ENGAGING with the community and creating opportunities for the community to have a say in council decision-making has become a vital part of the operations of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council.
A review of the engagement practices used late last year to develop the 2013-’17 Delivery Program and the 2013-’14 Operational Plan has been launched this week in an effort to refine and improve the community’s participation in this process.
Legislation related to the Integrated Planning and Reporting framework requires council to demonstrate how the community is involved in the development of the key corporate planning documents.
The program carried out from October 2012 through to the exhibition of the documents in May 2013 was branded ‘Hastings Horizons’ and encouraged the community to provide their feedback on what they saw as important activities to be on council’s horizon.
The data obtained from these engagement activities was used to develop a series of planning documents including the 2013-’17 Delivery Program and the 2013-’14 Operational Plan.
Juliet van Oirschot, the acting director of community and organisational development said the review aimed to seek feedback from people who took the opportunity to have a say during the Hastings Horizons program, but also those who didn’t know they could make comment.
“In developing the integrated planning and reporting documents the community was invited to participate in a telephone survey, community workshops, online discussions and voting exercises, market displays and presentations to community groups and information sessions,” Mrs van Oirschot said.
“This review aims to get feedback from people who were involved in any of those activities but also from the people we didn’t reach to learn how they would like to be involved in the future.”
Members of the community interested in providing feedback can complete a short online survey at council’s engagement website www.pmhclistening.com.au/IPRfeedback or complete hard copies of the survey at any council office.
The survey closes on Friday 6 September with the responses being collated into a report to council on improving engagement related to the planning process.
“Feedback from the community is really important to allow council to review community engagement in relation to the integrated planning documents and structure future activities to meet the community’s needs,” Mrs van Oirschot said.
