ORDINARY MEETING OF COUNCIL 23 FEBRUARY, 2021
30 The Hills Shire Council Quarter Two Review as at December 2020 WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Customer satisfaction with waste service was 94%.
The Community Environment Centre at Annangrove continues to be an invaluable community resource, providing one on one advice, environmental workshops, a waterwise garden and no-dig garden demonstrations, environmental library and volunteer opportunities.
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The Hills Shire Council Quarter Two Review as at December 2020 31
Achievements to date
RESOURCE RECOVERY
Quarter Two: Council will be running a FREE three month worm farming trial in one apartment building located in The Hills to help reduce the amount of food waste sent to landfill.
Recent kerbside bin audits show that over 40 per cent of red lidded garbage bin waste in The Hills is made up of food scraps.
This trial will help to inform Council on food scrap separation behaviours and will allow for further discussions to take place on the potential of collecting food waste separately from apartment complexes in the future.
All participating residents will receive a small gift at the end of the three month trial to allow food recycling to continue on site.
Submissions close on Friday 6 November 2020 and the trial will take place in early 2021.
Council hosted a free Household Chemical CleanOut event run by the NSW DPIE in November, which saw 2,716 cars attend and approximately 101 tonnes of waste collected.
The Garage Sale Trail was held on the weekend of Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 November 2020.
Garage Sale Trail added some new elements to the campaign this year so participants could do so from the safety and comfort of their own homes.
Participants could attend an online masterclass to learn the art of second-hand styling, wardrobe decluttering or how to give your clothes a new life with fashion first aid.
Alternatively more than 40 sales were hosted across The Shire either as a physical COVID safe garage sale or virtual sale via social media.
The award-winning community event is now in its tenth year.
Quarter One: The Resource Recovery Team secured grant funding to commence a mattress recycling trial to facilitate the effective recycling of old and unwanted mattresses from household kerbside clean-up collections. Australians send over 1.6 million mattresses to landfill every year with each mattress taking up 0.75 cubic metres of space in landfill. Valuable components such as wood, foam and springs that can be recycled into new products are also lost in the process. The program aims to decrease the number of mattresses that are sent to landfill and facilitate the efficient recycling of mattress components.
SUBDIVISION & DEVELOPMENT CERTIFICATION
Quarter Two: 95 subdivision and small lot housing Development Applications (including modification applications) were determined approving the creation of 247 residential lots. 76.84% of these were determined within 60 days (excluding stop the clock days). 314 residential lots were created through the issuing of 30 Subdivision Certificates/
Strata Certificates. 96.67% of these were issued within ten days (excluding stop the clock days).
592 building works certification inspections were conducted.
Quarter One: 47 subdivision and small lot housing Development Applications (including modification applications) were determined approving the creation of 266 residential lots. 63.83% of these were determined within 60 days (excluding stop the clock days). 401 residential lots were created through the issuing of 36 Subdivision Certificates/
Strata Certificates. 97.22% of these were issued within ten days (excluding stop the clock days).
530 building works certification inspections were conducted.
DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT
Quarter Two: 371 Development Applications (not including modifications) were determined with a cost of works estimated in excess of $2B.
A total of 293 Development Applications (not including modifications) were lodged with Council for assessment with a cost of works estimated in excess of $408M.
Quarter One: 344 Development Applications (not including modifications) were determined with a cost of works estimated in excess of $335M.
A total of 342 Development Applications (not including modifications) were lodged with Council for assessment with a cost of works estimated in excess of $323M.
From 1 July, the submission of development applications moved completely online using the NSW Government Planning Portal.
ORDINARY MEETING OF COUNCIL 23 FEBRUARY, 2021
32 The Hills Shire Council Quarter Two Review as at December 2020
Chemical Clean Out provides residents with a safe way to dispose of household chemicals.
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The Hills Shire Council Quarter Two Review as at December 2020 33
ACTION PROGRESS PERFORMANCE
Develop and implement electronically integrated customer interface that will enable home owners to enquire as to what all of Council's standards are for a particular house on their property (referred to as My DCP).
Progression of project pending Government development of a standard online format for Development Control Plans for all Councils.
This was originally to be implemented by Government by June 2020, however this has been delayed due to prioritisation of other key projects. Development of customer interface by Council will need to align with the timing and reflect the content of the new DCP.
Update current DCP to include Public Domain and Character Controls.
Controls included in Showground Station Precinct DCP and Castle Hill North Precinct DCP which are both now in force. Suitable controls will be prepared for other precincts as planning progresses.
Provide a briefing on the management of the Hawkesbury River.
The Hills Shire Council is a partner Council to the Hawkesbury-Nepean CMP which involves six Councils identified to have management responsibility within the coastal extent of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River System. Final report of Stage 1 of the River System Coastal Management Program was completed in April 2020. Stage 2 of the Management Program has commenced and the consultants work is being monitored by the Project Control Group.
Investigate innovative waste strategies.
