2015-12-08 Infrastructure & Services Committee Agenda

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                              8 DECEMBER 2015


1.     THE J SERVICE REVIEW 2014

In 2014 The J underwent a service review in order to examine the use of its resources, and how
these can be fully utilised to meet the needs of the community. This comprehensive review included
the following elements:

   service activities
   service obligations
   key stakeholders
   budget information
   employee resources
   levels of service
   asset management
   benchmarking with similar venues
   options to grow the business
   SWOT analysis.

Following the service review, a Business Plan has been developed to enhance The J’s
performance over the next three to five years.
As the service review identified a need for Council to continue to subsidise The J at levels in line
with comparable performance and community venues across Australia, the aim for the Business
Plan was to identify actions and opportunities to increase Council’s return on investment. The
Business Plan looks to achieve this by providing actions that:
 increase community benefit and value
 reduce the net cost to Council.

2.     THE J BUSINESS PLAN 2015-2018

External consultants (99 Consulting) were engaged to help facilitate the Business Plan. The final
Business Plan draws on both the work done for the service review as well as previous venue
planning projects, with some additional research and analysis. The business planning process
included:
 review of documents and data
 interviews with key staff
 desktop investigation of competition and pricing factors
 a workshop with The J’s staff and management.

The development of the original Business Plan did not include consultation with the community or
users of The J. Councillors were engaged in a workshop on the plan in November 2015.

As a result of Councillors requesting at that workshop that the Business Plan more clearly articulate
The J’s core business, the number of proposed outcome domains in the plan has been reduced
from four to three, with the economic outcome domain being removed. The rationale for this is that
while events at The J contribute to the Junction’s economic life, it is not possible to easily measure
their contribution to the overall economic viability of the Junction. The revised Business Plan
recommends that The J deliver outcomes for the Noosa community across three main domains:

 Community: The J provides an accessible venue so that Noosa people of all ages can
   participate in an active, connected community.
 Cultural: The J makes possible arts activities and cultural participation and experiences for
   residents of and visitors to Noosa Shire.
 Learning: The J provides a venue for face-to-face education in Noosa.



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