Policies

This Policy establishes key principles to guide the City of Coffs Harbour’s work in addressing the issue of access to affordable housing in the City of Coffs Harbour Local Government Area (LGA).

This policy provides a framework to regulate and guide the identification, recognition and measurement of non-current assets that provide future economic benefit to Coffs Harbour City Council and the community. This policy is necessary to ensure compliance with International and Australian Accounting Standards and relevant legislation, as well as capture meaningful data for strategic planning purposes. 

This Policy confirms the City of Coffs Harbour’s (City) commitment to providing the best possible value from activities related to infrastructure assets and continually improving its asset management practices.

The Asset Management Policy and Asset Management Strategy (AMS) establish the principles and direction for managing the City’s infrastructure assets to ensure that they:

1. Perform in a way that meets the needs and aspirations of the community as expressed in the Community Strategic Plan (CSP) and enacted through the Delivery Program (DP) to grow, maintain and improve local infrastructure
2. Provide assurance that City assets are managed sustainably through effective governance and from a cultural, social, environmental and economic perspective.
3. Provide confidence in the City’s capacity to make informed decisions and provide for community needs This policy applies to all infrastructure related service provision listed below:

• Transport
• Drainage
• Buildings and Facilities
• Open Space
• Sewerage
• Water Supply
• Waste Management Services
• Fibre Network

The purpose of this policy is to describe the City of Coffs Harbour (City) approach to assessing and managing requests to create Asset Protection Zones (APZs) on City managed land.

All developments on land that are designated as bush fire prone have a legal obligation to consider bush fire, and to meet the requirements of the Rural Fire Service (RFS) Planning for Bush Fire Protection (PBP) guidelines (2019). There are no requirements for owners of neighbouring land (public or private) to clear  land or undertake vegetation removal. 

This policy seeks to detail the City’s position as a neighbouring land manager.

Council is committed to preventing the possibility of backflow of contaminated substances into Council's water supply system, which if occurred, could result in sickness and in some cases, death. Backflow is the reverse flow of waters or other liquids from a potentially polluted source into the town’s water supply.

Coffs Harbour as the supplier of water to the public undertakes to provide safe drinking water to the consumer’s property. Council ensures this by protecting the systems from contamination or pollution. This details council's commitment to backflow prevention and cross connection control. 

See also: Backflow protection, how to register a device and submit testing

Coffs Harbour City Council manages seven cemeteries and the purpose of this document is to detail Council’s policy on:

• Interment rights
• Managing the Cemetery Register
• Burials and interment
• Plinths and plaques
• Cemetery management and conditions of use

Coffs Harbour City Council provides and delivers programs and services that children access and use and council is committed to:

• Ensuring that Council’s programs and services are safe for children and protects their welfare, wellbeing and, in particular, protects them from child abuse
• Ensuring that all Council workers (including volunteers, see definition) act in the best interests of a child and take all responsible steps to ensure a child’s safety
• Establishing and implementing systems for child safety

The City of Coffs Harbour uses committees, and community members to access local expertise and help the City of Coffs Harbour meet its objectives. By using community members, the City of Coffs Harbour can actively work and connect with the community. The advice and management provided by committees is invaluable as a consultative and information mechanism.

The purpose of this policy is to document how City Committees are established and managed.

Note: Councillor appointments to external committees, boards and panels are not covered under this policy.

This policy aims to manage potential conflicts of interest and increase transparency at all stages of the development process for City-related development.

Council acknowledges the reality of climate change and that climate change will impact on both the current and future way of life of the whole Coffs Harbour local government area community and our natural and built environment. Council commits to:

• Reducing Council’s contribution to climate change and supporting the community to reduce their contribution to climate change.
• Adapting Council’s activities and services to become more resilient to climate change and realise the opportunities it provides.
• Working with the community to help build the resilience of our residents and local ecosystems to adapt to the effects of climate change.

 This policy has been developed to articulate Coffs Harbour City Council’s position and response to climate change.