Consultation update

At the Wednesday 26 November 2025 Council Meeting, Council adopted the Open Space Strategy.

This Strategy is set to guide future planning, enhancement and management of public open spaces across Baw Baw Shire over the next 10 years.

Open spaces are free and accessible to the community and can be used for recreational and outdoor enjoyment purposes.

The Strategy adopts a place-based approach to open spaces with a strong focus on improving liveability, protecting biodiversity, and fostering inclusive and welcoming spaces for all. 

If you'd like to read the Council Meeting minutes or watch the recording, you can do so on our website.

We thank you for your engagement and feedback, and we hope you'll continue to be involved with our projects in the future.

Let's shape the future of our open spaces together

We are seeking your ideas, thoughts, and feedback on Baw Baw Shire's Draft Open Space Strategy to help to finalise it.

About the draft Open Space Strategy

Baw Baw Shire’s open space network includes everything from conservation reserves and large garden-style parks to playgrounds, walking tracks and mixed used sporting reserves. These spaces support health, wellbeing, biodiversity, and social connection. But our open space is under pressure, from population growth, urban development, climate change, biodiversity loss, and competing demands.
To respond, Council has developed a Draft Open Space Strategy that sets the direction for how we plan, design, manage, and deliver parks and open space – now and into the future. you can view the Draft Open Space Strategy and the Summary of it in the Key document section.

How the strategy was developed 

The draft Strategy has been shaped through community feedback and technical assessments:

• 2023: We asked the community how they use open space, what they value, and what improvements they’d like to see. For more information about this consultation click Open Space Strategy-Round 1
• 2025: The Baw Baw Community Panel shared key priorities, which have been strongly considered. For more information about this consultation visit Baw Baw Community Panel Summary Report in key document section.
• Technical assessments were also completed series of assessment to identify gaps in walking access to the parks and opportunities for improvement.

What we heard in the first round of community consultation 

Read the Open Space Strategy Consultation Report In key document, for more detail.

Community feedback highlighted the importance of prioritising new parks and upgrades in areas with gaps in walking access in growth areas and townships, as well as delivering high-quality parks in rural areas. The strategy also responds to calls for expanding trail networks and linking towns and destinations, integrating biodiversity and climate resilience into all upgrades, and including cultural heritage storytelling and co-design with Traditional Owners.

How you can get involved:

This community consultation closed on Friday, 3 October 2025.