Our Local Community believes that community development helps build a strong and self-reliant community, and assists Council to be responsive to community needs.
We are committed to supporting participation and involving people in decisions which affect their lives, which leads to improved outcomes and develops a sense of belonging, ownership and pride in the community.
Our Local Community endorses a view that there must be equality for women in every aspect of their lives and respect the value of the choices, contributions and diversity of women.
Women must be participants in all decision making processes and given the opportunity to be equal active participants in all spheres of public and private life. Their needs should be central considerations within local social/community planning for the provision of facilities, services and programmes.
Our Local Community endorses a vision for the future which acknowledges children’s best interests as the primary consideration in the provision of services. Children have a right of care and education, and high quality children services is an investment which develops and enhances the social, spiritual, economic and environmental well-being of the entire community.
We support this view and will promote strong and effective linkages between the range of children’s services and all levels of government, the community and private sector.
Our Local Community believes that local government is best placed to consult with their communities and, further, that they should be given the opportunity to comment on any development or land-use control, policy or proposal that will affect their locality.
We will seek to provide more effective methods by which community consultation should be carried out. Further, we support the development of the ‘Community Engagement’ area of Council’s activity together with a continuance of the already existing ‘Resident Panels’.
In support of our policy of inclusiveness, we hold ‘Community Meetings’ to provide advice and to listen to community concerns.
OLC believes that, annually, Cumberland City Council should adopt a community theme for each financial year. For example, we believe that an effective statement can be made by establishing 2024-25 as a year dedicated to this policy – ‘Youth Year’. Such an occasion could be used to galvanize our wider community in appreciating the importance of our Council’s greatest asset – its community.
Our Local Community recognises that people with a disability have a right to quality facilities and services that enable them to live and fully participate within their communities.
They must be included in Council planning and regulatory activities relating to infrastructure and Council/Community planning.
We believe that we continue to develop a local ‘Disabilities Discrimination Act Action Plan’ as well as encourage improved physical access to public facilities and ensure that local pedestrian networks are accessible to all people in the community.
Council’s Access Committee is a vehicle by which new standards can be developed and progressed, and their implementation monitored.
Our Local Community recognises young people have needs for their own specific local facilities, services and programmes that assist them in their own right and in their transition to adulthood.
We believe that youth culture is an expression of young people’s needs and beliefs. Young people should be involved in planning and delivery of services, community and social activities that can enhance self-respect, competence and connect to family and community. Youth Week is an important vehicle for focusing on the strengths and needs of young people to promote a sensitive approach to local youth development.
Our Local Community believes that waste should be responsibility of whoever creates it. Industry must take responsibility for that waste and give full life responsibility for the packaging that it creates.
Appreciating that this is a State Government consideration, Council needs to advocate strongly a position on recycling and more efficient behaviour by industry in their general practices within their own areas of responsibility.
We believe that Cumberland needs to play a lead role in protecting and enhancing the natural and built environment in order to achieve ecologically sustainable development so that a secure future for present and future generations is obtained. Equally, it is essential that residential areas, and the community overall, are not negatively impacted by waste of any type.
Our Local Community recognises that the region of Parramatta and its surrounding Council areas, have more significant heritage items than any other place in Australia and is home to more nineteenth century heritage than Port Arthur or Norfolk Island. We support the principles of heritage construction contained within the Burra Charta, which establishes a framework for identifying and managing heritage places and objects. Equally Cumberland Council has very significant heritage which must be conserved and promote. We believe that Councils should work together in achieving our desired outcomes and preservation of heritage.
We recognise the role of heritage and seek to provide a balance between continuity and changes within our local environment, acknowledging that this balance is critical to a rich and productive culture.
We will promote the point that Council needs to maintain a heritage conservation strategy which reflects our local community’s expectations. To highlight our commitment to heritage and the local historical societies, OLC supports the introduction of a Heritage LEP which adequately reflects the historical significance of all existing historical districts and future heritage determinations, supported by the establishment of a Heritage Centre on the site of the former Granville Library.
Our Local Community believes that residents have a right to housing that is affordable, secure and appropriate to their needs. We recognise the importance of housing outcomes for our community, and that it is reliant on the provision and maintenance of a basic level of infrastructure facilities and services.
We oppose the indiscriminate increase in housing development without being able to address education, policing, health, transport and general infrastructure such as gas, electricity and water.
We will not accept a situation where the State Government overrides Council’s planning authority by the establishment of ‘independent’ planning panels which eliminates the community’s capacity to address development.
