Seven Mile Beach Local Area Plan
Niche Studio, Clarence City Council, and Entura.
This project is a great example of best practice stakeholder engagement for community planning. As with most projects of this nature, it started with a well-defined scope of what it wanted to achieve –in this case, listening to the community to inform the Local Area Plan for the Seven Mile Beach area. However, shortly after the consultation began, the scope had to be adjusted to also focus on other community concerns. In doing this, the project team not only demonstrated adaptability but also meaningful engagement. The team listened to a wide range of community members by using traditional and non- traditional engagement methods and techniques, including intercept surveys. This method, which is relatively innovative in the Tasmanian context and may be easily transferable to similar projects, proved useful in capturing the views of those who are generally difficult to engage with. The result of this engagement process is a shared vision for Seven Mile Beach that will not only guide future land use and development but also appropriate responses to other key planning-related issues in this area. Accordingly, the judging panel considers this project worthy of the 2023 PIA Tas Stakeholder Engagement Award.