Reform Wollongong City Council

Someone got the word “resilence” into the refining workshops on the Community Summit draft objectives and strategies outcomes held this week at WCC.

This guide from the UK may be worth buying and timely for local use here:

“The Urban Forum Guide To Community Resilience is an invaluable resource for any community.

With the era of austerity upon us and the public spending cuts bringing greater challenges, this handy guide, which has expert contributions from many organisations, is a timely, practical way to strengthen your community and make the best use of its assets.”

http://www.urbanforum.org.uk/handy-guides/urban-forum-guide-to-community-resilience

Grattan Institure Media Release
14 November 2011

Getting the housing Australians want

“Our cities are at a critical point in their development. We need a fresh start that helps Australians get the housing they want and gives residents a say in the future of their neighbourhoods and cities,” said Jane-Frances Kelly, Cities Program Director at the Grattan Institute.

Launching Grattan’s new report, Getting the housing we want, Ms Kelly said that under the current system no one wins.

“Developers point to a range of barriers to building housing in established areas, while residents, denied a real role in deciding the future of their neighbourhoods, often feel they have no choice but to oppose all planning applications and all change.”

“Yet at the same time, our cities continue to grow and more people are forced to live further from family, friends and jobs,” Ms Kelly said.

A previous Grattan report, The housing we’d choose, contained the first substantial survey of the housing preferences of Sydney and Melbourne residents. The survey showed that contrary to stereotype, Australians want a mixture of housing choices – not just detached houses.

Grattan’s latest report proposes reforms to change what is built to better match what Australians say they want, while enabling residents to take an active role in shaping their neighbourhoods in partnership with the housing industry and government.

The report proposes the creation of opt-in Neighbourhood Development Corporations that bring together residents, developers and governments to oversee significant development in an area. They would be independent bodies with real powers over planning and delivery. They would enable residents, developers and governments to plan together, then act.

They would assume powers over planning, land acquisition and design for the life of the project. A Commonwealth-State Liveability Fund would provide funding for new parks and community facilities in return for support for a significant change in the amount and type of housing in the neighbourhood.

Ms Kelly said governments also needed to encourage high-quality smaller developments, which made up the bulk of new housing in many established suburbs.

A new Small Redevelopment Housing Code would establish clear standards for housing of two storeys and under, which, depending on lot size, contained between 2 and 10 dwellings. These developments would get planning approval within 15 days if they were met. In return, the Code would ensure that small developments are better designed than they are now, and respected the needs of neighbours and the character of an area.

Ms Kelly said that while change was always difficult, the status quo also carried costs for existing residents and for their children. “This report offers a pathway to making our cities better as they grow.”

Download a copy of the report
http://www.grattan.edu.au/publications/117_report_getting_the_housing_we_want.pdf

Reply from James regarding public at GovCamp 2011

“I just wanted to let you know that the event is open to the public.

There is a general philosophy about “no sales pitching” (in this context, no political pitching) at events like this, which is based on the BarCamp unconference format:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarCamp#Structure_and_participatory_process

BTW You might also like to add a link to http://govcampnsw.info/ to your post.

Thanks for the info, James.

I am waiting to hear back if this event is open to members of the public:

GovCampNSW
NICTA Lab, Level 4
Australian Technology Park
13 Garden Street, Eveleigh 2015
Saturday, November 19, 2011 from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM

From their website:

“If you work for government – or with government – whether federal, state or local, this one-day forum is for you.

GovCampNSW is about the power of ideas and conversation. It aspires to build upon the gov-tech / 2.0 focus and look beyond to shaping innovation in government in NSW.

This GovCamp “unconference” is simply a space to open up the public sphere conversation – to create a comfortable place where new thinking becomes possible and enables new outcomes. There are no long presentations and the topics are yours – you get to create the agenda.

So this GovCamp is about how government works, as well as how it works for citizens. It’s about the pressures of needing to do better government with less; about meeting growing public needs and expectations within an increasingly transparent and stretched public space.

Discussion will include:

Cultural change leading to open government.
Social technologies and service delivery.
Policy 2.0: Why do apps have all the fun? “

http://govcampnsw.eventbrite.com/

WCC Media Release
Community Summit sets vision

30/10/2011

From the mountains to the sea, we value and protect our natural environment and will be leaders in building an educated, creative and connected community.

More than 200 community members have spent the weekend at the Wollongong Town Hall, working with councillors and council staff to develop a collective vision [see above] that will guide a 10-year plan for Wollongong City.

The summit forms part of Wollongong 2022, a project that will establish the city’s priorities for the coming years and help plan for spending on key projects and services.

Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery OAM said the summit was just one part of the significant community engagement exercise being undertaken for Wollongong 2022.

“We’ve had over 150 community members, leaders from various perspectives, councillors and council staff come together over the weekend to help set a vision for the city,” Cr Bradbery said.

“The Community Summit is the culmination of a great amount of work that has seen hundreds of people contribute their ideas over many months through surveys, competitions, kiosks and social media.”

Following the summit, input from the community will be used to develop the 10-year Community Strategic Plan. The plan will be supported by a number of other documents which will replace the current management plan process. Council will be accountable to the Community Strategic Plan and will be required to report on its progress at the end of each term, against determined benchmarks.

The Wollongong 2022 plans follow changes made to the NSW Local Government Act as part of the Integrated Planning and Reporting legislation. It sees councils across the state take a consistent approach to planning for their communities and better enables councils to push for State and Federal funding for key projects.

