Legislative requirements

The Local Government Act 1995 requires all local governments to plan for the future of the district. The Strategic Community Plan and Corporate Business Plan form the Shire’s plan for the future, supported by the Long Term Financial Plan, Workforce and Diversity Plan, Asset Management Plan, Informing Strategies and Annual Budget. These have all been prepared to achieve compliance with the Local Government (Administration) Regulations 1996. Development of these plans also aligns with the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries’ Integrated Planning and Reporting Framework and Guidelines.

Integrated planning and reporting framework

Introduced by State Government in 2012, this Framework requires each local government to conduct community engagement to develop a Strategic Community Plan, Corporate Business Plan, Annual Budget and Informing Strategies, which are to be measured and reported on. The Framework aims to ensure the future provision of services is sustainable.

Five key principles to integrated planning and reporting are:

1. Aspirational – guided by the community’s vision and goals
2. Affordable – confidence that assets and services are affordable and best value
3. Adaptable – the ability to adapt plans while maintaining sustainability
4. Aligned – provides a basis to work with others / attract other resources to the vision
5. Accountable – enables scrutiny

Community Engagement

Community engagement is a fundamental element of the Framework. The visioning and goal-setting process is undertaken with the community, and the community has a genuine role in engaging with the strategic issues and options and setting medium and long term priorities that balance aspirations with affordability.

The Shire conducts a major community engagement activity every four years in accordance with legislation, which includes online and hardcopy surveys and workshops with Place Advisory Groups and community members.

Planning

The Strategic Community Plan expresses the long-term community aspirations that have been developed with extensive consultation. It is an overarching document that covers a period of 10 years.

The Corporate Business Plan activates the objectives of the Strategic Community Plan and informs the annual budget process to ensure the priorities of the community are achievable. It is an activation document that covers a period of 4 years.

The Annual Budget is a detailed financial plan for the coming year covering all aspects of the Shire’s operations, and reflects the resources generated by way of revenue and the resources consumed by way of expenditure. In addition to its planning aspects, the budget is also used by as a benchmark against which actual financial and delivery performance can be measured.

Other documents are used to ensure adequate resourcing of the plans and include Service Plans, Long Term Financial Plan, Workforce and Diversity Plan, Asset Management Plan and informing strategies.

View Other Plans and Strategies.

Monitoring and Reporting

The Shire monitors and reports on the implementation of the Framework through quarterly and annual reports presented to Council.

The quarterly report provides information on the progress and milestones of key projects in the Shire’s Corporate Business Plan.

A comprehensive annual report on the achievements of the Framework and comprising plans is prepared each year and presented at the Annual Meeting of Electors.

In addition, the key performance indicators (KPI) used to measure the performance of the CEO are made publicly available, and the results are reported.

For more information on our planning and performance, please contact us.