Theme 6: Local economy

Major achievement

Strategic objective 6

Support local businesses and enhance shopping precincts, fostering a strong economy and welcoming places for the community.

Major initiative 6.1

Support business COVID-19 recovery through targeted programs and initiatives such as promoting Main Street Australia week, provision of business information workshops, mentoring, outdoor activation in shopping centres and buy local programs.

Supporting local businesses and shopping precincts

Supporting businesses to reboot and encouraging the community to shop and dine locally has been a continued focus over the past year.

We have been able to facilitate continued outdoor trading, resume regular Council-run business information events and complete the first phase of upgrades for the Camberwell Fresh Food Market.

We’ve continued to support traders through their COVID-19 recovery with a variety of activities that aim to:

• enhance our shopping precincts
• support continued and safe outdoor trading
• deliver valued information and networking opportunities for our business community.

We adopted the Outdoor Trading Policy and Guidelines in November 2022 which included the transition to a parklet permit program for eligible businesses. This provides a way for businesses to extend their trading footprint using 'parklets’ (repurposed car-parking spaces) that help to activate our shopping precincts.

In December 2022, we also delivered the first phase of upgrades for the Camberwell Fresh Food Market. New seating areas have been installed to encourage customers to stay longer to enjoy the market. We have also been working with the market to attract new tenants to increase the diversity of stallholders.

We introduced the Go Full Circle program in 2022 in partnership with 3 neighbouring councils. Through a series of workshops, this program supports local participating businesses to build their capacity to operate in a more environmentally sustainable way, while also attracting new customers.

We ran a total of 50 business workshops and events this year providing valuable education and networking opportunities for our local business and not-for-profit community. In response to growing demand, we will continue to run frequent events in 2023-24 to support local businesses to connect with each other and continue to develop new skills.

Theme 6 performance

This is a breakdown of the strategic indicators, progress of initiatives and other service performance indicators for this theme. You can find out more detail about these indicators and previous year’s results in the full report.

You can also read through our continuous improvement initiatives, community engagement, and benchmarking activities for this theme in the full report.

Strategic indicators

In most cases, our strategic indicators saw consistent or improved results in FY2022-23. The strategic indicators that met or exceeded the forecast include the following. 

An indicator that did not meet our forecast this year was satisfaction with work to improve quality of streetscapes in shopping precincts to attract and retain good shops and businesses (forecast: 57% to 58%, 2022-23 result: 50%). Community satisfaction on this has decreased by 9% from 2022 in the Community Satisfaction Survey. Streetscape improvement projects were completed in the Bellevue and Solway wards in 2022. A placemaking program is underway, which will help to improve the community’s experience of our shopping centres in Maling Road, Canterbury, Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn and Camberwell Junction. Streetscape designs for future upgrades have received positive community responses in 2022-23. Furthermore, we have established the Boroondara Service Crew who to clean rubbish bins, street furniture, street signage, carry out minor maintenance and spot cleaning of footpaths.

Progress of initiatives in the Budget

Initiatives that were completed in FY2022-23:

• Support business COVID-19 recovery through targeted programs and initiatives such as promoting Main Street Australia week, provision of business information workshops, mentoring, outdoor activation in shopping centres and buy local programs.
• Increase the vibrancy of the Glenferrie Road precinct and aid the economic recovery of local traders following the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local economy by implementing short-term 2022-2023 projects in the Glenferrie Place Plan.
• Increase the vibrancy of the Maling Road precinct and aid the economic recovery of local traders following the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local economy by implementing short-term 2022-2023 projects in the Maling Road Place Plan.
• Promote the Camberwell Junction Precinct as a major economic centre in metropolitan Melbourne through the completion of the draft Camberwell Place Plan, community engagement and review of the Camberwell Junction Structure Plan.
• Revitalise Boroondara’s most important precincts by progressing a draft long-term placemaking strategy that identifies and prioritises investment in key activity centres across the city.

The one initiative for this theme that commenced in FY2022-23 and is 90% complete is enhancing the vibrancy and economic sustainability of the local economy by the completion of the Economic Development and Tourism Plan in consultation with the business community. The draft Economic Development and Tourism Strategy was updated following feedback provided during the public consultation period (January to March 2023). A Council report seeking endorsement for the strategy has been prepared and will be presented to our councillors in the second half of 2023.