Consultation
Consultation has concluded. The Unsealed Roads Improvement Plan was endorsed by Council in December 2022.
To develop this plan, Council sought community feedback, particularly in regards to identifying initiatives to improve services to the community. Council encouraged the community to review these initiatives and provide feedback as to whether any should be changed, reprioritised or removed.
Project Overview
In April 2022 Council invited residents of the Cassowary Coast to have their say on the performance of Council through the Cassowary Coast Community Scorecard. This scorecard highlighted areas the community wanted to prioritise with the highest priority being given to improvement in local roads, footpaths, trails and cycleways. A significant amount of the commentary in this area was focused on improvements to the regions unsealed road network.
In August 2022 Council adopted a Stage One response to the Community Scorecard by adopting 18 initiatives. One of these initiatives is to undertake public consultation on Council's Unsealed Roads Improvement Plan. The need for improvement was also identified in the current Operational Plan initiative to provide improvements to Unsealed Roads Service. At a higher level Unsealed Road Improvement is aligned closely with the strategic objectives of the Corporate Plan:
- A safe, reliable and financially sustainable transport network throughout the Cassowary Coast to facilitate movement of goods and people throughout our community;
- Sustainable asset management to effectively deliver services in a consistent and financially sustainable manner representing value to the community; and
- Provide leadership that supports creative thinking and innovation as well as desired values and organisational culture.
Council engaged Shepherd Services to review current operational and management techniques against best practice. Shepherd Services have significant experience in providing advice to Local Government, particularly in the area of unsealed roads. The review included:
- On site and off site training;
- Review of materials;
- Review of management and budgets;
- Benchmarking of key measures; and
- Workshop with field staff to identify improvement opportunities
