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| Source:http://www.shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au/MyCouncil/Communitystrategicplan.aspx,21/3/2012 |
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
New South Wales-Planning System
To understand the NSW planning system we went on an excursion to Queanbeyan City Council. Here we were given a talk from one of the senior social planners who gave us an insight on how this council was run in conjunction with the state regulations and national guidelines for planning. Recent planning reforms by the Barry O'Farrel government has tried to make a more transparent and intergrated system . Instead of having a management plan and a social plan, these two documents were condensed into one framework.They are required to make a long-term community strategic plan of at least 10 years and make a resourcing strategy. These plans are followed up with an annual report which is aimed to help with monitoring so that results may be had. This is all shown in the diagram below. Do you think this planning tool will be effective for local government ? I think the process needs to be made easier still and less expensive. The Queanbeyan government to produce such documents used consultants which was very expensive. Therefore I think state government needs to make it easier (especially for smaller councils who do not have the money to make such documents) and give them the outline of what they need to do. As the speaker herself said, she was "sketpical" of the framework and though that there was "a disconnect from the vision and what is delivered on the ground" . I think whilst documents with the vision are important to have , I think the council should be made to place more of am emphasis on what can be achieved on the ground rather then bigger picture things. Therefore some of the documentation should be further condensed and more money should be invested into grass roots initiatives. What are your thoughts? What is the role of local council in planning in your eyes?
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Good point. There is always a gap between what small local concils can realistically do and what the higher framework focuses. This is partly due to a number of various concils exist under the umbrella of one big state. As a planner in local level, what do you think is important to focus on?
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to look after the community inwhich you work for and the issues which affect them most. Therefore finding small grass routes approaches to planning issues and leaving bigger things to state and national government planning.
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