Have you looked at Engage Bass Coast website yet?

I am really proud of this Council initiative launched last year. You can check on the progress of the Cultural Centre build in Cowes, the Roads and Drainage scheme at Surf Beach Sunderland Bay or many other Council projects.

Because of community interest in the future of the old Wonthaggi Secondary School site Council has added it as a new project entry to show where Council is with its consideration of the possible benefits and the costs involved not only of potentially developing the site but the costs involved in making the site safe.

Engage Bass Coast provides a one-stop-shop online engagement platform and as well as posting feedback, it compliments face-to-face engagement with and for our community.

Since the launch, all information on advocacy and infrastructure projects have been moved from the Bass Coast website to the dedicated project page and it supports Council informing our community on projects in a more visual form and to show timelines and the project history.

You can follow individual projects, to stay informed about any changes or updates or you can elect to be notified about projects that are in a particular area or field of interest. A fantastic feature of the platform is the timeline, which provides a clear indication of a project’s milestones.

One year ago, the statistics showing strong engagement – and growing.

So far 27 engagements have opened for community feedback, with 111 individual pages covering advocacy and projects and 4,955 survey forms completed.

There have been almost 30,000 unique visitors to the site, with 26,157 documents uploaded for viewing. Almost 750 people have sign up to receive updates on specific projects.

The most visited project pages since February 2022 have been Bass Coast Business Awards with 3619 unique visitors, Cowes Streetscape with 3008, Cowes Community and Cultural Centre with 2880, Surf Beach Sunderland Bay with 2798 and the Tracks and Trails Strategy with 2559. These figures show our community is interacting with the new platform in the way that was planned 12 months ago.

I encourage you to sign up as a member of Engage Bass Coast to stay informed and provide feedback on open engagement opportunities. Every idea counts and this is a key platform to provide your feedback.

The platform can be found at www.engage.basscoast.vic.gov.au.