Here is what we heard in 2023

The conversations with our community, Elected Members, and our staff (many who are also residents in the Council area), helped shape our draft Community Vision.

Input into our Community Vision was captured using a range of methods and some great ideas and amazing stories were shared.

Community Groups

Community Group Insights

Below are insights collected through discussions with local community groups and organisations.
  • Community Plan Focus Group

    Key themes identified by our Focus Group:

    • Housing and Development.
    • Transport and Infrastructure.
    • Environment and Sustainability.
    • Connection and People.
    • Business and Culture.
    • Council Services and Promotion.
  • Albert Park Neighbourhood Watch

    Big Ideas

    • Free green waste dumps.
    • More wildlife corridors through the Council area.
    • Green up Council buildings and structures.
    • Obtain stories of the past from local residents and share through signage etc around the neighbourhood.

    Big Themes

    • Sustainable Transport and Development.
    • Greening our City.
    • Protecting and Promoting our Heritage.
    • Maintaining our Lifestyles.
    • Strengthening Relationships.
  • Woodville Orion Tennis Club

    Opportunities

    • Additional promotion of club - Kaleidoscope, banners, signage.
    • Additional support and training from Council - eg social media.
    • Can we change parking time limits to reduce fines when people are playing?

    Challenges

    • Community expectations of assets has grown.
    • Struggle to fit club members in existing clubroom.
    • Need to co-exist with other site tenants.
    • Assets need to be maintained.
    • Infill development concerns.
    • Street tree species, especially old plantings, are not always suitable.

  • Vipers Football Club

    Opportunities

    • Woodville Road upgrade should support business investment.
    • Co-working spaces could be explored and encouraged. Need a business hub.
    • Activate dead spaces to improve community connection (food trucks, pop-up shops).
    • More local precincts with cafes, small businesses, and sense of community.

    Challenges

    • St Clair toilets require investment and cleaning.
    • Vandalism and theft around St Clair.
    • Library & community centres should support co-working.
    • Local businesses find it hard to establish.
  • Woodville Warriors Basketball Club

    Opportunities

    • Cultural awareness training by Council to help us connect with our community.
    • More cultural events and food trucks. Use sites that don’t have a lot happening on weekends/evenings.
    • Display our club history and feel like our home.

    Challenges

    • Clubs at St Clair don’t have their own space to promote sponsors, have clubrooms, display club history.
    • Storage and parking.
    • Knowing the nuances of all the different cultures.
    • Families can’t afford sport – registration, clothing and gear.

  • Findon Skid Kids

    Opportunities

    • Invest in low socio-economic areas.
    • Promote Council's care services.
    • Promote sport, advertise affordable options.
    • Partner with indigenous schools.
    • Raise community centre profiles.
    • Upgrade Hanson Rd.
    • Use of school open space.
    • Improve tree canopy.
    • Electric bikes.
    • Use community bus to get new migrants to jobs/training.

    Challenges

    • Cost to participate in sport.
    • Ageing in place.
    • Drug & alcohol, homelessness, food, social anxiety, domestic violence.
    • Raise profile of volunteering.
    • Infill & parking.

  • West Beach SLSC

    Opportunities

    • Support club in skilled areas e.g. event management/risk management/legislation and compliance.
    • Council promotion of healthy and active living.
    • Better beach access for disabled people.
    • Upgrade West Beach Road - local hub, grassed area, outdoor gym.
    • Improve cycling safety along Esplanade.
    • Promote cycling & more bike storage, racks and repair stations.

    Challenges

    • Recruiting volunteers.
    • Risk, compliance & legislation demands.
    • Sand loss & beach erosion.
    • Safe paths & access to patrol.

  • West Croydon Football Club

    Opportunities

    • Council support for most vulnerable in our community, better equity across the council area, Athol Park is high need.
    • Support our First Nations & migrant community.
    • Kitchen upgrade for clubrooms.
    • Continue to support the club.
    • Hanson Road upgrade.

