Plans and strategies

Residents of the Mid-Western Region are living in a modern and growing local government area committed to continuous improvement.

Mid-Western Regional Council is continuously working to engage our community in a diverse range of methods to reach all stakeholders so that our community have input to the decision making processes shaping our local government area.

The development of the Community Engagement Strategy 2022 – 2026 is based on social justice principles, for engagement with the local community when developing plans, determining and prioritising key activities and gathering feedback on services delivered by Council.

Summary

This Community Land Plan of Management (CLPoM) applies to the majority of land that is owned by Mid-Western Regional Council (Council) and Crown land that Council manages on behalf of the State of New SouthWales. The land is classified as community land.

A Plan of Management (PoM) is required to be prepared for public land which is owned and/or managed by a Council and classified as community land under the Local Government Act 1993 (LGA). A PoM on community land is a document that provides for and directs the use and management of that land. It describes the current purposes and uses of the community lands and their values, assigns them to one or more categories and sets out objectives and performance targets for active land management and use.

This CLPoM is a generic plan which covers land parcels across the Mid-Western Regional Local Government Area in the Central Tablelands of NSW. These lands are categorised as Park, Sportsground, General Community Use and Natural Area - Bushland. The land covered by this plan was included in this plan because the generic management objectives and actions outlined in this plan are applicable to that land.

This CLPoM gives express authorisation for Council to grant leases, licences, hire arrangements or other estates as required for use of the land and/or facilities/buildings on the land, for purposes consistent with the core objectives for the category of that land. It also specifies the provisions whereby Council can carry out certain types of developments, and building works on community land, being either exempt development, or developments not requiring consent.

The vision for this CLPoM for community land is:

“great open space, sporting, social and leisure facilities for a prosperous and progressive community”.

A Community Participation Plan (CPP) is intended to make it easier for the community to understand how to participate in planning matters in NSW. The requirement to prepare a CPP applies to all relevant planning authorities under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act).

A CPP sets out how and when planning authorities will engage with its community on the planning functions it performs. The CPP must also set out the minimum public exhibition timeframes relevant to the planning authority that are provided in Schedule 1 to the EP&A Act.

The priorities in the Companion Animals Work Plan are;

Priority 1: Public Education Programme & Promoting Responsible Pet Ownership

Priority 2: Public Safety, Dangerous Dogs and Restricted Breeds

Priority 3: Registration and Identification

Priority 4: Nuisance Animals and Excessive Barking Dogs

Priority 5: Impounding and Rehoming of Companion Animals

Priority 6: Animal Welfare

Priority 7: Management of Feral and Infant Animals

Priority 8: Cat Management

Priority 9: Off Leash Dog Areas & Importance of Effective Control

Mid-Western Regional Council has undertaken a comprehensive strategic planning project called the Mid-Western Regional Draft Comprehensive Land Use Strategy that will provide clear direction and guide future change in the area for the next 15 to 20 years.

Work commenced on the project at the end of January 2007 and was prepared by a team of planning specialists from Parsons Brinckerhoff and Hassall & Associates in conjunction with members of the public, Council and the NSW Department of Planning. The project is funded by the Department of Planning and Mid-Western Regional Council.

MORE INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTS 

Objectives

Land at the Park under this PoM is categorised as Natural Area - Bushland and General Community Use. 

Natural Area - Bushland

The core objectives for management of community land categorised as a Natural Area are:

• to conserve biodiversity and maintain ecosystem function in respect of the land, or the feature or habitat in respect of which the land is categorised as a natural area, and
• to maintain the land, or that feature or habitat, in its natural state and setting, and
• to provide for the restoration and regeneration of the land, and
• to provide for community use of and access to the land in such a manner as will minimise and mitigate any disturbance caused by human intrusion, and
• to assist in and facilitate the implementation of any provisions restricting the use and management of the land that are set out in a Recovery Plan or Threat Abatement Plan prepared under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 or the Fisheries Management Act 1994.

The core objectives for management of community land further categorised as Bushland are:

• to ensure the ongoing ecological viability of the land by protecting the ecological biodiversity and habitat values of the land, the flora and fauna (including invertebrates, fungi and micro-organisms) of the land and other ecological values of the land, and
• to protect the aesthetic, heritage, recreational, educational and scientific values of the land, and
• to promote the management of the land in a manner that protects and enhances the values and quality of the land and facilitates public enjoyment of the land, and to implement measures directed to minimising or mitigating any disturbance caused by human intrusion, and
• to restore degraded bushland, and
• to protect existing landforms such as natural drainage lines, watercourses and foreshores, and
• to retain bushland in parcels of a size and configuration that will enable the existing plant and animal communities to survive in the long term, and
• to protect bushland as a natural stabiliser of the soil surface.

General Community Use

Relevant Core Objectives for management of community land categorised as General Community Use are to promote, encourage and provide for the use of the land, and to provide facilities on the land, to meet the current and future needs of the local community and of the wider public:

• in relation to public recreation and the physical, cultural, social and intellectual welfare or development of individual members of the public, and
• in relation to purposes for which a lease, licence or other estate may be granted in respect of the land (other than the provision of public utilities and works associated with or ancillary to public utilities).

The Delivery Program details all of the principal activities Council will undertake over the next four years to achieve the goals established in the Community Plan. The Operational Plan and sets out annual projects and activities budgets.