Burnie City Centre Urban Plan

Announcement

Burnie Council received funding of $17.3 million from the Tasmanian Government to commence implementing the Plan once developed.

Project typeTransformational plan for Burnie's City Centre
Project value$550,000
Project commencementFrom March 2023
Contractor nameGHD

February 2025

The Final Version of the Burnie City Centre Urban Plan has been adopted by Council at the February Council meeting.

The Urban Plan Working Group will now be consulted to provide effective community governance in the implementation of the Burnie City Centre Urban Plan.

The purpose of the Urban Plan Working Group is to act as a conduit for community feedback on the Urban Plan and to ensure that all advice to Council for the project reflects strong community engagement.

Burnie City Centre Urban Plan(PDF, 77MB)

Final feedback submissions are now closed.

Thank you to our community for all of your responses. We will be incorporating all of the communities feedback into our Final Urban Plan that will be presented to Council in late February.

January 2025

Following Council's co-design workshops with community members in August 2024, the invaluable feedback that was provided has been incorporated into a final draft of the Burnie City Centre Urban Plan, which is now presented to the public for its final feedback.

Feedback submissions are now closed. Thank you to our community for all of your responses. We will be incorporating these into our Final Urban Plan that will be presented to Council in late February.

We have also produced this useful video on the changes to the draft Urban Plan.

December 2024

Urban Plan Working Group members announced

At Council’s December meeting, 12 community members were appointed to the Burnie City Centre Urban Plan Working Group.

They are: Stuart Paine, Des Hodgetts, Ian Jones, Dianne Clayton, Miles Knapman, Wayne Bramich, Alison Horch, Georgina (Georgia) Palmer, Astri Kirkland, David McLean, Mikkayla Leckie and Jess Eastley.

October 2024

Nominations were called for a Burnie City Centre Urban Plan Working Group

Terms-of-Reference-City-Centre-Urban-Plan-Working-Group.pdf(PDF, 102KB)

June 2024

The 152-page document offers comprehensive ideas and concepts to transform our City Centre into a vibrant hub for working, living, shopping, and socialising. For those preferring a concise overview, the Council has also prepared a 30-page summary version.

Please also take the time to watch the informative video on the initial draft Burnie City Centre plan below.

Consultation Process

The initial Plan was developed following community consultation that took place in 2023, when the community was asked what they loved about the city, what they wanted to see improved, and their vision for the future. Based on the feedback received from residents, business owners, and interest groups, the draft Urban Plan outlined a vision, strategic directions, and a list of proposed projects to drive the renewal and attractiveness of Burnie’s CBD.

The draft document, however, was only an initial concept based on those discussions. It was shared with the community as a starting point, inviting further engagement to co-design the plan by gathering feedback on what worked, what didn’t, and any ideas that may have been overlooked.

The Council allowed time for the public to review and consider the draft concepts before proceeding to the co-design stage with the community. Once this stage began, the Council’s Executive Management Team (EMT) engaged with a variety of stakeholders to gather input and refine the concepts.

After considering all feedback, the amended Draft Urban Plan was taken to the Council for review. Once councillors were satisfied with the draft, a formal round of community consultation was conducted to ensure the plan was on the right track.

This engagement approach was introduced in response to feedback from the Community Engagement Framework process. The community had expressed concerns that previous consultation efforts felt predetermined. The new process was designed to ensure genuine opportunities for input before councillors made their final decisions on the Plan.

The final iteration of the Urban Plan was expected to be presented to the Council for endorsement in 2025, allowing implementation to commence in the 2024-25 financial year.

Initial work on the Draft Urban Plan helped the Council successfully secure funding during the recent State Government elections, resulting in $17.3 million from the Tasmanian Government to begin implementing the Plan once finalized.

So, our community should be excited to not only participate in co-designing our shared vision for the CBD but to then see works begin, transforming the Plan into a reality.

With State Government funding now obtained, the Council is well placed to lobby for additional funding under the Commonwealth’s ‘Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program’, that could yield up to an additional $50m, to invest in executing our Urban Plan. Now that would be a game-changer!

If you need an interpreter, please call TIS National on 131 450 and ask them to call Burnie City Council on 03 6430 5700. Our business hours are 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday-Friday.