FAQs

Every NSW Council has a Community Strategic Plan (CSP), as required by the Local Government Act 1993, with a planning horizon of 10+ years. Our current CSP is titled Our Future Willoughby 2032 , was adopted in 2022, and covers the 10 years through 2032.

A CSP is a council's highest level plan, and must be developed with the community to capture its vision, priorities and aspirations for the future. It considers where we want to be in 10 years time, how we will get there, and how we will know we have arrived. It guides all other strategies and plans that councils develop.

The updated Our Future Willoughby 2036 has 5 community outcomes or themes, each with aspirational statements and a list of community priorities:

• A city that is green
• A city that in connected and resilient
• A city that is liveable
• A city that is prosperous and vibrant
• A city that is effective and accountable

You can see how all our strategies and plans relate to the CSP on pages 23 and 24.

A CSP must be reviewed every 4 years following a local government election - with the next election on 14 September 2024 we are starting Stage 1 of the review a few months prior, so we can fit in the other stages.

The review will be captured in the State of our City Report 2024, which will outline our progress as well as how the CSP should be tuned to the latest community feedback. 

In the reference documents you can find out what the community told us during the last review back in 2021-22.

The review of the CSP is captured in the State of our City Report 2024. This report assessed our progress against the current CSP 2032, and considered how it should be updated after hearing from the community in the Stage One engagement (July 2024).

The report outlines:

• Council's progress against the CSP aspirations and priorities set out in Our Future Willoughby 2032
• What our community told us in Stage One about their values, challenges and priorities for the future
• Future-scoping for the next decade: the trends, challenges, opportunities and new priorities that are vital for the next CSP to address.
• Proposed changes for updating the CSP in Stage 2

Every council is required to have a Resourcing Strategy, with a 10-year horizon, to show it will support the Community Strategic Plan with well-planed finances, assets and workforce. It includes:

• Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP)
• Workforce Management Plan
• Asset Management Strategy
• Asset Management Plans

While the LTFP is revised every year, the other components are required to be reviewed at least every 4 years, following a local government election.

The Resourcing Strategy guides what Council plans to deliver over the following 4 years, in the Delivery Program and annual Operational Plan. You can see how these plans relate to each other on our Integrated Planning and Reporting webpage

Council plans every year what services and actions it will deliver for our community. It draws on the Resourcing Strategy to ensure that what we plan to do can be supported by our finances, assets and workforce.

The Delivery Program then sets out how we will address the community priorities in the CSP over the following 4 years, in line with the assets that needs maintenance and replacement, and the services we will deliver.  The annual Operational Plan is similar, but sets out the activities and actions we will do over the following year.  

You can see how these plans relate to each other on our Integrated Planning and Reporting webpage.