (LCHB/2021/00092) that staff advise – among the other items - on the timeline for the community-led engagement.
Finally, the community involvement process regained momentum and the engagement with the local community was run between the 14 January and the 9 March 2022.
Unfortunately, the process followed the classic council process of “Have your say” with few informative meetings and the request of submitting inputs via Council website.
In the video below, members of our community express their point of view on the development of the park and on how Council engages. Many of them highlight how the current – classic - way (online submissions) is challenging, too complex, intimidating, and dry.
However, we believe that the opportunity is not completely lost and there is still time to co-design with the community the community "elements" (playground, picnic area, other sports elements, stage, natural environment ....) in the park. This is what we asked in our submission (sent at the beginning of March 2022) to the Community Board.
We hope that our representatives and Councillors will agree.
Early 2019 – CCC decides de deconstruct the badly damaged Lancaster Park stadium.
April 2019 - Council invites community organisations bordering the park and selected sports clubs to a series of workshops to develop a broad spatial plan to inform the deconstruction of the stadium.
As result of the workshops, two spatial plans are developed and presented to the Waikura/Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board (Community Board from now on) for approval in mid-2019. The two draft plans provide differing emphasis on the key themes identified and includes a strong focus on the respect the heritage of the park while offering sports fields as a key focus of any park plan moving forward.
September 2019 - Council approves the Community Board’s preferred plan and, as recognition of the relevance of Lancaster Park for the local communities, the CCC delegates any future decision about the landscape plan to the Community Board.
27 August 2020 - the Phillipstown Community Centre Charitable Trust (PCCCT) makes a deputation on Lancaster Park to the Sustainability & Community Resilience Committee. We ask - and Committee approves (Resolution SACRC/2020/00007) - that to progress design of the approved Special Plan elements, a meaningful community engagement - co-designed with representatives of the local communities – is developed.
What is a meaningful engagement for us? It is a process that addresses potential barriers to participation (culture, language, disability and/or transportation, mental distress…) and focuses on the underrepresented; that allows time to build trust and relationship, that is creative and offers a multitude of ways for people to get involved. A meaningful engagement incorporates tools and tactics that can uncover what our communities need and value beyond what they verbalise or beyond what they are even conscious of.
April 2021 – the PCCCT, together with CCC, organises a walk in Lancaster Park inviting the wider community. The purpose is for them to experience the site.
April 2021 – the PCCCT submits on the Long-Term Plan asking that the budget allocated for the competition of Lancaster Park is brought forward to a closer time than what scheduled in the Draft.
23 June 2021 - Council finalises its Long-Term Plan 2021–31 approving that up to $8,065,890 are allocated from 2022–26 for future development on the park, such as a playground, landscape planting and community facilities.
20 October 2021 - the PCCCT makes a deputation to the Community Board to raise awareness about the delay in the consultation of the local geographic communities. The Community Board resolves (LCHB/2021/00092) that staff advise – among the other items - on the timeline for the community-led engagement.
Finally, the community involvement process regained momentum and the engagement with the local community was run between the 14 January and the 9 March 2022.
Unfortunately, the process followed the classic council process of “Have your say” with few informative meetings and the request of submitting inputs via Council website.
In the video below, members of our community express their point of view on the development of the park and on how Council engages. Many of them highlight how the current – classic - way (online submissions) is challenging, too complex, intimidating, and dry.
However, we believe that the opportunity is not completely lost and there is still time to co-design with the community the community "elements" (playground, picnic area, other sports elements, stage, natural environment ....) in the park. This is what we asked in our submission (sent at the beginning of March 2022) to the Community Board.
We hope that our representatives and Councillors will agree.