Councils are required to have strategic management plans stating their objectives for the area over the next 4 years, under the Local Government Act 1999 (the Local Government Act). A strategic plan must identify the economic, social, physical and environmental aspects of the region, amongst other aspects outlined in section 122 of the Local Government Act.
Councils need to consider:

• Demographic and development trends.
• Input from government regionally, SA and nationally. This includes ‘particular reference’ to State Planning Policies and Greater Adelaide Regional planning.
• Council’s role in services, infrastructure and financial sustainability.

Over 2024, the State Planning Commission is preparing a draft Greater Adelaide Regional Plan (GARP). The 2023 GARP Discussion Paper flagged further population and employment growth in the longer term at Two Wells, as well as some growth at Dublin and Mallala.

Councils also need to identify:

• Objectives for the area over a period of at least 4 years.
• Principal activities to achieve its objectives.
• Measures (financial and non-financial) to monitor the performance of the council against its objectives over the relevant period.
• The means by which its activities are to be carried out (including clarity about regulatory/non-regulatory activities).

Adelaide Plains' rural areas, coast and towns provide places where our growing number of residents and business look to thrive in. These places are changing and preparing a strategic plan with our growing and changing community enables us to identify the priority actions that Council — in particular through annual business planning and asset management planning — should focus on over 2025–2028.

We will be consulting in 2 stages.

Stage 1 involved discussion with key stakeholders and community members to put together a draft plan. This happened between April and May 2024.

Stage 2 will involve the opportunity to read the draft Plan. We will ask for your feedback again to make sure we got it right. We intend to release this for consultation around July and August 2024.

This webpage will be updated as the project evolves and we will also share information on our social media.

The Strategic Plan 2025–2028 is the primary document that guides strategic decision making, sets a vision for the future and goals to achieve this and how we will review and monitor this. It is referred to when we are developing our annual business plans and asset management plans.

Our Annual Business Plan and Budget allocates money to our services and facilities over the next financial year. It takes into consideration our strategic plan and asset management plans.

Your priorities, suggestions and other comments will be used to create a draft Strategic Plan 2025–2028 which will be consulted on in mid-2024. You may like to comment on areas that are important to you for the region in general — like economic, social, physical or environmental aspects. Or, you may like to comment on specific services, functions, or facilities that we manage, maintain, or offer.

Feedback during stage 1 consultation has been used to put together a draft plan. Once we have a draft plan, we will ask for your feedback again to make sure we got it right.

Your feedback may also be used to inform other decisions, projects, services and plans.

Our Discussion Paper reviews the goals we outlined in our Strategic Plan 2020–2024.

To ensure we are providing appropriate services to meet our region’s present and future needs, we periodically conduct community surveys. Results can help us understand what services are working well, what we need to improve and what we might need to consider for the future. This information has been reviewed in order to create a new strategic plan.

Background preparation towards the review and drafting of a Strategic Plan 2025–2028 begun.

Council Members adopted a Discussion Paper for consultation to inform the preparation of a draft Strategic Plan in February. This decision was preceded by a Council Member Workshop about statutory obligations, review of current Strategic Plan, and proposed approach to preparing new Plan and to an augmented strategic planning framework.

Stage 1 of consultation involved discussion with key stakeholders and community members to put together a draft plan. This happened between April and May 2024.