The State Government committed to investing a further $10 million for Stage 2 of the Vision for Werribee Plains program, for the period July 2008 – June 2012. The key drivers for Stage 2 are:

• environmental and community infrastructure in the west is not keeping pace with growth,
  
• an ongoing commitment by government to make the Werribee Plains environmentally sustainable
  
• opportunities to utilise stormwater and recycled water from the wastewater treatment plants.
  

Public benefits include:

• improving the biodiversity outcomes on the Werribee Plains,
• increasing access to and utilisation of public open space,
• establishing the Werribee Plains as a leader in sustainable development, and
  
• realising opportunities to reduce potable water consumption by substituting treated stormwater and wastewater fit for use purposes.
  

The aim of the program is to encourage and support projects that deliver broad sustainability outcomes and develop social capital in the communities of the Werribee Plains.

The program invests in community, industry, schools and government projects to achieve its outcomes via a competitive Grants Program, comprising:

• small grants for community organisations to promote environment and capacity building outcomes
  
• medium size grants for organisations that can demonstrate capacity to deliver more advanced projects and have the matching resources
  
• a small number of large grants for infrastructure projects that deliver sustainability outcomes.
  

Project applications are encouraged that protect and/or improve efficient use of our natural resources, promote volunteering and wherever possible, are developed in partnership with other groups, organisations or government agencies to deliver sustainability outcomes.

The development of partnerships between industry sectors and local government are also encouraged to develop projects that support sustainability outcomes with the potential to leverage both financial support and skills across sectors in the Werribee Plains region.

Priority will be given to applications that will produce outcomes that extend beyond the life of each project.  These may be in the form of working relationships, physical changes, new planning systems, ongoing employment opportunities, increased efficiency in use of resources or an increase in the number of volunteers working on environmental projects.

Community groups are an important aspect of society and small grants will enable them to build networks and strengthen their capability to embrace larger change projects in areas of sustainability.