Austral Town Centre – Community Consultation

Our involvement included preparation of the Statement of Environmental Effects, undertaking community consultation, as well as preparing a Social Impact Assessment. The community consultation component included a ‘mail out’ survey to 441 households within a 1km radius of the subject site, a half day onsite information session, establishing a dedicated email ‘inbox’, and attending to phone calls from stakeholders. Feedback from the community consultation assisted with informing the final design and research for the purposes of the Social Impact Assessment. The proposal related to 3.64 hectares of land within the Local Centre & included 500 new dwellings in apartment format, with building heights generally up to 6-storeys. The proposal also included 10,000m2 of ground floor commercial floor space, allowing for one major supermarket, a ‘mini’ major, as well as various speciality stores. Upgrades of existing roads, as well as new roads was also included as part of the Concept DA. To prepare a concept DA for the renewal & expansion of the existing Austral Local Centre. The existing neighbourhood centre is located within the South West Growth Centre. Both the centre & the surrounding area are expected to experience substantial urban growth up until 2025. According to the Austral Precinct Plan, the existing centre is expected to double in area whilst heights were also expected to increase to 18m from the current 2-storey envelopes.