Bland Shire Council’s Asset Management Policy and associated Road Hierarchy and Service Levels were adopted by Council in March. They are the crucial first steps in an organisation wide approach to effective asset management that focuses on service delivery to the community.
“There is a real urgency for Council to effectively manage its assets,” said Council’s General Manager, Frank Zaknich. “Asset management is a critical challenge facing Local Government across Australia. It is estimated that Councils in Australia have between $150 and $250 billion worth of infrastructure assets – much of it ageing and poorly maintained.
“Attempts to renew assets are being made more difficult through a number of factors, including a culture of asset creation not asset renewal, reduced external funding and already stretched budgets.”
Bland’s Asset Management Policy provides an overall framework to guide the strategic management of Council’s infrastructure assets in a coordinated and structured manner. This will be achieved through corporate and community objectives for asset management based upon service delivery needs, integrating asset management with Council’s corporate planning and ensuring that assets are cared for and managed in a sustainable manner that maximises value for money.
The Road Hierarchy and Service Levels set out Council’s road maintenance and reconstruction life cycle system. This classifies roads into service levels determined according to road usage, if they are sealed or unsealed and required funding levels.
Prior to adoption by Council, both policies were released for public comment. They are now guiding the development of a draft road network extension and improvement policy and draft unsealed road network methodology for determining Council’s re-sheeting program policy. These will ensure Council directs the limited available resources to the most cost effective outcomes for the community. They are currently open to community input and comment.
Other steps already taken by Council to combat the asset management challenge include active involvement in a proposed regional approach to asset management with the Riverina Eastern Regional Organisation of Councils (REROC) and the recent appointment of a Manager Assets and Infrastructure at Council.
The policies can be downloaded from Council’s website at www.blandshire.nsw.gov.au
