Planning for Sustainability in NSW Local Government

Main Article Content

Jade Herriman
Emma Partridge
Mick Paddon

Abstract

Local councils in the state of New South Wales (NSW) in Australia are starting to give serious consideration to how they can include ‘sustainability’ in their planning for the future. There is no statutory requirement to create a sustainability plan – and therefore no standard definition of what constitutes such a plan for local government in NSW. The same is true of the term ‘sustainability’, for which there is no standard or legislative definition. However, the NSW state division of Local Government Managers Australia (LGMA - a professional organization for council managers) has recently released a ‘Sustainability Health Check’ as a resource to assist councils in assessing their current performance and devising appropriate strategies and action plans for sustainability. In addition, several individual councils have used the opportunity provided by the state government’s Urban Sustainability Program to make a first attempt at developing a sustainability plan.

Article Details

How to Cite
Herriman, J., Partridge, E., & Paddon, M. (2008). Planning for Sustainability in NSW Local Government. Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance, (1), 157-165. https://doi.org/10.5130/cjlg.v1i0.765
Section
Policy and Practice
Author Biographies

Jade Herriman, Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS Sydney

Jade Herriman is Senior Research Consultant with ISF and has experience in sustainability research and project management within NSW local government.

Emma Partridge, Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS Sydney

Emma Partridge is a Research Principal with ISF. Her work focuses on the social dimensions of sustainability, the interrelationship between environmental issues and social and cultural issues.

Mick Paddon, Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS Sydney

Mick Paddon is a Research Director with ISF and has has particular expertise in local government and innovative approaches to strategic, integrated and sustainable development and the economic, social and political impacts of organisational change focussing on the public sector and public services and utilities.