Status: Regulations being developed
Commencement: To be confirmed
The reforms propose that local governments prepare, adopt and publish a council plan to plan for the future services and facilities that are to be provided by the local government for the district. This is intended to replace the requirement for strategic community plans.
A summary of this reform proposals are:
Regulations are being developed to ensure the framework meets the needs of the sector and provide for an avenue for local governments to plan for the short, medium and long term.
Regulations being developed are proposed to include:
It is intended that templates, compliance guidance and capability building tools will be available on commencement.
By simplifying the integrated planning and reporting framework, it is hoped that local governments can better focus their resources on service delivery and providing facilities instead of extensive planning.
Changes also aim to address the needs of varied audiences, being the council, administration and community, particularly in relation to having a shared understanding of priorities, roles, responsibilities and accountability.
The reforms propose that local governments will be required to prepare, adopt and publish a community engagement charter that sets out the principles to be applied, and what will be done, to encourage a diverse range of community members to participate in decision-making processes.
Local governments will need to ensure they engage with their community when developing their charter.
Regulations are being developed to further detail a charter's relationship to the council planning process. It is intended that a template and guidance material will be developed to support local governments on commencement.
Community engagement is vital for inclusive decision making. Many local governments already reflect this importance by involving their communities in decisions that affect them.
Community engagement charters are being introduced as a consistent requirement across the sector to ensure that all local governments commit to engaging their communities. They will also help communities understand how they can influence decisions that affect them.
The reform proposes a requirement for class 1 and 2 local governments to undertake community satisfaction surveys.
Many local governments already appreciate the benefits of regular community satisfaction surveys and voluntarily conduct them to inform service provision, projects and decision-making.
By linking community surveys to the council planning process, local governments will have better insights into how satisfied their community is with the services and facilities provided in their district. These insights will then directly influence planning for the future delivery of these services and facilities.
Undertaking these surveys at consistent intervals will allow for a better understanding of a local government's performance and improvement over time. Members of the community will also get a better understanding of the views of their entire community through the requirement for community survey results to be published.