Be careful what you ask for ...

The opportunity to contribute ideas to the Community Strategic Plan has now closed. This article from November 2017 2018 describes earlier progress in the CSP conversation.

21 November 2017

The last time Orange City Council staged a community-wide conversation about the city’s future, a call for better water security topped the priority-list.

Now, six years later, the dam wall of Suma Park has been raised, the Macquarie Pipeline has been built and Orange’s award-winning stormwater harvesting schemes are providing more water than ever before.

Six years after the 2011-2012 conversation, the council is set to begin another wide-ranging community consultation and Mayor Reg Kidd is urging as many people as possible to have their say.

“Orange City Council wants to find out what the Orange community’s main priorities are, and what locals want to see happening in the future, “ Cr Reg Kidd said.

“We’ll put those priorities into a blue-print plan that will let the council keep its work on-track with what the community expects to happen.”

This blue-print is called a‘Community Strategic Plan’ (CSP).

The CSP describes the ‘high-level’ directions the community wants to explore, and then sets topic-area objectives and individual strategies for the incoming council (and future councils)to work towards over the next ten years.

Orange City Council arranged its first CSP planning conversation in 2011-2012, and the consultation which will begin later this month will be the 2^nd time a plan has been developed.

“People can raise whatever questions they want about the sort of community they want to live in,” Mayor Reg Kidd said, “but some ideas will be more able to be delivered by the local council than others.”

“Last time there was also a clear call from the people of Orange for ‘Improved medical facilities and services’ to build on the work of the new hospital that had just opened.

“While health is largely up to the NSW Government to deliver, local councils can play a behind the scenes role. However it happened, six years later the plan for a new private hospital is making progress and a proposed new planning agreement for the project is up for comment.”

“The community’s needs and wants will change over time, and so it’s important they speak up again to talk together now about what’s they want to see happen.”

TWO PHASES: