All local governments are required under legislation to develop a Community Strategic Plan.

It opens the way for Council and the community to have important discussions about funding priorities, service levels and preserving local identity, and to plan in partnership for a more sustainable future.

To find out more about Community Strategic Planning, see the Integrated Planning and Reporting pages on the NSW Office of Local Government website .

LGNSW sets the Integrated Reporting Planning and Reporting (IP&R) framework and applies it to all councils.

The CSP is the leading component of the Integrated Planning and Reporting Framework.

The state government mandates the framework for all NSW councils. This requires councils to demonstrate how they will deliver aspects of the CSP through a detailed four-year Delivery Program and annual Operational Plan. Under the Local Government Act 1993, You can read more here

These are the Community Strategic Plan Delivery Program, Operational Plan, Resourcing Strategy and the Community Engagement Strategy.

Delivery Program, Operational Plan and Resourcing Strategy

While the Community Strategic Plan covers 10 years, there are several other key documents which provide more detailed planning in the short term.

The council’s Delivery Program, Operational Plan and Resourcing Strategy translate the Community Strategic Plan into specific actions and identify resources needed.

The plan must be for a minimum of 10 years

• Identify community priorities and aspirations

• Includes a vision, strategic objectives and strategies to achieve those objectives

• Must address the quadruple bottom line: social, environmental, economic and civic leadership issues

• Based on social justice principles: equity, access, participation and rights

• Give due consideration to the State Plan and other relevant state and regional plans

• The community must be engaged in the development of the plan in line with the community engagement strategy created for the purpose

• Must be endorsed by the council after being on public exhibition for at least 28 days.

The NSW Government requires a draft Community Strategic Plan to be prepared for consideration of a newly elected council following the election in September 2024.

The new council will be required to endorse their community strategic plan by 30 June 2025.to take effect from 1 July 2025.

Once the public exhibition closes all feedback will be reviewed and inform the final CSP. The final CSP will then be tabled at the City Services Committee and Council. The CSP must be adopted by June 2025.

Council's Informing Strategies

The Council has engaged in extensive consultations with the community to develop various plans and strategies. These documents, along with the broad consultative feedback are instrumental in shaping the Community Strategic Plan:

• Urban Forest Strategy
• Resilience Strategy
• Sustainable Waste Management Plan
• DIAP
• Age-Friendly Communities Plan
• Reconciliation Action Plan
• Arts and Culture Strategy
• Customer Experience Strategy.

A Community Strategic Plan must be reviewed every four years following a local government election.

The last time the Plan was reviewed was in early 2022, following the council elections in December 2021. Despite the last review occurring less than 3 years ago, and aside from the legislative obligations, each time the Plan is reviewed, it provides an opportunity to ensure the document still reflects the community’s values and aspirations.

Council will play a number of roles in working towards the vision. In some cases, Council will directly deliver, in other cases it may fund, advocate, regulate, partner or monitor progress.

Council will respond to the plan by creating its own delivery program as a supporting document to the Community Strategic Plan. The delivery program contains actions and activities that need to be undertaken to realise the Community Strategic Plan’s outcomes. The delivery program’s activities are allocated to Council’s directorates and business units and are published annually in Council’s operational plan.

Council is not responsible for delivering every outcome and strategy of the Plan. The whole community has a role in delivery.

How does Bayside Council gather community feedback for large projects?

For large-scale projects where we seek input from the entire community, Bayside Council partners with Micromex to conduct statistically representative surveys. This approach involves surveying a smaller, carefully selected group of residents to accurately reflect the views of the larger population. The insights gained from these surveys are highly reliable, with a margin of error of approximately + or - 3% compared to what we would expect if we surveyed the entire community.