Staff from Bega Valley Shire Council and the NSW Premier’s Department are continuing work on the Shire’s new Social Plan for 2005–10. The aim of the partnership between Council and the Premier’s Department is to create a stronger link between the needs identified in the Social Plan and the work of NSW Government agencies.
The first draft of the plan is due by July 2005 with the final version to be submitted to the NSW Department of Local Government in November this year.
Council’s Director of Corporate and Community Services, Leanne Barnes, described the project as a unique attempt to improve communication between Local and State Governments. She said it would hopefully provide a model for how the two might collaborate more effectively on social planning issues.
Ms Barnes said Council’s current Social Plan had been recognised as an example of best practice social planning in rural NSW. She said its comprehensive scope and detailed analysis of local social and community needs had ensured that it was well utilised by Council and the broader community as well as government agencies and other organisations.
Council had made a commitment to ensure high priority strategies contained in the plan were implemented in a meaningful way by including them in its Management Plan with linked actions and budget resources.
Ms Barnes said a range of linked processes had been established to support social planning work in the Bega Valley Shire. These had included the establishment of a Social Planning Committee, with members representing each of the Shire’s social planning target groups.
She said the committee had become a high profile peak advisory body on social and community issues. The existing Social Plan has been independently evaluated and the findings of the evaluation process used during the development of the draft 2005–10 plan.
Ms Barnes said Bega Valley Shire Council had invested heavily in social planning in recent years because of the improvements it can bring about internally, ensuring Council can respond effectively to social and community needs, but also because of its external coordination role. She said this external role – assessing, documenting and prioritising local needs and then coordinating community and government responses – was considered of equal importance and had produced significant improvements.
“For Bega Valley Shire Council, social planning has meant that our understanding and analysis of local issues has been strengthened and our capacity to engage other levels of government in this dialogue has increased,” she said.
Council is currently finalising plans for a major social planning conference to be held in Bega in March 2005. The conference will examine local social, community and cultural development issues with the local community and other levels of government. More information about the conference including registration is available from conference organise Penny Amberg at Bega Valley Shire Council on (02) 6499 2167 or via email pamberg@begavalley.nsw.gov.au