    Challenges

    • Cultural diversity, appropriate behaviour, challenge for different cultures to connect.
    • Drug abuse, homelessness & crime, worse in recent years, impacts club directly.
    • People struggle to afford sport and pay fees.
    • Recruiting volunteers.

  • Gym West

    Opportunities

    • Increased interest in sport and recreation.
    • Parents seeking low contact sport options.
    • Interest from migrants with gymnastics background, can help integrate into community.
    • Council to advocate, partner, negotiate agreements, grant applications, training, business analytics, strategic planning, facilitator.
    • Connect with other community groups, share learnings & plans.

    Challenges

    • Increasing operating costs.
    • Connecting with others.
    • Recruiting volunteers.
    • Upgrading to accommodate accessibility.
  • Local Community Champions

    Opportunities

    • First Nations cultural tourism, training & employment.
    • Tailor facilities to each community, support diverse community groups.
    • Trial community batteries.
    • Link Pines Reserve to corridor.
    • Re-wilding of places.
    • Partner with sporting clubs to plant vegetation.
    • Strategic infill and better open space outcomes.
    • Increase tree canopy targets.

    Challenges

    • Climate change.
    • Sand loss & sea level rise.
    • Biodiversity & habitat loss.
    • Improve transparency of Council decision making.
    • General infill not working.

  • Oz Harvest

    Opportunities

    • Encourage schools to participate in Feast program.
    • Council could provide additional support - funding, transport for meal delivery, planning new site renovation.
    • Connect with Council networks.
    • Promote Oz Harvest services & “Ripe Near Me”.
    • Support the social supermarket planned for Manton Street.

    Challenges

    • The need for meals is huge, crisis response situation.
    • We can’t transport all our meals, need additional truck & drivers.
    • Long waitlist of agencies wanting Oz Harvest support.

  • West Torrens District Cricket Club

    Opportunities

    • New indoor facility.
    • Look at open space as sport is growing and we are competing with other groups.
    • Partner with/advocate to the Office of Sport and Recreation.
    • Discuss the decline in school sports with Education Department - schools and sporting grounds collaboration.
    • Sports tourism opportunities.

    Challenges

    • Maintaining pitches is a large cost.
    • Difficult to get ovals to play at. Open space in high demand.
    • Accommodating the level of interest from new members.
    • Red tape’ for volunteers.
  • Grange Surf Life Saving Club

    Opportunities

    • More strategic infill (eg WEST) instead of poor quality general infill.
    • Incentivise business.
    • Build a trader network to incentivise transport across the Western suburbs (eg coastal shuttle bus).
    • Improve accessibility to beaches & disability programs.

    Challenges

    • Beach sand & sea level rise.
    • Traffic issues & parking.
    • Don’t displace industry & business, we want people working in our city.
    • Hard to attract volunteers.
    • Grange Line is great, but underutilised.
    • Need affordable housing.
  • Henley & Grange Arts Society

    Opportunities

    • Public Art along Grange Lakes corridor.
    • Improve maintenance of Council property.
    • Continue to work on bike and pedestrian paths.

    Challenges

    • Parking in new developments has reduced (eg Henley Sq)
    • Our facility in need of maintenance and repair.
    • Open space in high demand from multiple different groups, need to coordinate interests.
    • Volunteers are getting harder to find.
    • Rubbish and waste collection – more bins are needed.
  • WACRA

    Opportunities

    • Arts officer to support creative community.
    • Community battery.
    • Promote community driven initiatives.
    • Tree planting.
    • Leverage network to support community & local initiatives.
    • Explore coastal bus service.
    • Improve First Nations engagement.

    Challenges

    • Climate change.
    • Sand loss & sea level rise.
    • Henley Beach transport is chaos.
    • Nowhere to promote community initiatives. No Messenger, Kaleidoscope?
    • Urban planning & infill.
    • Social & affordable housing.
    • Community cohesion.
  • West Lakes Bowling Club

    Opportunities

    • Assistance with grant applications & accessing financial support.
    • Sports tourism opportunities. Bowling event to generate income & support local economy.
    • Improve investment in sporting clubs – buildings and infrastructure.

