A new Economic Development Taskforce has been appointed by Council following a call for nominations. Strong interest was received and Council has appointed six members to the group so there is a broad geographic and industry sector representation . The appointees are as follows:

There was a good attendance at the CBD Revitalisation Forum in December and a number of points of agreement were reached about where improvements could be initiated in Busselton and Dunsborough.

Following City presentations about planning, development and business activity across the City, business coach and consultant Graham Harvey presented his analysis of both centres and their businesses. Examples of centre improvements from north America were presented via a Roger Brookes urban design masterclass video. The city has access to a number of these and will use them to stimulate interest and discussion about what can be tried to revitalise our CBD areas.

Tuna Blue consultants facilitated a workshop group discussion followed where a number of ideas were discussed.

• Different branding for each centre (each with a distinctive character)
• Positive Street Life (Busking and related activities),
• Special Community Events,
• Customer Experience Focus,
• Humanising our public and private places
• Targeted business up skilling
• Coordinated branding and service delivery programs.

The next steps will be to prepare a program of actions - to give effect to

• Strategic Direction - Outcomes, means and measures
• Projects - Each to target an outcome
• Governance - how we are all going to work together?

The Taskforce will oversee and agree to the program before it is commenced.

A CBD Revitalisation Group will convene to define and deliver the program through the business and CBD communities.