VOTE 1 Abhishek AWASTHI for Kennington Ward

Local shops and cafes: we need to revitalise the city. We need to focus our planning on creating more local shops/cafes and active spaces for the community that can be used for major and minor events. More events and more activities to benefit everyone.

History and culture: the time is right to go to the next level to showcase Bendigo’s rich history and culture. We need to expand our cultural tourism and show the world what we offer. We need to further develop the multicultural and multi-faith cultural communities and showcase them to the world. We need to bring more cultural events to Bendigo. Celebrating cultural diversity through events means growth and jobs.

Local environment: I love Bendigo because of its open spaces and how close we are to nature. We need to improve planning tools and guidance to protect areas with valued landscapes and environmental values. We need to encourage more recreational tourism to take advantage of the forest and everything it offers. We need to protect and showcase local fauna and flora and ensure our biodiversity is protected forever. More interpretive signs at Kennington Reservoir to highlight the local and regional biodiversity.

Sustainability: We need to continue with plans for the Electrification of Bendigo as a priority and work with local sustainability groups to promote their plans. Bendigo has been feeling the impacts of climate change for decades. We need to make it easier for our communities and our biodiversity to adapt, while lobbying harder for legislation to lower emissions. We need planning rules that are suitable for tomorrow as well as today to ensure our homes, sporting grounds, and community facilities are suitable. We need drains that cope with what is coming, not what has happened in the past. We need to create places where people can go to cool down in summer and streetscapes that don’t make the heat worse. We need to plant more trees.

Cost of living: the council needs to do more. The council should be a staunch advocate for Bendigo residents when it comes to the cost of living. It needs to do more. This means lobbying state and federal politicians and working with local welfare and housing agencies to highlight the daily cost-of-living pressures residents face. It also means making the cost of living a key focus of all its decisions.

Food security: there are parts of our community that struggle to makes end meet. I see this every day and we need to advocate for equity in regional food security. We need to grow the city’s equitable, accessible and responsive food security services. We need local community-owned and place-based services that provide access to healthy and nutritious food.

Public facilities: we need to do what we can to develop new public facilities and keep the Bendigo East Pool open. It is too good to lose. We need to work with other pools in the city to find a long-term solution. It’s about time a proper strategic plan was developed to help us create a clearer picture of how the pool is managed and run, to secure its long-term future.

Building capacity: we need to invest in building capacity of the local community, to build resilience. We need to partner with the community and co-design programs and priorities with a whole-of-system approach.

Housing affordability: in the medium and long term, we need sustainable affordable housing for all. That means increasing the proportion of affordable medium-density housing from 8 to 15 per cent over the next 15 years. Increase the proportion of residential development in existing urban areas from 47 to 70 per cent and do it with neighbourhood character in mind. We need to ensure there is an adequate supply of residential land in Greater Bendigo for the next two generations.

Housing diversity: we need to encourage developers to build diverse housing types by ensuring each medium subdivision includes a percentage of smaller, affordable homes. Now is the right time to look at how we can develop suitable vacant council land, or make council vacant land available, for affordable housing projects. Let’s look at freeing up housing around our city and town centres by encouraging the development of professional service hubs. We need planned developments in flood-prone areas with more strategic thinking.

Social Housing: we need to work with state and federal governments to advocate for affordable housing projects. Act as key levers and facilitate affordable public housing projects. Support feasibility studies, scoping and delivery of affordable housing projects.

Housing stock: we need a diversity of housing stock that is suitable for professionals such as one-bedroom studio apartments within walking distance from public transport.

Active and healthy lifestyle: better and safer footpaths and bike paths to encourage walking and riding, supporting an active lifestyle. Develop the Bendigo Low Line track along Bendigo Creek as quickly as we can. Plant more trees on nature strips to make it easier to walk around the neighbourhood under shade.

Streetscapes and experiences: revitalising the city centre, developing central vibrant community precincts and strategically mapping the attractions such as art gallery, town hall, tram museum etc.

Growth: economic growth brings jobs and opportunities: market Bendigo as a tourism destination to specific countries. We need a long-term strategy with a more targeted approach.

Bendigo Airport: a main goal of mine is more flights from more cities. The airport is a key plank in getting people directly from the capital cities to Bendigo. There is a demand from places such as India now, and capitalising on that means economic growth for everyone. More flights will open opportunities, to tap into the international tourism sector.