    Challenges

    • Want to keep bowling greens as grass, not artificial turf but costs more.
    • Asset ownership - renewal and maintenance.
    • Generating profit under community club banner.
    • Cost of living increase - challenge for people to pay for sport.
    • Attracting sponsorship.
  • North West Junior Soccer Association

    Opportunities

    • Provide recycling bins at sporting grounds.
    • Acquisition strategy for open space to ensure strategic purchases.
    • Partner with schools to grow saplings and plant them at sporting grounds.
    • Forward plan for population growth & sporting club growth.
    • Better utilise & look after existing open space.

    Challenges

    • Urban infill, tiny backyards & narrow streets.
    • Enough green space.
    • Tree canopy.
    • Traffic speed & parking especially St Clair.
    • Inadequate toilet facilities at St Clair.
    • Volunteering.

Young People

  • First Nations Youth

    Future Thinking

    • More nature, green & trees.
    • More parks, recreation & sport.
    • Community clean ups.
    • More art.
    • First Nation artwork.
    • Affordable housing.
    • Language on buildings, gardens & parks.
    • Some cultural sites.
    • Cultural walking trails.
    • Unique buildings designs.
    • Access to jobs.
    • Jobs for people with disability.
    • Opportunities to connect with culture.
    • Free food society, area for the homeless.
    • Support community.
    • Free transport for young & seniors.
    • Bus stops with seats & shelter.
    • Healthy lifestyles.
    • More public toilets.
  • Findon High School Students

    Future Thinking

    • Free social activities: markets, clubs, movies, groups, sport.
    • Music festivals, live theatre, outside events.
    • Activities for teens.
    • Free picnic blankets at parks to borrow.
    • Disability advocacy.
    • Unique exciting building styles.
    • Green, trees, bees, nature, fauna.
    • Sensored road lights for walking at night.
    • No more global warming scares.
    • Engaged community.
    • Peace.
    • Healthy food.
    • Reduced landfill.
    • Learning about own culture & all cultures.
    • Diversity friendly.
    • Local jobs, better economy.
  • Seaton High School

    Future Thinking

    • Modern houses
    • Happy people.
    • Wider footpaths & safer roads.
    • Clean & healthy.
    • Fun places to go.
    • Work opportunities for young people.
    • Support for those learning to drive who don't have access to a car/can't afford lessons.
    • Affordable housing.
    • More green.
    • Places for people to stop & park overnight (homeless).
    • Outreach for those struggling mentally and homeless.
    • More plants & trees.
    • Thriving wildlife.
    • Wildlife support & work with students interested in science/agriculture/animals.

  • Nazareth Catholic College

    Opportunities

    • Partnership with local industry & job opportunities.
    • Street art – streets look vibrant.
    • Education to schools about council services & government.
    • Better public transport – clean, on time & reliable.
    • Better funding for sporting clubs.
    • Facilities in parks.

    Challenges

    • Cost of living crisis.
    • Affordable housing.
    • Traffic & keeping pedestrians safe.
    • Public transport is not accessible.
    • Managing urban infill.

    Future Thinking

    • Greener.
    • Trees.
    • Feeling safe at nighttime.
    • Job opportunities.
    • Public transport.

  • Challa Gardens Primary School

    Future Thinking

    • Affordable housing.
    • Decent sized houses for everyone.
    • Lower house prices.
    • Homes for homeless.
    • More houses in the area so people don’t have to move away.
    • Jobs close to the area where you live.
    • Advanced technology & robots.
    • I want this city to be cleaner, more diverse, cultural, more equal for everyone, and everyone gets a voice. I want it to be even for people in poverty.
    • Security cameras at traffic lights.
    • Lots of natural places, less pollution, less crime.
    • Less endangered animals.
  • Kidman Park Primary School

    Future Thinking

    • Protection of endangered animals
    • More trees in reserves and along streets.
    • Wetlands with animals like fish, ducks & stepping stones.
    • Less fumes.
    • Natural parks & animals.
    • Connect to nature.
    • More bins.
    • More toilets & cleaner.
    • Less littering at beaches.
    • More parking spots.
    • More free sport.
    • Movies.
    • More music.
    • Shelter near sports areas.
    • Mini golf.
    • More sitting areas at beaches.
    • Street performances & music.
    • More events.
    • Biology & science places.
    • Free Wi-Fi everywhere.
    • Involvement of indigenous people.

