Council adopts first Public Health Plan

The City has released its first Public Health Plan to help improve the health and wellbeing of our community.

The Plan, which was formally adopted by Council at the Ordinary Council meeting on Tuesday 22 September, reports on the current health status of the community and identifies areas where the City can help improve health outcomes and integrate a public health focus into existing services and facilities.

The Public Health Plan was developed using data from the State Government, the East Metropolitan Health Service and feedback gathered through a local community and stakeholder consultation, conducted in July and August this year.

The community and stakeholders were invited to give their feedback on areas identified as public health priorities and asked to rank the importance of what services/infrastructure the City offered in relation to maintaining public health.

Three key action areas were identified:

• Public health protection
• Chronic disease prevention and management
• Mental health

Research shows more than half of the City’s residents are overweight or obese, a third do less than 150 minutes physical activity each week and more than 90% don’t eat the recommended five serves of vegetables a day.

The City’s aim is to target behavioural lifestyle choices such as healthy eating, physical activity, harmful tobacco and alcohol use.

The City already offers a range services to address some of these factors through our senior citizens centres, libraries and in partnership with local groups and clubs. These include smoke and alcohol free community events, which are also socially inclusive and accessible, outdoor exercise equipment, cycle routes, playgrounds with shade, free community meditation classes, food and literacy programs and the support of farmers markets and community garden.

The City’s vision is a city of active places and beautiful spaces. One of the key outcomes of the Strategic Community Plan is for the development of recreation and aquatic facilities to service the needs of our community.

The proposed Recreation and Aquatic Facility (RAF), will provide a state of the art health, fitness, wellness and recreation destination with a strong focus on improved health outcomes through prevention. The proposed facility will include sporting and recreational activities such as swimming, golf and playing courts.

The City will also establish a Public Health Reference Group to provide advice on emerging public health issues. Membership will be drawn from community groups, health professionals and interested community members.

For more information on the proposed RAF and Public Health Plan visit our website