We are asking for you to ‘have your say’ in relation to Council’s proposed Social Impact Assessment (SIA) Policy. We would appreciate any comments or feedback you may have by Monday 4 April 2016. To assist you with the process, we have included a link to Council’s ‘on exhibition’ page where you will find a copy of the draft proposed SIA Policy, checklist and data sources documents.

Council adopted the current SIA Policy in 2001. It was identified that the existing policy was overdue for review and required significant updates to align with best practice and industry standard. The proposed SIA Policy is a result of extensive research and consultation.

Whilst the current Policy does provide a process and identifies how Development Proposals, proposals of Council, Planning Proposals, plans, reports, policies, strategies and projects can be improved and what these improvements might be, we need a SIA Policy to do the following:

• Demonstrate Council is committed to ensuring positive outcomes for the community through effective development assessment, corporate policy and land use policy.
• Provide a process in which the likely consequences of a proposed event, policy or strategy are identified and considered.

A number of differences can be seen between the existing SIA Policy and the proposed SIA Policy, these include:

• Identifying three new separate categories for SIA’s including Development Assessment, Corporate Policy and Land Use Policy.
• Providing increased guidance on how to conduct a SIA. The methodology has been further refined in order to increase the individual’s confidence in effectively conducting an SIA themselves.
• Development of a checklist to provide an outline of the process for conducting SIAs for Development Assessment, Corporate Policy and Land Use Policy.
• Outlining that Council staff are still available to provide any advice or answer questions if necessary.
• Providing a complete list of data sources and information with direct links which allows individuals to easily access the latest data and information to inform their SIA.

If you would like us to provide you, your community group or your organisation with more information on the proposed SIA Policy please get in touch by contacting Jessica Booth via e: jessica.booth@shellharbour.nsw.gov.au or p: (02) 4221 6006.