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City Deal Implementation

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Overview

How the Launceston City Deal will be delivered

The Launceston City Deal brings together the Commonwealth Government, the Tasmanian Government and the City of Launceston with local institutions, businesses and the community.

The City Deal provides common objectives across levels of government, support for key industry and employment centres, infrastructure investment linked to broader reform and changes to planning and governance arrangements to deliver enduring benefits.

The role of the governments is to ensure the right supports, programs and policies are in place to achieve the objectives.

An Executive Board supported by a Community and Business Advisory Group will provide a coordinated governance structure and accountability model. The Executive Board will report to the Australian Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure, the Tasmanian Minister for State Growth and the Mayor of Launceston.

Launceston City Deal Executive Board

The Launceston City Deal Executive Board, represents key investment partners and will ensure co-ordinated and accountable delivery of the ten-year City Deal.

The Executive Board comprises of:

The Commonwealth Government Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities (co-Chair)
The Tasmanian Government Office of the Coordinator-General (co-Chair)
The Commonwealth Government Department of Education and Training
The City of Launceston
The University of Tasmania

The Executive Board will coordinate the strategic vision and drive economic outcomes for the major investments in the City Deal and in particular, will oversee progress of the City Deal’s major investments, including:

the relocation and redevelopment of the University of Tasmania’s main Launceston campus at Inveresk
the City Heart project
the Regional Economic Development Strategy
the My Place My Future Plan (Northern Suburbs Revitalisation Plan)
the Jobs Pathways Framework
the Tamar Estuary Management Taskforce, the River Health Action Plan and investments to reduce pollution in the Tamar Estuary and its catchments.

Community and Business Advisory Group

The three levels of government are committed to working in partnership with the local community and businesses to deliver outcomes under the Launceston City Deal through the Community and Business Advisory Group.

The Launceston City Deal Community and Business Advisory Group supports the City Deal Executive Board as the local level connection to the three levels of government to plan, and support the implementation of Launceston City Deal initiatives. These initiatives focus on improving the lives of Launceston residents by supporting education, employment and investment to build on the region's natural advantages.

The Advisory Group comprises the following representation;

Northern Tasmania Development Corporation Ltd
Launceston Chamber of Commerce
City of Launceston
West Tamar Council
George Town Council
Meander Valley Council
Northern Midlands Council

The Advisory Group co-opts temporary members to provide additional skills and experience that add value to the delivery of specific projects and/or provide insights into projects for consideration in the Launceston City Deal.

For more information, contact the Launceston City Deal Project Officer.

Community Engagement

The Three-Year Implementation Review provides recommendations on several projects, governance, and the vision that all Deal partners will work on in coming months. This will include preparing an updated Implementation Plan to support the ongoing delivery of the City Deal to the end of its extended, 10-year term in 2027.

A recommendation regarding governance highlighted the increased role of the Community and Business Advisory Group.

All levels of government are already committed to working in partnership with local community and businesses to deliver outcomes under the Launceston City Deal and the Community and Business Advisory Group provides another local connection to help plan and support the implementation of Launceston City Deal initiatives.

These initiatives focus on improving the lives of Launceston residents by supporting education, employment and investment to build on the region's natural advantages. A key contributor to achieving these initiatives and reaching the Launceston City Deal vision is building on the strengths between the city and region.

Hosted by the Launceston Chamber of Commerce and facilitated by the Group's Chair, the Community and Business Advisory Group held a Business Forum in July 2021 to reach out to the community. About 50 guests attended the breakfast, which provided an opportunity for members of Launceston’s business community to hear from and interact with Mayor Albert van Zetten and government representatives.

Reporting and Accountability

The Executive Board will provide a co-ordinated governance structure and accountability model.
The initial focus will be to deliver the City Deal’s objectives and commitments between April 2017 and April 2027. Progress will be monitored annually and formally reviewed after the first three years. At this time, priorities will be reconsidered and next steps established.

The Executive Board will meet in Launceston twice in the first year and then annually each remaining year of the City Deal. The outcomes of each meeting will inform broader Launceston City Deal progress reporting. There will be annual public reports on progress of the Launceston City Deal against measures of success.

Three-Year Implementation Review

A Three–Year Implementation Review of the Launceston City Deal was recently completed, as part of the ongoing governance of the City Deal. The review found that overall, the City Deal is making progress towards achieving the original vision of making Launceston one of Australia’s most liveable and innovative regional cities, with growing incomes and falling levels of disadvantage. A key strength of the City Deal identified during the review was the staging of commitments to enable early progress on their delivery, such as the City Heart Project and establishing a Low-Power Wide-Area Network, planning for future initiatives through the completion of the Regional Economic Development Strategy, the River Health Action Plan and the My Place My Future Plan, and to commence the major infrastructure projects, such as the University of Tasmania’s inner city campus that will create transformational change. At the signing of the City Deal, there were 33 commitments identified for delivery by 2022 which was the original completion date for the City Deal before being extended a further five years to operate until 2027. The review noted that 15 of these are now complete.

Five additional commitments have been added, some commitments have been combined or revised to deliver better outcomes, and some commitments were identified as not contributing significantly to achieving the City Deal’s vision and were recommended for removal from the City Deal.

The review found that the City Deal has been successful in aligning the three levels of government to work together to ensure the effective delivery of the City Deal, and to create a positive impact within the region beyond the City Deal commitments. Given the progress made to date, the review recommended strengthening the vision by outlining the desire for Launceston to be Australia’s most liveable and innovative regional city.

The review noted that the current six domains and five key objectives created complexity and recommended a clearer link be made between the commitments and vision. Governance of the City Deal is broadly considered to be working well, with the streamlined governance structure of the City Deal identified as a strength.

To support the review’s recommendations, an updated Implementation Plan will be developed to support delivery of the City Deal out until the end of its extended term in 2027. The Implementation Plan will include a refreshed set of domains that more clearly articulate the outcomes that each commitment will deliver to support the achievement of the City Deal’s vision. The revised Implementation Plan will also provide an opportunity to clearly outline timeframes for the delivery of ongoing commitments and set out the deliverables during the final five years of the City Deal to 2027.

Read the full Three-Year Implementation Review Report