Community

  • Nature Festival Event

    Opportunities facing our City

    • More childrens programs & inclusive library layouts.
    • Keep trees.
    • Neighbours becoming friends.
    • Bring back local paper/local stories/expand Kaleidoscope.
    • Bike repair station along River Torrens.
    • Place houses close to streets so bigger backyards.
    • More electric car charging.
    • Friendly environments.
    • Reduce speed in local streets.
    • Inter-generational living.

    Challenges facing our City

    • Climate/heat resilience.
    • Too many cars parked in streets.
    • Homelessness.
    • Dumping rubbish.
    • Over development.
  • First Nations Peoples

    Future Thinking

    • Look after our environment, heal our land.
    • Look after our neighbours, people in our street.
    • Connect to our environment, our economy, our people.
    • Connect through stories, food, art, dance, music.
    • Have places where people can gather such as community centres, shops, schools, & meeting places.
    • Create and maintain a sense of community.
    • Teach, share, celebrate, heal.
    • Tell stories about looking after environment & animals.
    • Pass on knowledge.
    • River Torrens Spirit Ceremony idea.

  • Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Community

    Future Thinking

    • Tram from city to beach.
    • Technology hub in the centre.
    • Socialising through community centres.
    • Inclusive community.
    • Multicultural food hubs where people gather together.
    • Multicultural workforce for City of Charles Sturt.
    • Capacity building training for new migrants.
    • More social housing.
    • Free transport for events.
    • Disability friendly.
    • Connection across cultures, all working together.
    • Great schools in local area.
    • More trees.
    • Inflation controlled.
    • Equality: no discrimination.
    • Low unemployment.
  • Inclusion and Accessibility

    Future Thinking

    • Build communities with focus on walking, cycling, safe bikeways, local services.
    • Effective public transport network, taxi, shuttle services in local area.
    • Streets returned for community use.
    • Strong connections to our past.
    • Recycling & sustainability initiatives.
    • Circular economy.
    • Multi-storey carparks at key park & ride locations.
    • Good community support systems around people.
    • Understand the value of nature & being in nature.
    • Support ageing in place.
    • Plan for disability & aged persons.

Business Community

  • Western Business Leaders Event

    What makes a great city?

    • Engaged, opportunities to connect.
    • Vibrant and colourful.
    • Arts and culture.

    What are the opportunities?

    • Collaboration with the city – festivals, activities, arts and culture.
    • Build connection between businesses.
    • Boost programs, services, experiences, and events through collaboration.
    • More co-working spaces – Wi-Fi, collaborations, support.

    What are the challenges?

    • Renown Park – needs status and opportunity.
    • Balancing services and safety.
    • Spaces and services for WFH.

Elected Members

  • Elected Member Insights

    Opportunities that are important to focus on:

    • More green spaces, particularly areas of high heat.
    • Improving biodiversity with better plantings.
    • Better transport options including public transport, parking options, cycling and walking.
    • Improving development – preserving character areas with higher density along major roads.
    • Building greater connections with and across our community and cultural groups.
    • Designing for and supporting our ageing communities.
    • Better partnerships to ‘unlock’ opportunities.

Council Staff

Staff Insights

Below are key themes gathered through discussions with Council staff (many who live in the Council area), and a word cloud of features of a great city.

  • People.
  • Environment and climate change.
  • Administration and customer service.
  • Streets and transport.
  • Culture and diversity.
  • Urban planning.
  • Safety and wellbeing.
  • Business, industry and technology.

Here is who we heard from in 2023

We have been talking with community leaders and local residents about the opportunities and challenges facing our City.

map of the City of Charles Sturt council area with markers showing where contributors are based