The director of planning and community services, Peter Hall, is preparing a social plan with assistance from community services coordinator Mark Oliphant and research officer Sophie Peron.
The plan is due for completion by the end of the year and is expected to be used by council not only for planning purposes, but to provide weight to grant applications and lobby for infrastructure improvements.
In a report to council last week, Mr Hall said figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Adelaide University projections reinforced Victor Harbor's reputation as the community with the highest proportion of seniors in Australia.
Mr Hall has indicated that although the demographic will have major community implications, it does not necessarily need to be a major problem. However, planning is needed to ensure it does not become a crisis in later years.
In a report prepared by the Productivity Commission for the Commonwealth Government, the proportion of the Australian coastal population aged 65 years and over is expected to increase to 26.8-percent by 2045. Victor Harbor's proportion is already higher than this.
"They (the reports) are talking about pressures facing Australian councils in the year 2045. We are 40 years ahead of the national trend," Mr Hall said.
"If we can't draw federal funds based on this, there's something wrong."
A separate report by the Australian Local Government Association indicates that Australia-wide the proportion of people aged 65 years and over will grow from the current average of 13-percent to 25-percent by 2051. Predictions indicate that Victor Harbor is expected to have 30-percent of its population over 65 by next year. By 2021, this figure is expected to rise to 40-percent.
The report indicates that councils may face increasing budget pressures as an ageing population will mean more human services will be required. Already nationally human services take up 49-percent of local government expenditure.
"The main demands are expected to be: health and aged care, home support services, subsidy of medical services, community transport and range of cultural and recreation services," the report states.
On the revenue side, councils will face pressure too from the increasing proportion of pensioner households and financial assistance grants declining.
The Productivity Commission indicates that in some areas infrastructure may prove unsuitable as low-density urban design is not particularly age-friendly. For example poorly maintained or non-existent footpaths, the concentration of retailing and banking in large shopping malls, a lack of public transport and accessibility issues for parks and public places.
The report, however, indicates an ageing population is not all 'doom and gloom'. It cites the opportunities an ageing population including drawing upon the use of older people as volunteers and developing employment opportunities and enterprise creation drawing upon their richer life experience, well-honed skills, knowledge and wisdom that will be available.
"These figures may have profound implications for the way in which council prepares for its infrastructure planning, economic development strategy and financial modelling," Mr Hall warned council.
Article from victorharbor.yourguide.com.au
