What Is It?

TOOWOOMBA 2050 is a community planning project designed primarily to focus on the future of Toowoomba city. There is currently no holistic long-range or strategic plan to guide future growth and development of the city. When completed, the TOOWOOMBA 2050 Community Plan will be the first community based long-range plan for the city of Toowoomba.

Toowoomba City Council unanimously endorsed a proposal to undertake the TOOWOOMBA 2050 project in December 2006. The project was subsequently launched under the banner 'our TOOWOOMBA towards 2050' in the first week of April 2007.

The TOOWOOMBA 2050 project is designed to deliver a plan for the future that is owned by the community, consistent with best practice corporate planning in local government. While Toowoomba City Council is leading the current planning process it will be the actions of the community as a whole that will determine the success of the project within the context of new local government arrangements.

Project Phases

The TOOWOOMBA 2050 project design has incorporated three main phases:

Phase 1 - Envisioning the Future

Phase 1 provided an opportunity for the community to have their say about the things they value about Toowoomba, the challenges that the city faces, the things that will make Toowoomba a great place in the future, and to suggest elements that should be incorporated into a new city vision. This phase included preparation of an initial draft Community Plan made available for community review and comment.

View the initial draft TOOWOOMBA 2050 Community Plan (New window) which was released 15 September 2007.

The initial draft plan was then amended to reflect feedback received.

Phase 2 - Vision Action Planning

Phase 2 included activities to develop a draft Action Plan for community plan implementation, focussing on short, medium and long term strategies and actions, and identification of partner organisations that will play a role in project delivery.

The Action Plan, in a future form will identify lead partners for implementation, including Council and other government agencies and other private and community organisations.

Phase 3 - Community Plan Finalisation

Phase 3 includes preparation of a final draft Community Plan document based on prior project activities, for endorsement by Council and partner organisations prior to commencement of implementation activities.

The TOOWOOMBA 2050 Community Plan is to be released in the first half of 2008.

View the Project Timeline (New window).

The Community Plan

The final Community Plan document will comprise two parts, including a new vision for the preferred long-term future of the city and a plan of action designed to make the vision a reality.

View the final Draft Community Plan, which was released on Monday 25 February 2008.   

Part 1: The TOOWOOMBA 2050 Community Plan, including:

An overarching city vision statement; and

Preferred future outcome statements for community based activities.

Part 2: The TOOWOOMBA 2050 Action Plan, including:

Strategies to achieve the preferred future, for the short, medium and long term (eg. 5, 10, and 20+ years); and

Actions to achieve the strategies, for the short and medium term (eg. Year 1, years 2-5, years 6-10) with lead partners for implementation identified.

The initial Action Plan will be a working draft. Further consultation and collaboration with stakeholders will then be required to refine the strategies and actions, and identify when they are to be undertaken, and by whom.