Draft Coffs Harbour Cultural Plan 2013 - 2016 - Coffs Harbour City ...

Agenda - Ordinary Meeting 22 November 2012 - CITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT REPORTS
Attachment 3
In terms of Council finances, following very significant investment in water resources,
Coffs Harbour City Council had the highest debt service ratio in NSW in 2009/10. In a
rating scale which ranges from 0.0%, which indicates no long term debt and no
significant revenues committed to servicing long term debt (17 Councils), Coffs
Harbour Council had the highest out of 152 NSW councils at 31.7%. While this ratio
will improve markedly in the next few years, this illustrates the scale of competing
demands on Council resources.
The community is very aware of opportunities and facilities available elsewhere and tends to
point to the deficiencies in Coffs Harbour but the above facts have ramifications across the
whole of the Coffs Harbour economy. In terms of cultural facilities and services, the capacity
of potential consumers to buy and the capacity of businesses to provide support and
sponsorship are lower than in more affluent communities. The capacity of Council is also
limited and this needs to be considered in the prioritisation of community aspirations.
6. Coffs Harbour in the future
Coffs Harbour is changing and will continue to change. Although this plan focuses on the
next three years, it will form the basis of what comes next and should be informed by both
local and national trends and developments
Some of these changes have a particular impact on options for cultural development in the
mid-north coast:
1) Before 2030, the Pacific Highway will be a complete dual carriageway. This means
faster travel times in particular on the mid-north coast, where so much of the highway
is currently single lane. This mean faster travel times between Mid North Coast
centres: Coffs Harbour to Grafton will be under an hour; Port Macquarie will be well
under two hours.
2) The population of Coffs Harbour will grow to 100,000 with commensurate increases
in the population in the Mid North Coast region as a whole. This will largely be the
result of immigration, in particular domestic immigration of retirees.
3) There will be a national shortage of people with high skill levels with a greater
dependence on skilled workers from overseas.
4) The national broadband network will be complete, transforming access to medical,
educational, business and entertainment services and enabling the national and
international distribution of locally-produced cultural products such as e-books,
music and films.
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