Draft Visitor Infrastructure Investment Strategic Plan
Thank you for your interest. This consultation has now ended.
OVERVIEW
Blue Mountains City Council has prepared the draft Visitor Infrastructure Investment Strategic Plan for the Blue Mountains. The draft Strategic Plan is a high-level document that explores a range of funding options for investment in visitor infrastructure, visitor services and city presentation, and proposes priority actions. It does not include detailed scoping of actions, as this will be conducted in the first phase of the draft Strategic Plan’s implementation, for example, the development of Parking Precinct Plans to determine the number and location of parking meters.
The draft Strategic Plan has been directly informed by the Blue Mountains Community Strategic Plan 2035, which was developed in consultation with the community. It has also been informed by relevant national and international best practice policy and research.
WHY DO WE NEED A VISITOR INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT STRATEGIC PLAN
The development of the tourism sector, and capturing the employment and economic benefits arising from
the visitor economy in the Blue Mountains, is of critical importance. Tourism is a significant cost to the Blue Mountains community – residents are effectively subsidising visitor infrastructure, visitor services and city presentation.
Unless action is taken, the growth in visitors will result in increasing negative impacts on the environment and residential amenity. Increasing costs of services and facilities will put further pressure on rate payers, and there will be insufficient funding available for required maintenance and renewal of visitor infrastructure such as car-parks and toilets.
The draft Visitor Infrastructure Investment Strategic Plan has been developed to identify the investment required to support visitor infrastructure, visitor services and city presentation, and to identify additional revenue streams to fund this investment.
The guiding principle of the draft Strategic Plan is one of equity - that those who use a service are the ones who pay for it. The potential additional revenue streams identified in the draft Strategic Plan have been developed with a view to shifting the burden for funding visitor infrastructure, visitor services and city presentation away from residents. The investment in improved services and infrastructure will provide a quality visitor experience that will support the tourism industry.
The draft Strategic Plan reviews user pays models most relevant to the Blue Mountains:
FEEDBACK
The draft Visitor Infrastructure Investment Strategic Plan is a draft document provided for consultation at this time. Public feedback will be incorporated into a final draft version of the Strategic Plan, which will be considered by Council in early 2018.
Your comment and feedback is sought to help shape this document. The draft Visitor Infrastructure Investment Strategic Plan is on exhibition from 23 October to 4 December 2017, with submissions accepted during this period.
