CORPORATE PLAN 2023 - 2028 · Corporate Plan Report

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social and economic needs of Noosa into the future and incorporates supporting strategies and plans
such as the Noosa Environment Strategy and Economic Development Strategy.

The Key elements of the new Plan are:

   A. The Plan was developed through consultation with our community and stakeholders, elected
      members and employees.
   B. The Noosa Council Mission which reaffirms our point of difference and our aspirations “Noosa
      Council – Different by Nature” underpinned by our refreshed sustainability principles and
      values.
   C. The Plan identifies the 5 priority Themes, key objectives and actions.
          •   Environment – conservation and management of our natural and built environments
          •   Liveability – an accessible and inclusive community
          •   Prosperity – robust, diverse, and resilient economy
          •   Future – sustainability, ensuring our community ad place is prepared and resilient for
              change
          •   Excellence – customer experience, financial sustainability, and service delivery.
   D. Each Theme is supported by statements of council’s commitment, supporting strategies and
      plans and performance measures.
   E. The roles and functions to deliver services to our community and working to achieve the
      objectives and outcomes in the Plan.
   F. The community’s contribution – recognising the significant contributions made by the
      community and our partners to successfully deliver the plan and achieve a sustainable future
      for Noosa.


The new Corporate Plan 2023-2028 builds on the previous Corporate Plan 2017-2037 (updated in
2018) and addresses the expectations of our community in the following ways:
   •   An increased level of consultation and engagement with our community in the development
       of the Plan.
   •   A risk analysis to identify events that may affect the achievement of the Corporate Plan and
       to assist in understanding of the risk and how it might impact the corporate plan. Seven key
       risks were identified, these risks and actions to mitigate them will be managed in accordance
       with Council’s Enterprise Risk and Opportunity Management Policy and Framework.
           1. Workforce management - workforce shortages
           2. Occupational health and safety – Impacts on community and staff health: pandemics
              and communicable diseases
           3. Legislative changes – potential changes to legislation impacting projects and services
           4. Financial – Reduction in grant and project funding available for projects
           5. Disaster Management – Natural disaster and emergency management as a result of
              bushfires, floods and storms
           6. Environment – environmental disaster
           7. Infrastructure – loss of data through cyber security breaches and digital systems
              disruption.
   •   An enhanced design, layout and structure to a more contemporary style and aligned to best-
       in-class standards evident across comparable organisations.

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    •   A strengthened focus on our sustainability including protecting and enhancing our
        environment and ecological sustainable development, Noosa’s livability, economic prosperity
        through diversification and smart technologies, placed based approaches to community
        needs and planning, destination management, climate change, financial sustainability and
        the responsible management of our assets for the future.
    •   Strengthening the Plan and associated documents through articulation of the Mission and
        values and long-term plans, the inclusion of “Welcome to Country” to provide a specific
        regional welcome through consultation with the Kabi Kabi people which Is appropriate and
        respectful,
    •   Consideration was given to the resources required to successfully deliver the Plan to advance
        this further detail will be undertaken with the inclusion of the development of a long Council
        Capability Plan incorporating a broad Workforce and Human Resource Management Plan,
        an Information and Communication Technology Plan, and the Council Capability Financial
        Plan. The development of the Capability Plan is a priority for the first year of the Corporate
        Plan and will ensure that the organization’s planning, finances, and delivery are aligned to
        provide the business capabilities that will deliver strategic success and Council’s vision.
    •   While key performance measures are identified in each of the Themes of the new Plan, other
        supporting performance measures have been identified which will be further refined and
        reported to Council through the Annual Report and Operational Plan progress reports. The
        development of a Performance Management Framework (an initiative in the Plan) will provide
        a consistent approach for systematically collecting, analyzing, and utilising data and tracking
        progress in the achievement of the Plan’s objectives and to monitor the results and efficiency
        of council programs
    •   Recommendations were also made by the Consultant in the corporate planning process in
        relation to a suitable corporate performance reporting system to assist us in managing and
        reporting information as well as increasing transparency and accountability. The
        development of the Framework and evaluation of a new system have been identified as
        initiatives in the new Corporate Plan and will be priorities in the first year.
    •   The development of the Corporate Plan was supported by a Community Engagement &
        Consultation process.
    •   The development of the priorities and themes for the plan were informed by a consultation
        survey.
    •   Advertising and community messaging were utilised to alert the community to the survey and
        as well as a series of the face-to-face consultation sessions.
The survey was hosted on Council’s site Your Say Noosa with links to the survey mentioned in the
advertising and community messaging, and on Council’s website, LinkedIn, and Facebook pages.

