Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the draft Economic Development Strategy (EDS) 2023-28 during the recent public exhibition.

The final EDS will be presented to Council for adoption on Monday 29 May 2023. You can view the meeting agenda and attachments and request to speak by going to Council's website. The EDS is Item 8.1 on the agenda.

During the exhibition stage we received 27 responses on Shaping Banyule and held a meeting with the Project Reference Group (PRG) to seek final input. Of the 27 Shaping Banyule responses, 18 were in favour of the draft Strategy. Several community members also took the opportunity to provide rich and valuable feedback that will be considered in the planning and delivery of key EDS actions.

In response to the feedback received, the following amendments were made to the EDS:

• increase the biennial Banyule Business Grants pool to $40,000, in line with endorsed draft operating budget for 23/24 (Theme 1)
• strengthen the action relating to the procurement policy review, to include sustainable/social procurement (Theme 2)
• include reference to food warehousing as part of Action 3.3 - Facilitate the Growth of the Health and Food Industries (Theme 3)
• streetscape renewal program to be referenced in the EDS alongside the placemaking program (Theme 4)
• reference to the liveability assessment as a monitoring tool (Theme 4).