Scope of the Activity

This “Community” Principal Activity area covers transport, recreation, education, cultural development, health and amenity, public safety and the maintenance, replacement and provision of a range of community assets.

Strategic issues

Transport is a major issue for Shoalhaven both economically and socially. Improvements to transport links with Sydney and Canberra will encourage investment and employment to the area. Our large area, dispersed settlement pattern and lack of comprehensive public transport means that we currently have to rely heavily on private transport to meet internal transport needs. However, many of our residents do not have their own transport.

Over the past 15 – 20 years Shoalhaven has had one of the consistently highest population growth rates in NSW. This coupled with the issues mentioned, places strong demands on Council to meet the community needs of a growing population, where its income base in pro rata terms is not big. Council manages over a billion dollars worth of community assets such as roads, bridges, drainage, which also places demands on limited funds for maintenance and repair.

Proposed Responses

Council cannot address these issues alone and works closely with other governments and agencies on issues. Council is developing or reviewing a number of strategies to better address the issues. This entails a significant workload in managing community assets.  Council has recently adopted a strategy of purchaser/provider split of responsibilities for such work to ensure a high level of infrastructure planning and efficient service provision.

The tasks to address these issues are outlined in the following pages.

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