To enable all of the community to participate in consultation, 15 face-to-face consultation sessions
were organised and held across the Shire. Sessions were designed to be 1.5 – 2 hours in length and
incorporated:


•   Presentations to set the scene and provide purpose.
•   Information about the draft themes and direction of the draft new Corporate Plan.
•   Processes to enable all attendees to contribute to the direction and Content of the new Corporate
    Plan.
•   Question and answer opportunities.

Consultation Findings

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The consultation survey was open for 3 weeks in October 2023. 1042 responses were received.

10% of respondents lived outside Noosa Shire, 60% live in urban Noosa Shire, and the remaining
30% live in rural or hinterland areas of the Shire.

Other key demographic findings from the survey include:-
   o   Gender - 61% female, 37% male and 2% prefer not to say
   o   Age - 36% 61 years+, 35% 46-60 years, 21% 31-45 years, 7% 18-30 years, 1% under 18
       years Just over a third of the survey respondents fell in both the 46-60 age bracket and the
       61+ age bracket. 30% of participants were aged 30 years and under.
   o   Length of residence - 60% 10+ years, 16% 6-9 years, 14% 3-5 years, 10% up to and
       including 2 years.
   o   Employment Status – 65% employed, 29% non-worker or retired, 3% stay-at-home parent,
       guardian or carer, 3% not employed

The responses to the survey were used to determine the focus, priorities and direction of the new
corporate plan. A key question in the survey was “In creating the new Corporate Plan, Noosa Council
should focus on?”. Participants were asked to only choose five from the list of fifteen potential options
to identify the highest priority issues.

The results of the question are depicted in the Figure below. Traffic management and transport, and
the natural environment were the highest rated focus areas by a clear margin. The third and fourth
priorities were a focus on environmental sustainability and the improvement of facilities.




Survey Responses to “In creating the new Corporate Plan, Noosa Council should focus on?

Consultation Qualitative Data
The survey offered three opportunities for respondents to reply to items with open text. The three
questions were:
   ▪   Item 7 - Are there other issues you consider Noosa Council should focus on in the new Plan?
   ▪   Item 8 – In the new Corporate Plan, Council is considering 5 themes - Noosa Life, Noosa
       Future, Noosa Prosperity, Noosa Environment, and Noosa Excellence. Are there other
       themes that should be considered?
   ▪   Item 26 - What else is important to you for Noosa Shire in the next 5 years?

A summary of the key themes, includes:

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•   Housing Crisis – more affordable and social housing to accommodate low income workers
    servicing the community, youth, and those on pensions. There was a strong desire to reduce
    short term accommodation from residential zoned areas.
•   Kin Kin Quarry – prominent community issue affecting hinterland residents and businesses and
    creating serious safety concerns.
•   Roads & Traffic – address quality of roads and traffic black spots outside main tourist areas used
    by residents.
•   Improve transportation – convert public transport to electric and extend it beyond major tourist
    areas.
•   Improve services and facilities – particular focus on parks (for children and teens), cycle and
    walking paths, and accessibility.
•   Climate change and the environment – many comments on commitments to reach net zero
    emissions by 2026 and to conserve and celebrate Noosa’s natural beauty.
•   Hinterland inclusivity – responses focused on the need to ensure the hinterland area and
    communities are a priority

Additional commentary included:
o   Increased focus on engaging with the youth, especially those at school, to ensure their vision for
    Noosa Shire is captured, to implement contemporary communication for youth, and encourage
    their ongoing engagement.
o   Implement post adoption of the new Corporate Plan, a marketing and communication strategy
    to focus on Council’s achievements with regular communication regarding Council’s current
    priorities.
A significant response was received by the community via the survey this informed the development
of the Draft Corporate Plan. The Draft Plan was then made available for further input via Your Say
Noosa from from March 10 – March 26 2023 a total of 37 responses were received on the Draft
Corporate Plan. A review of all submissions has occurred and some changes have been made to
the Corporate Plan as a result.

The following summarises the key issues and themes from the second round of feedback;

    •   The importance of protecting the amenity of Noosa and preserving the rich natural
        environment
    •   Some questions around Performance measures in the document and some commentary on
        can Council resource the plan?.
    •   The need to address the impacts of tourism and how it is managed in the longer term,
        including reference to STAs.
    •   Some format, structure and other minor suggestion changes.




