West Tamar Council has today released its Draft Community Strategic Plan 2026-2036, a comprehensive roadmap designed to guide the region’s growth, infrastructure and community wellbeing over the next decade.
In a unique and modern approach to strategic planning, Council has highlighted that the draft was developed through a human-led, evidence-based process supported by artificial intelligence (AI) – which was developed by international speaker, consultant and urban futurist Stephen Yarwood.
This is the first time in Tasmania that a Community Strategic Plan has been developed in this way.
AI was used purely as a research and synthesis tool to efficiently scan, compare, and summarise large volumes of Federal, State, and local strategies along with targeted community stakeholder feedback.
The draft plan is now open for public consultation, with residents invited to shape the final document.
Recognising that the municipality is evolving and growing, West Tamar Council has stepped away from traditional strategic local government planning process to present a strategy deeply rooted in community values.
“The best plans come from honest conversations, and the West Tamar Community gave us plenty,” West Tamar Mayor Christina Holmdahl said.
“This draft plan reflects a clear message from our residents: growth is expected, but it must be well considered. It has to be supported by the right infrastructure, respect the unique character of our landscape, and ultimately make everyday life better for the people who call the West Tamar home.”
Rather than listing isolated projects or departmental goals, the 10-year strategy is structured around three core civic themes that reflect how residents actually experience the municipality:
- Our Shape: Focusing on physical spaces, this theme tackles the challenge of directing housing and mixed-use growth to serviced locations, sequencing infrastructure in step with development, and ensuring natural systems like the Kanamaluka/Tamar River stay healthy as the region changes.
- Our Heart: Centred on community and wellbeing, this theme prioritises keeping shared places like parks and community hubs strong, ensuring the region works for both young people building their futures and older residents aging in place.
- Our Economy: Shifting focus from just being a commuter municipality, this theme looks at growing local jobs and businesses closer to home, activating town centres, and building on West Tamar’s distinctive strengths in agriculture, tourism, and local trades.
Mr Yarwood said the plan was built on a new kind of process.
“We used AI as a second brain to read and synthesise dozens of existing strategies and hundreds of pages of community input, then turn all of it into one clear direction for the next decade,” Mr Yarwood said.
“The technology did the heavy lifting on the evidence, but every strategic decision stayed with people. The result is comprehensive, cost-effective and creative, and I am proud to commend it to the community for consultation.”
West Tamar Council stressed that all interpretation, judgment, and final drafting were undertaken entirely by Council, informed directly by stakeholder engagement with Council oversight.
“At its core, this is a plan about balance – balancing our growth with liveability, and our ambition with what we as a Council can realistically deliver,” Mayor Holmdahl said.
“This isn’t just a wish list to sit on a shelf; it is a guide for real decisions. Now, we are handing it back to the community to make sure we’ve captured their vision correctly.”
Have Your Say
The draft plan is now out for community consultation. Community members can review the Plan and provide their feedback in a number of ways which are set out on Council’s website.
Council is seeking feedback from the community on what stands out to them in the plan, what Council should prioritise, what might be missing, and what specific actions Council should start, stop, or keep doing over the coming years.
To view the West Tamar Draft Community Strategic Plan 2026-2036 and submit your feedback, visit the West Tamar Council website: https://www.wtc.tas.gov.au/draft-community-strategic-plan/