Strategies and Plans

The Wingecarribee Shire EMPLAN (Emergency Management Plan) details the arrangements for, prevention of, preparation for, response to and recovery from emergencies within our Local Government Area. 

The Wingecarribee Shire Council Local Emergency Management Committee (LEMC) will review this Plan every three (3) years, or following any:

• Activation of the Plan in response to an emergency;
• Legislative changes affecting the Plan; and
• Exercises conducted to test all or part of the Plan

Restricted operational information, including the Consequence Management Guides contained in the plan have been deleted from the online version and are not for general circulation. 

The Arts and Culture Strategic Plan for the Wingecarribee Shire, Southern Highlands Inspired!, represents the vision, aspirations, goals, priorities and challenges for our community in regards to arts and culture. 

The Delivery Program details the shorter term actions, responsibilities, time frames and resourcing to start delivering the Southern Highlands Inspired! goals and strategies.

The aim of Southern Highlands Inspired! in relation to arts and culture, is to:

• Outline a vision for the future
• Provide clearly expressed principles to guide decision making
• Describe realistic and sustainable goals
• Reflect and extend community aspirations
• Foster a love of and interest in arts and culture
• Establish the Southern Highlands as a place which supports great art and the strengthening of artistic and cultural practices
• Celebrate and use the existing assets of the region
• Enlist arts and culture to define the region
• Utilise arts and culture to engage community
• Develop a mechanism for including arts and cultural aspects into broader community decision-making

The plan identifies four key community safety issues for the community and details how Council will work with relevant stakeholders to respond to and enhance community safety in the Wingecarribee Shire.

The Community Strategic Plan is a key component of the NSW Integrated Planning and Reporting Framework. The Plan is supported by:

• A 10 year Resourcing Strategy
• A Delivery Program
• An annual Operational Plan and Budget

Working together, these plans help us to progress achievement of the vision and goals in our Community Strategic Plan: Wingecarribee 2041.

Wingecarribee Shire is continuing to move forward. In recent years bushfire, multiple severe storms, flooding events and COVID-19 have had a compounding effect on the community and economy. The border closures and the impact of other global economic influences have been acutely felt through our Shire. Low rate peg increases, increasing inflation and escalations in costs have also had an impact on the sustainability of local councils.

Further, the projected growth of our Shire requires significant Infrastructure investment to ensure asset capacity and that the values held by the community are retained and enhanced. Our focus is to add value to our local economy, provide the infrastructure and services that our communities need and want; and preserve and capitalise on our natural assets.

To do this we need all spheres of government to stand together and invest in a sustainable future for the Wingecarribee Shire.

This document sets out our priorities for 2023 to assist in positioning Wingecarribee for the future and ensure we have the infrastructure and services available for our community now and into the future and support the vision of the Community Strategic Plan.

Council aims to deliver programs and services with a strong customer experience focus. Our staff are committed to being open, honest, fair, and accountable in all our dealings with Customers and strive to provide timely, efficient, and consistent services.

Our Customer Experience Standards and Charter outline guidelines and service level agreements we will use to deliver professional, reliable, and consistent customer experiences that meet your expectations.

The Integrated Water Cycle Management (IWCM) Strategy addresses two elements of the Best-Practice Management of the Water Supply and Sewerage Framework. It is a local water utility's 30-year strategy for the provision of appropriate, affordable, cost-effective and sustainable urban water services that meet community needs and protect public health and the environment. 

Preparation of the IWCM Strategy enables Council to comply with the NSW Government's Best-Practice Management of the Water Supply and Sewerage Framework. 

The development of Council's IWCM has followed the DI Water methodology outlined in the IWCM Strategy Check List (July 2014). 

Completed Studies

The following studies have been completed to date.

• IWCM Issues Paper - identifying the IWCM issues
• IWCM Options Review Paper - assessing the options to address the issues
• IWCM Scenarios - evaluating the IWCM Scenarios 

The Community and Recreational Facilities Strategy (CRFS) is a 20 year strategic document developed to guide and inform Council and the Community to plan, fund and deliver formal community and recreation facilities across the Shire. The strategy is not intended to be definitive plan for implementation, it recognises the need for more detailed analysis and engagement with the community on specific elements, closer to the time of delivery, and in alignment with funding availability.

The CRFS was adopted at Ordinary Council Meeting 18 October 2023.

The Communications Strategy has been written in conjunction with the Wingecarribee Shire Council Community Engagement Strategy 2014.

The development of the Canberra Region Economic Development Strategy (CREDS) is a key priority in the ACT-NSW Memorandum of Understanding on Regional Collaboration signed by the ACT and NSW Governments in June 2020, and the CRJO Statement of Strategic Priorities signed in 2019.

The aim is to define a coordinated approach to activate critical economic development opportunities and realise the full potential of industry, employment and growth across the Canberra region.

This objective has evolved into the Canberra Region Economic Development Strategy – A Prospectus for Collaboration that identifies common pillars for economic development. It reinforces our shared commitment to work together to further develop an economically prosperous region that provides a high quality of life and is resilient, accessible and environmentally sustainable.