Progression of this action is limited until such time the State Government releases its Draft 20- Year Waste Strategy for NSW. The Draft Strategy is expected to be released in March 2021 for public consultation. Its release will be subject to a report to Council and a submission to the State Government is anticipated. In the lead up to the Draft Strategy release, the Resource Recovery Team has continued to work with the region to deliver and investigate innovative strategies and programs such as regional waste contracting solutions.
To achieve our strategy of valuing our surroundings Council focused on the following actions:
How we progressed our four year actions
Complete
On Track-
action carried over from previous term of CouncilORDINARY MEETING OF COUNCIL 23 FEBRUARY, 2021
34 The Hills Shire Council Quarter Two Review as at December 2020
Measuring our Quality of Life
18-19 19-20 QUALITY OF LIFE INDICATOR
HILLS SHIRE PLAN
OUTCOME STRATEGY
167.0 174.0 • Number of health standard violations in food outlets.
9. Our natural surroundings are valued, maintained and enhanced and impacts are managed responsibly through education and regulatory action.
NSW State Plan Priorities
• Keeping our environment clean
9.1 Effective regulatory strategies, local laws, and compliance programs, manage public health and the impact of new and existing development on the community.
100.0 100.0
• Proportion of registered premises (hairdressers, food shops etc) inspected annually.
99.9 99.5
• Customer requests for animal control and parking responded to within service standards.
13,061.4 13,034.4 • Emissions from Council (CO2-e tonnes).
9.2 Demonstrate leadership in sustainable environmental performance and manage environmental risks and impacts responsibly and provide education and regulatory actions.
27,317.8 27,382 • Total energy consumption by Council (kWh/MJ).
280,732 305,662 • Total water consumption by Council (kL).
2.7 11.2
• Percentage of days that air pollution index is in the poor - hazardous range (%).
798.0 815.0 • Number of noise complaints received by Council.
91.0 91.0 • Number of threatened entities known in the Shire.
114.0 125.0
• Number of water pollution complaints received and actioned by Council.
N/A* N/A* • Total potable water consumption for the entire Shire (kL).
70.2 67.5 • Development applications determined within 40 days (less STC days).
9.3 Manage new and existing development with a robust framework of policies, plans and processes that is in accordance with community needs and expectations.
58.5 62.0
• Subdivision development applications processed within 60 days (less STC days).
94.7 95.0 • Subdivision certificates processed within 14 days (less STC days).
10.5 11.1
• Average amount of waste generated per household per week (kg).
10. Services, information and education are provided to facilitate resource recovery, minimise waste and assist people to live sustainably.
NSW State Plan Priorities
• Keeping our environment clean
10.1Provide services, infrastructure, information and education that facilitate resource recovery and encourage commercial and residential waste minimisation.
4.4 4.2
• Average amount of recyclables generated per household per week (kg).
5.6 6.2
• Average amount of garden organics generated per household per week (kg).
89.8 93.8 • Community satisfaction - domestic garbage collection.
* Data not available at time of compiling
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The Hills Shire Council Quarter Two Review as at December 2020 35
KPI Method Target Actual
Performance STATUS Development Assessment
% of development applications determined within 40 days (less STC days).
> is better 70 74.10
Gross number of days taken to determine a development application (median).
< is better 70 68.50
Subdivision & Development Certification
% of subdivision development applications processed within 60 days (less STC days).
> is better 60 70.34
% of subdivision certificates processed within 14 days (less STC days).
> is better 90 96.95
Sustainability
Tree applications processed in 10 days. > is better 90 85.42 Compliance
Customer requests - investigation of animal nuisances within five days.
> is better 80 100
Customer requests - investigation of abandoned vehicles within three days.
> is better 80 97.02
Development Monitoring
Gross days to determine building certificate applications. < is better 40 20.26
% of swimming pool compliance certificate applications actioned within 10 business days.
> is better 95 100
Average days for the completion of a part file assessment.
< is better 10 3.95
Environment & Public Health
Registered food premises inspected in 12 months (Env Health Services).
> is better 50 49.79 Resource Recovery
% Customer satisfaction with the domestic waste service. > is better ANNUAL On Track
Action Required
Operational Performance Measures
REGISTERED FOOD PREMISES INSPECTED IN 12 MONTHS (ENV HEALTH SERVICES) Minor increase in the number of registered food premises in the financial year with no increase in staffing. Very small percentage away from achieving target. We are confident the figure will be met
by the end of the financial year.
TREE APPLICATIONS PROCESSED IN 10 DAYS Experienced IT difficulties with generating permits through the mobile computer system. This caused a delay in customers receiving their permit. IT are addressing the integration issue and officers are managing any issues to ensure permits are generated on inspection date.
ORDINARY MEETING OF COUNCIL 23 FEBRUARY, 2021
36 The Hills Shire Council Quarter Two Review as at December 2020 THE HILLS SHIRE COUNCIL Email: council@thehills.nsw.gov.au
Phone: (02) 9843 0555 The Hills Shire Council PO Box 7064 Norwest NSW 2153
www.thehills.nsw.gov.au