ANNUAL REPORT 2010/11 - Parramatta City Council

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ECONOMY & DEVELOPMENTParramasala, the Australian Festival of South Asian Arts, was held for thefirst time20 PARRAMATTA CITY COUNCIL - ANNUAL REPORT 2010/11OPTIMISING OURASSETSWhen is enough enough when it comes to acquiring assetson behalf of one’s community? In the 150 years since a localgovernment body was created to manage the Parramattadistrict, Council has managed to acquire around $3.5 billionin land, buildings and other infrastructure assets.The problem is, the more assets Council amasses and holdsin trust, the greater the ongoing costs of their repair andmaintenance into the future. To help reduce our financialdeficit, Council prepared a Property Development andInvestment Policy during 2010/11 to guide the sale of surplusinfrastructure and acquisition of strategic assets that addvalue to Council’s property portfolio.This new approach is already bearing results. The proposedsale of Council’s three depots, for example, will fund thepurchase of a brand new Operations Centre in Rydalmere.A MUST VISIT DESTINATION?Council redoubled its efforts during 2010/11 to raise theprofile of Parramatta’s vibrant entertainment and culturalprecincts. Our new Parramatta Visitor Strategy identifies theCity’s key target markets and the drawcards we can rely on toincrease visitation, ranging from Australia’s oldest Europeanbuildings, fine dining precinct and cutting edge performingarts.Part of that strategy is to develop and attract new majorevents and festivals such as Parramatta’s new AustralianFestival of South Asian Arts, Parramasalla, a joint initiativebetween Events NSW (now Destination NSW) and ParramattaCity Council, which was staged from 4-8 November 2010.Featuring international and local talent, this exciting newfestival had broad appeal to the South Asian community,performing arts fans and the wider community.OTHER KEY ACHIEVEMENTS INCLUDED• developed self-guided walking and cycling brochuresfor nine themed trails to help visitors better appreciateParramatta’s rich history and heritage• installed a new wayfinding system along the sevenkilometres of the Parramatta to Park River Trail sharedcycling and pedestrian pathways• planned and produced a major new Parramatta event, theChurch Street-based Winterlight Festival, that opened on30 June to coincide with the school holidays• completed draft management plans for our land, buildingand infrastructure assets, and drafted Council’s AssetDisposal Policy• developed a roads hierarchy to categorise Parramatta’sroad maintenance according to usage and levels of traffic• acquired the remaining properties needed to consolidatethe Civic Place site and deliver the redevelopment project• adopted Council’s Property Development and InvestmentPolicy in July 2010 and recruited our new PropertyDevelopment Group team• focused on the Lennox Bridge carpark as a prioritydevelopment site and organised an international ideascompetition ‘Ideas on Edge’ to generate ideas aboutputting it to best use• achieved a net mean processing time of 55 days and grossmean processing time of 82 days, and determined 55 percent of development applications in less than 40 days (net).
DEVELOP AN ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH BUSINESSES CAN BEDYNAMIC, PROSPEROUS AND SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLEECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT PILLAREXPENDITURE BY SERVICE AREAProperty Asset Management(43%)Tourism and Events (12%)HOW DID WE RATE AGAINST SIMILAR COUNCILS?Net amount spent per resident on cultural servicesParramatta2520Group AverageRegulatory Services (13%)15Arts and Culture (16%)Dollars1015.6417.0920.7521.3120.99Development Services (16%)5HOW DID OUR RESIDENTS RATE US?Quality of Council’s Riverside TheatresPer cent7060504030201006465647008 09 10 1170% of surveyed patrons were satisfied or verysatisfied with the quality of Council’s Riverside✔Theatres, 6% higher than 2010006/0707/08 08/09 09/10 10/11The net amount (minus revenue generated) Councilspends per resident on cultural services such as artgalleries, exhibition centres and performance theatrescontinues to be significantly higher than the groupaverage. (Group average figures not available for 2010/11)WHAT ELSE DID WE ACHIEVE?• adopted the Parramatta Visitor Strategy 2011/16 to positionParramatta as a leisure destination for our key targetmarkets• presented and hosted 1,839 Riverside Theatres events withattendances exceeding our 120,000 target• progressed Council’s Archives digitisation project, scanningmore sought after records in preparation for online access• completed the final draft of Council’s revised StrategicAsset Management Plan and integrated it with Council’sCommunity Strategic Plan, Long Term Financial Plan andResources PlanHidden stories are brought to life, revealing fascinating insights intoParramatta’s rich history in a series of walking tour brochures• appointed a full time Court Officer to represent Councilin the Parramatta Local Court for ‘mentioned matters’and prepare representations for review by Council’sAdjudication Panel• continued Council’s successful Red Star system whichidentifies applications at lodgement that can bedetermined within 40 days• established a Blue Dot system which identifies morecomplex applications that can be determined within 60 days• reduced the number of outstanding DAs that were over 80days and saw a significant increase in the total value ofworks approved, with a slight favourable reduction in meannet processing time.PARRAMATTA CITY COUNCIL - ANNUAL REPORT 2010/1121
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ANNUAL REPORT 2010/11 - Parramatta City Council

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