The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide - Democrats Against UN ...

The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide
These joint studies achieved community ownership over this process. It also allowed the participants to utilize the data from these
joint studies to develop their own strategies on how they could contribute to the achievement of the community vision.
Interest Groups and Other Partnership Arrangements
A series of meetings was also convened with various interest groups to discuss issues that could affect those groups. During the
planning process, partnership arrangements were established with organizations, including: Chamber of Commerce; various farm
industry groups; Combined Sports Association; Meals on Wheels; Pensioners’ League; Community Advice and Information Centre;
Progress Association; Blue Nurses; Housing Forum; Innisfail Youth and Family Services; Chjowai Housing Cooperative (a local
Aboriginal organization); and Landcare Groups;Wildlife Preservation Society.
Towards Partnerships in Implementation
Currently the draft Johnstone Plan is on public exhibition, prior to its approval by the Queensland state government and its eventual
implementation by the Shire Council. The Shire planner is responsible for the completion of the final plan and its supporting
documentation. Implementation will be through an integrated “Umbrella Action Plan,” using the statutory town planning process,
the Council’s new Corporate Plan, and a reorganized corporate structure.
An integrated Umbrella Action Plan is currently being drafted in association with the various stakeholder groups in the Johnstone
community. The community’s vision of sustainability and underlying economic, environmental, and social values will be reflected in
the “Umbrella” of this Action Plan. Community principles and values are intended to influence the programs of the Council, namely
the operational, land use, and community action plans. This concept is dia-grammatically outlined in Figure 8: Johnstone Shire’s
Integrated Umbrella Action Plan.
To oversee the implementation of the Johnstone Plan, Council is currently assessing the role and composition of a multi-stakeholder
group that will be based upon the membership of the four Community Consultative Committees.
Council recognizes that organizational changes are required to achieve the desired sustainable development targets outlined in the
Johnstone Plan. Integrated and holistic operational systems capable of operating under the “Umbrella” will be set up. Council also
notes the crucial importance of establishing a direct connection between its Corporate Plan (including Council’s organizational
support structure) and its physical Land Use Plan. To develop a “partnership” concept for implementation, three arenas of joint
council-community decision making have been identified:
• council actions: where it decides to build roads, to provide social services, or to influence other levels of
government to alter their practices;
• land use planning: where the Council exercises powers over how outside influences interact with the plan; and
• local community actions: both organizational and individual.
In addition, Council’s four Corporate Plan programs, which include environmental services (including land use planning), social
services (housing, human services, and leisure services etc.), works (infrastructure provision), and corporate services (administration
and finance), are envisioned as vehicles for providing effective responses to community concerns related to environment, social, and
economic development.
To conclude, the Johnstone Shire Council case illustrates the use of theme-specific, stakeholder partnerships to undertake specific
planning tasks, namely, research, formulating action options, building community consensus, advising on technical matters, and
short-term studies related to the development of a plan. Multi-stakeholder partners were not formally engaged in the overall
coordination and governance of the planning process. These tasks remained internal to the municipality. As in the case of other
municipalities, partnership terms of reference and structures will be renegotiated and reformulated with
FIGURE 8 JOHNSTONE SHIRE’S INTEGRATED UMBRELLA ACTION PLAN
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