Government intervention has allowed unacceptable development resulting in inappropriate and unsupported dwellings, including boarding houses and group homes in R2 and R3 zones, potentially undermining community expectations. Additionally, when the State Government makes decisions regarding our suburbs without face-to-face consultation, nor a suitable understanding of the suburb or community as a whole, we will oppose these decisions and will openly make notice to the public.
Our Local Community supports a safe and secure environment for the community. We believe that with maximum community input, we can develop a strategic Community Safety Plan that provides direction as to how to address issues such as community safety, and that such a plan should incorporate and reflect a proactive approach by the NSW Police. Extra detailed attention needs to be given to frequented sites and places where necessary, and special regulation may need to be introduced to achieve community expectations. On Cumberland Council our organisation supported the creation of a ‘Crime Prevention Officer’, whose role is to work with Police and other Government agencies addressing community concerns.
Our Local Community shares the vision that all of our community should be involved in some type of activity in sport, community recreation, fitness, outdoor recreation or in other physical activities.
We encourage people to be more active and to realise the social, health and economic benefits of participation. Medical services need to provide equitable, affordable and accessible health services across the city.
We oppose the use of illicit drugs or excessive alcohol and recognise the result from the abuse of such substances. We seek to work with authorities to involve a range of strategies including early intervention, specialist treatment and supply control.
Our Local Community believe in sustaining the bonds of community and relationships as a major emphasis of councils. Growing loneliness and alienation translates into a variety of social and economic problems. With a proliferation of gambling, drug abuse, suicide, domestic violence and family breakdown, we see reflected, social change and profound insecurities.
We seek to support and create better social mechanisms which will build relationships and a sense of personal belonging within neighbourhoods.
We wish to work with and lead the council, to build a strong community framework and a renewed commitment to community organisations, with a focus on neighbourhood development and renewal.
Our Local Community acknowledge that Cumberland Council has a very significant relationship and history with Indigenous Australians, the first people of the nation. We support the recognition of the Indigenous communities as the traditional custodians of the land. In the spirit of inclusiveness, we also acknowledge the early settlers and all those who have made Australia the great land it is today.
The formal recognition would be included in official Council ceremonies using local customary protocols such as ‘Welcome to Country’, however, OLC believes it should be recognised once at the commencement of an event, usually by an MC, and not be continuously acknowledged by each individual speaker.
OLC also supports the Indigenous Australians to have a quality of life equal to the wider community. We treat all people equally.
Our Local Community recognises that culture encompasses our diverse heritage and we also recognise that creating liveable cities is fundamental to our social well-being, long-term ecological sustainability and economic prosperity.
In Cumberland, we recognise the rights of individuals and communities to determine their own cultural identity by promoting consultation whilst encouraging participation and assimilation in the community.
We believe that it is essential to support and encourage full participation by people from culturally/linguistically diverse backgrounds, in local government political life. Also, across our wide culturally diverse community, we promote that any Council documentation or consultation be undertaken with translations to promote inclusion by all.
Our Local Community recognises that the right to free and equitable access to basic information is a cornerstone of our democratic society. Public libraries are centres for free and equitable access to learning, literature, heritage, knowledge and cultural activity.
We support the principle that they should be places that are safe, convenient and accessible community spaces that encourage interaction and information seeking, whilst being aware of the wider needs of our multicultural community, and that processes are established accordingly.
Library services should also provide access for those unable to visit and thus mobile services should be provided, and to assist education for all, but with a focus on our low socio-economic areas.
Our Local Community acknowledges the need for urgent action to promote and develop a consensus at a national level on the following issues:
• Accepting the science on climate change.
• Water and Land Management.
• Fuel reduction in urban areas and public parks hindered by well-intentioned but misguided environmentalism.
• Climate change exacerbates the intensity of drought and bushfires but does not cause them.
• Risk reduction is a personal and social responsibility and needs to be shared between residents, property owners, rural industry and Governments.
• Determining how to respond with climate change.
• Action to implement technological innovation to reduce emissions substantially.
For example, while Australia is the largest exporter of coal to India and China, simply eliminating that would only ensure that they source their coal from other suppliers, which may result in higher emissions.
Our Local Community recognises that older people have a right to quality services and programmes that enable them to remain living in their own homes and active in their communities. We believe that we should identify and provide facilities which meet the needs of older residents to maximise their quality of life and well-being.
We support strongly the recognition of Senior’s Week as an important vehicle to reflect the valuable contribution made by older people to their communities through respect, inclusion and being sensitive to the needs of older people.
To support this aim we recognise the important role ‘Senior Centres’ play in local communities.