The Community Strategic Plan is virtually done – you may have the draft on public exhibition, or even have it ready for your Council’s formal endorsement. So now it’s time to really focus on the Delivery Program.
It’s important to remember the distinct role and purpose of the Delivery Program in a council’s suite of IP&R documents: the Delivery Program is the incoming elected council’s commitment to the community about what it will deliver during its term in office. It is an important statement demonstrating the council’s contribution toward achieving the objectives of the Community Strategic Plan within the resources available to it. It is intended to guide your council and its decision-making for the duration of the newly-elected council’s term of office.
Therefore, the Delivery Program cannot be developed in isolation. Several ingredients are needed for its development in order to achieve the requirements and intent of the IP&R framework:
- Which strategies identified in the CSP might the council have a role in delivering? This is not to say that every single thing identified in the CSP where the council could contribute will be able to be delivered during this council’s term. Further community engagement may need to occur to understand which issues are the most pressing and where the greatest needs might lie.
- What priorities and outcomes does the newly elected council want to address and achieve during its term? This is not to say that every wish on each councillor’s wish list will get a guernsey… but there should be an opportunity for each councillor to state what they hope to achieve, and then have a frank discussion with their peers to identify the priorities that are shared and the issues to be pursued by this elected council during its term. An important part of this discussion will be to furnish the councillors with information that supports their prioritisation process – is the matter even a local government responsibility? Is there work already underway (by the council or others) relating to the issue? What might the costs and other implications be if that issue is to be addressed by the council? What might have to be ‘given up’ or put on the back-burner if this issue is pursued?
- What resources are available to the council that will enable it to decide what will be achievable during this council term? This means the Resourcing Strategy will need to be prepared in tandem with the Delivery Program, so before commitments are finalised in the Delivery Program it is clear they are able to be resourced (not just financially, but in terms of staffing and time as well).
Of course, your council’s current Delivery Program (adopted by the previous council) may well include activities that carry over to the new Delivery Program. Considering all of the council’s functions as the basis of its principal activities will help to ensure that all of the council’s operations are captured in the Delivery Program. This is sometimes referred to as BAU (business as usual), but these core activities will always take up most of a council’s time and utilise most of its resources, so they should be properly articulated and be clear how they work towards the achievement of community objectives (as described in the CSP). Core (BAU) functions like parks and gardens, roads and footpaths, stormwater drainage, waste management and recycling, library services, sporting fields and community halls should all be reflected in the Delivery Program, with any particular commitments related to that activity for this Delivery Program period spelled out.
It is important to realise that the Delivery Program is not aspirational – it’s not a document to describe what we’d like to do, but rather a document that commits to what we will do. This includes ensuring newly described requirements are included:
- It must identify areas of service that the council will review during its term
- It must identify how the council will engage with the community and other stakeholders to determine service level expectations and appropriate measures
- It must address ongoing improvements to the efficiency, productivity, financial management and governance of the council.
These complement more long-standing requirements, including:
- How the council will measure and evaluate the implementation of the Delivery Program activities
- Consideration of the priorities and expected levels of service expressed by the community during the engagement process for the CSP
- To include a method of assessment to determine the effectiveness of each principal activity detailed in the Delivery Program in achieving the objectives
- Allocating high level responsibilities (ie, which position in council will have responsibility for overseeing the achievement of each commitment?)
- Financial estimates for the period of the Delivery Program (required in order to understand what the Program will cost to deliver).
As with all of the planning elements of the IP&R framework, the Delivery Program should be asking and answering these questions:
- Where are we now? What are the key issues and priorities facing Council and its community today that this Delivery Program is seeking to address? What resources are available to us now to be able to achieve our Delivery Program commitments?
- Where do we want to be? At the end of this Council term, what do we want to have achieved? What targets are we setting ourselves for our delivery of services and results for the council and the community?
- How will we get there? What are the principal activities that we will deliver to achieve the targets we’ve set ourselves? What resources are we going to utilise to undertake those activities and functions? What improvement activities and service reviews will we undertake?
- How will we know we’re on track? What measure or indicator of success will we use to monitor if what we are delivering is achieving our commitments and goals?
Councils sometimes say that they don’t do IP&R as well as they’d like, or don’t comply with all of the requirements because they don’t have many resources or the expertise to do it properly. But, remember, doing it right takes a long and as much effort as not doing it right. You’re spending time and energy on developing these important documents anyway, so why not make sure they comply with the requirements and intent of IP&R and produce a Delivery Program that is fit for purpose and will serve your council and councillors well!