The Ageing Positively on the West Coast Survey has closed for submissions.

In the three weeks that the survey was open for public completion there was an impressively high level of community engagement. To date approximately 200 surveys have been collected and will now be provided to consultants, KPMG, to feed into the formulation of the draft Strategy being created for the West Coast.

As part of the West Coast Council’s community engagement strategy around the survey, an event for active Senior Citizens Clubs, was facilitated by the Council’s Director of Special Projects and Community Development & Events Officer and held on the 21st March at the Queenstown Senior Citizens Clubroom.

Around twenty representatives attended from Queenstown, Strahan and Rosebery. Mayor Phil Vickers, General Manager David Midson and Councillors Shea and Newman, attended to hear from the participants about the range of issues facing the group and what opportunities there are to improve outcomes for positive ageing on the West Coast in the future.

General Manager David Midson said, “Being able to learn from the experiences of our senior citizens is a privilege and their insights are invaluable for the development of our strategy.”

Amongst other observations, the attending representatives loved the sense of community and quiet atmosphere of the West Coast but saw barriers to ageing positively on the West Coast due to limited local medical resources and isolation from the greater Tasmanian community.

Going forward, the next step is to engage constructively with key community stakeholders and groups in collecting further feedback and targeted information. A ‘Community Groups’ forum is being organised for this critical stage of the project and will be held in April, KPMG continues to gather feedback from other important stakeholders as part of their ongoing consultation.
The West Coast Council would like to thank the West Coast community for their high level of engagement in this process so far. Council will continue to engage with the whole community on this critical project and encourages all West Coasters to have their say.