Biodiversity Strategy - Gosford City Council - NSW Government

A - 2.4
Discussion of Comparable Plans and Strategies - NSW and elsewhere
Development of this strategy has included a review of comparable plans and strategies, both in
Australia and abroad, to ensure that Council draws on relevant experience and develops a plan
that is in keeping with contemporary practice (see Table 2.2).
Many councils in NSW and elsewhere have prepared biodiversity plans (such as Penrith,
Camden and Parramatta) or have in place, or are in the process of developing, biodiversity
strategies (including Port Stephens and Newcastle Councils). In a national survey of local
governments (Australian Local Government Association 2005) over 65% of respondents (or 55
councils Australia wide) reported that they had a biodiversity strategy and that it was being
implemented. Overseas examples include the Mayors'Biodiversity Strategy for London
(www.blacklondon.org.uk/gla/biodiversity), Scotland's Biodiversity: Its in Your Hands (ref) and
the United Kingdom Biodiversity by Design - A guide for Sustainable Communities (URBED
2004), the latter seeking to integrate town planning with biodiversity conservation. Most provide
broad principles, objectives and a range of actions for local government. There is also a growing
number of councils that have incorporated biodiversity conservation into comprehensive local
environment plans (such as Pittwater, Sutherland and Lake Macquarie Councils). Others have
foc used on vegetation management (such as Coffs Harbour) as a means of achieving broader
conservation outcomes.
Lessons learnt from this review are:
• Planning controls are a critical tool for councils to implement biodiversity
conservation. Mostcomprehensive plans included development of new zonings or
refinements to existing conservation zones.
• Many councils utilised some form of decision tree or matrix to determine the most
significant or environmentally sensitive lands that required protection.
• Most plans presented a range of mechanisms to achieve biodiversity outcomes
including financial and non financial incentives, education, in house training and
external funding opportunities.
• There may be some innovative options that could be applied in Gosford LGA such
as the threatened plant arboretum proposed for Byron Shire.
• Community consultation was an important component in developing most plans,
where consultation was not part of the development of the plan it may have
contributed to lack of council support for plan.
• Most plans included an action plan, some included timeframes and partner
organisations.
A - 2.5
Stakeholders and Consultation
A critical component biodiversity management is the involvement of the community in
information gathering, consultation, decision making, initiating action and evaluation (NPWS
1999).
For these reasons, effective and meaningful community consultation is a key component of the
strategy. At the same time it is recognised that other initiatives of Council such as its Vision
2025 project and the development of a comprehensive Local Environment Plan will engage the
community at the broader level and that biodiversity outcomes will only be one of many
objectives for these major projects.
Biodiversity - Technical Report Page 48