Join the conversation!

The City of Fremantle is undergoing a major review of its Strategic Community Plan and is encouraging the community to join the conversation.

'Let's Talk, Freo' goes live this week, encouraging residents, visitors and all people with a passion for Fremantle to have their say across a range of important issues affecting the city’s future.

The Strategic Community Plan (SCP) is the City's future blueprint and provides an overarching outline of priorities, aspirations and expectations over a 10-year period.

City of Fremantle Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge said the Plan outlines the City’s long-term priorities and extensive community input will be sought to ensure it remains a truly shared vision.

“Our public engagement process has been formed via input from community representatives, key stakeholders and leaders from business, education, creative industries and a host of others to test and finalise our approach to delivering a genuine and ‘very Freo’ consultation,” Mayor Fitzhardinge said.

“It’s vital our community lets us know how we can improve and also help shape our response to the hot-button issues that lie ahead."

Homelessness, gentrification, recovery from the impacts of COVID-19, protection of our living heritage and the potential loss of our working port: 'Let's Talk, Freo' encourages residents to consider and debate a range of topics including:

Creative City: Freo is WA’s creative heart, a recognised hub for artists and creatives. How can we stay that way?

Learning City: Fremantle is a place to learn. How do we leverage our unique advantage? How do we ensure our learning pathways and education facilities remain accessible for all?

Living in your local area: What is your local area? If it grows by 20% over 20 years, what needs to change?

Future of our city centre: What’s unique about our City centre and what do we need to enable it to flourish?

Climate future: What would an increase in temperature of 2–3 degrees mean for our City? As a community, how do we decrease risk, build resilience and prepare for more extreme weather events?

Jobs for the future: How do we build a competitive and innovative workforce? What skills do we need to drive Fremantle’s future and create job opportunities?

The engagement process will initially canvass feedback via online surveys and face-to-face consultations before expanding into a series of community conversations.

City officers will also be present at a range of local events, including the Freo Farmers Market and Politics in the Pub to invite comment and participation.

A central hub will be established in the former visitors centre at the old Town Hall and a mobile 'talk truck' will help ensure the opportunity to contribute is never far away.

"We want to ensure our Strategic Community Plan review is based on extensive public feedback so we'll be leaving no stone unturned to ensure we capture the hopes, ideas and aspirations of our community," Mayor Fitzhardinge said,

“This Plan underlines every decision Council makes in relation to new projects, operational expenditure and service provision so it's vital we get input from all sectors of our community to help us create the future together.”

Visit fremantle.wa.gov.au/letstalkfreo to find out more and get involved.