Previous Council Consideration

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Ordinary Meeting Minutes 19 January 2017, Item 13, Page 22
That Council note the report by the Chief Executive Officer to the General Committee Meeting dated
16 January 2017 and:
   A. Adopt the Corporate Plan 2017 to 2037 provided at Attachment 1 to the report;
   B. Use the new Corporate Plan to inform the development of the 2017/18 Operational Plan and
      Budget;
   C. Request the CEO to provide feedback and thanks to those who provided comment on the
      draft Corporate Plan; and
   D. Authorise the CEO to make any minor grammatical and format changes to the Corporate
      Plan if required including a change to page 5 to replace the words “the population cap” with
      “a population carrying capacity”.

Ordinary Meeting Minutes, 20 September 2018, Item 2, Page 9
That Council note the report by the Director Executive Services to the Services and Organisation
Committee meeting dated 11 September 2018 and:
   A. Adopt the Noosa Council Corporate Plan 2017 to 2037, June 2018 Update, provided at
      Attachment 1 to the report with the following minor change to Key Focus Area No. 5, under
      Theme 2: “plan and build an iconic all abilities playground at Cooroy” and
   B. Authorise the CEO to make any necessary grammatical and format changes to the Corporate
      Plan, if required.




Finance
The process to develop the Corporate Plan was budgeted for in the 2022/2023 budget including the
consultation process and document design.

The Corporate Plan will now inform the development of the annual operational plan and budget.
Risk & Opportunities
   •   In the development of the new Corporate Plan 2023-2028 a risk analysis was undertaken to
       determine potential risks which if realised could disrupt or prevent Noosa Council from
       achieving its Corporate Plan objectives.
   •   The risk analysis process develops an understanding of the risk and how it may impact the
       corporate plan. The proposed level of risk is expressed in terms of the consequence and
       likelihood of the risk occurring. Specifically, consequence considers what could happen if the
       risk were realised while likelihood considers the probability of the occurrence.
   •   The risk assessment was undertaken in accordance with Council’s Risk and Opportunity
       Management Framework and Policy. Seven key strategic risks were identified that may arise
       as high or extreme risks to the implementation of the Corporate Plan as identified in below
       table. These risks have been incorporated in Council’s Strategic Risk Register where
       responsibility for risk mitigation strategies/treatment actions has been assigned. In addition,
       mitigation strategies/treatment, treatment actions have been incorporated in the development
       of objectives within the Themes of the Corporate Plan.

The following table summarises the 7 strategic risks identified in the development of the new
Corporate Plan.

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Strategic Risk      Risk Rating         Key Mitigation Actions
Category
People and          Extreme             Workforce Plan.
Culture -
Workforce
Management
Health and Safety Extreme               Health and Safety Plan/Strategy. Mental Health First
-Occupational                           Aid.
Health and                              Workforce Planning/Contingency Planning. Business
Safety                                  Continuity Plans.
Health and          Extreme             Business Continuity Plans.
Safety- Disaster                        Council Disaster Management and Recovery Plans.
Management
Legal and           High                Planning Reviews.
Compliance-                             Advocacy strategies with Government.
Legislative
Change
Financial           High                Long term Financial Management Planning.
Management                              Loan Funding Options/Alternative Revenue Sources.

Environment         High                Environment Strategy.
                                        Climate Response Plan.
                                        Disaster Management and Recovery Plans.

Cyber Security-     High                Cyber Security Plans.
Infrastructure                          Technology Review and Systems Upgrades.


Consultation
External Consultation - Community & Stakeholder
As outlined above two phases on community engagement was undertaken to inform the
development and finalisation of the Corporate Plan.
Internal Consultation
Departments/Sections Consulted:

 x   Mayor                         Community Services                          Corporate Services

x    Councillors               x   Director                                x   Director

                               x   Community Development                   x   Financial Services

 x   Chief Executive Officer   x   Community Facilities                    x   Fleet

x    Executive Support         x   Libraries & Galleries                   x   ICT

                               x   Local Laws                              x   Procurement

                               x   Waste & Environmental Health            x   Property

                                                                           x   Revenue Services



     Executive Services            Environment & Sustainable Development       Infrastructure Services

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x    Director               x   Director                       x   Director

x    Community Engagement   x   Building & Plumbing Services   x   Asset Management

 x   Customer Service       x   Development Assessment         x   Buildings and Facilities

x    Governance             x   Economic Development           x   Civil Operations

x    People and Culture     x   Environmental Services         x   Disaster Management

                            x   Strategic Land Use Planning    x   Infrastructure Planning,
                                                                   Design and Delivery