Cr Bradbery said that the contributions made at the summit would be critical to the Wollongong Community Strategic Plan and shape what the city will look like in 10 years time. “Over the past few months the community has shared their ideas and discussed both the opportunities and challenges facing Wollongong. It’s exciting to see this culminate with such a diverse group of individuals coming together this weekend and collaborating on a plan for Wollongong.”

In the coming months, Council will hold a number of ‘refining workshops’ to review the high-level vision and add more detailed objectives. Representatives from the community will be asked to contribute prior to the plans being drafted and presented to council mid next year for endorsement.

WCC Media Release
Council welcomes NBN announcement

18/10/2011

Wollongong City Council has welcomed an announcement by the Prime Minister Julia Gillard confirming the initial roll out of the National Broadband Network in Wollongong city over the next 12 months.

Several thousand premises in Wollongong and Dapto will be connected at first, with more detailed plans to be released over coming months. Infrastructure built as part of the initial phase will support later expansion of high-speed broadband across the city. The network will see connection speeds up to 100 times faster than existing internet connections.

Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery OAM said the network would bring significant benefits to households, businesses and the community.

“Council welcomes today’s announcement that the National Broadband Network will soon be connected to homes and businesses in Wollongong and Dapto,” Cr Bradbery said.

“This paves the way for the city to benefit from high-speed broadband. The roll out of the NBN will provide new opportunities in areas like commerce, health and education.”

“The NBN will also allow Council to provide better communication and e-government tools for the people of the city. The roll out of the NBN will support the expansion of e-government services by using new technologies allowing Council to connect with the community.”

Cr Bradbery said the inclusion of Wollongong would also increase opportunities for graduates.

“The NBN will encourage growth in the region’s technology sector. It will provide opportunities for the University of Wollongong’s Information Technology graduates as well as local business.”

Issued By the Council’s Media Team

Local Government Association of NSW Annual Conference 2011

Shoalhaven City Council

Sunday 23 to Wednesday 26 October 2011

http://www.lgsa-plus.net.au/www/html/3721-motions-and-business-papers.asp

Check out the business paper with motions to conference – are your key concerns being raised? Mine aren’t.

From WCC Advertiser pages:

“Wollongong 2022

Council is inviting the community to work with us to develop a vision for our city. Wollongong 2022: Community Strategic Plan will set out the community’s vision and guide the work of Council for the next 10 years and beyond.

How can you be involved in this process? Attend the Town Hall Talk on 19 October or register to attend the Community Summit

• Topic: Our Future, Our Community and Leadership

Venue: Wollongong Town Hall“

The NSW Government has given us an invitation:

“Put yourself in the picture
A fresh start for planning in NSW”

As NSW residents, we all care about planning decisions which protect or strengthen the regions, communities and streets in which we live. These decisions have a profound influence on where we work, live, play and shop.”

Source http://planningreview.nsw.gov.au/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=5lhD7symyEc%3d&tabid=94

In my experience, the NSW government review of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act and the associated planning system is likely to be dominated by professionals who are often not engaged in the local matters where they actually live.

In addition, some (many?) work with abstract models which are based on 20th century certainties which no longer hold.

Their planning concerns are often conceived of in an entirely abstract way which does not accurately represent the down-to-earth and well founded views of local people in local communities.

Similarly, the move to “independent” planning assessment bodies – dominated by “professionals” – results in a soulless approach to planning matters. Something vital is missing from the mix – us!

Well, the present Liberal Government has invited us to put ourselves in the picture. Let’s do it.

The earlier Community Reform Agenda used on reformwcc.info was conceived of when the ALP Government was making full use of its Section 3A powers to decide on projects of state significance.

That version of a Community Reform Agenda said:

“13. Change the Local Government Act (and Planning Act) to require all major projects of state significance to be issued with a “statement of community consent” from the relevant Precinct Committee as a prior and necessary condition for the NSW Planning Minister to grant development consent (such statement of community consent not to be unreasonably withheld – with a test of ‘reason’ in contested cases being determined by a popular vote within the area of the Precinct Committee).” (http://reformwcc.info/community-reform-agenda-2007)

Well, 3A is now out, but what will replace it? I am not sure where the present planning review is heading, but I would be very much surprised if any of the professional submissions are working along similar lines of genuine community empowerment and engagement in the planning process.

Real thought needs to be given to how the Planning Review is shaping up and what community empowerment and community engagement options it is considering to enable a workable balance between all factors (economic, social, environmental) in the planning, implementation and approvals process.

A key design concern has to be with process. Getting the process right for systematic community engagement in decision-making is the key for putting our communities in the best possible position for dealing with the rapidly emerging global changes.

A new model of local Council as a form of organisation is required – one which brings community voices into the decision-making process (in a democratic, open and accountable manner).

As the loss of jobs at the Port Kembla steel works demonstrates most graphically, these global changes are impacting locally here as elsewhere. It is already happening – but where is the action to move towards genuine community empowerment in this spring of 2011?

The WCC Council election is just the first step in this process. Now for putting some spring into the next steps towards some real community-based reforms.

For those of us who could not attend last night, it will be interesting to read what Community Forum notes result from the NSW Planning Review Wollongong Community Forum when they are posted (10 days after the forum).

And then for motivated and concerned people to work out what needs to be done by way of collective action.

See http://planningreview.nsw.gov.au/Consultation/CommunityForumNotes/tabid/95/Default.aspx