We are excited to share with you the Better Together: Social Sustainability Strategy 2040 and Policy.

This is a result over two and a half years of community and stakeholder consultation, where over 1,000 people participated.

The strategy identifies the key outcomes our community believe represent a safe, inclusive and connected Northern Beaches.

A report was presented at the Council meeting on Tuesday 24 August 2021 seeking Council adoption of the Draft Social Sustainability Policy and Strategy noting the outcomes of community engagement. See the Council Minutes.

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback along the way.

We sought feedback from the broader community on the draft Better Together Social Sustainability Strategy 2040 and draft Social Sustainability Policy between 28 May and 18 July 2021. 27 submissions were received in total across both the policy and strategy consultation which largely indicated that there was majority support for both the draft strategy and policy.

1000 people contributed to first three stages of engagement as part of the development of the draft strategy and policy. During these stages, we found that the community recognised the importance and role of social sustainability and confirmed that safety, inclusion and connection are intrinsically linked and equally critical to building social sustainability on the Northern Beaches.

Several amendments have been made to the draft strategy and draft policy in response to the feedback, including some additional actions relating to First Nations people in the strategy and an emphasis on the word equity in the policy.

The strong and robust engagement program used to develop the draft strategy ensured that the community’s voice was represented in forming the strategic directions, community aspirations and implementation actions.

Once adopted, the implementation of Better Together Social Sustainability Strategy and Social Sustainability Policy will be undertaken within existing operational resources in the first instance, with any funding required in future years the subject of Council consideration in the annual budget review process.

Social sustainability is about creating communities that have the required skills, services, people and infrastructure to respond to and recover from social, political, environmental and economic change.

The Draft Social Sustainability Policy provides a framework for Council’s role in building social sustainability and resilience of the community. It will replace the current Northern Beaches Community Development and Services Policy.

The implementation of this policy will be through:

1. leadership and advocacy
2. promoting safe, inclusive and connected communities
3. community capacity building
4. referral and information services
5. delivering social infrastructure
6. delivering programs and services.