Integrated planning and reporting

Three key stakeholders are involved in the development of an integrated plan: the council, the community and the local government administration led by the chief executive officer.
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The council, community and administration each has a unique role and responsibilities for the development of effective and sustainable integrated plans for the local area, and reporting on the progress of those plans.

A successful integrated planning and reporting process will deliver a:

  • Strategic Community Plan that clearly links the community's aspirations with the council's vision and long term strategy
  • Corporate Business Plan that integrates resourcing plans and specific council plans with the strategic community plan
  • clearly stated vision for the future viability of the local area.

The Integrated Planning and Reporting Framework:

  • recognises that planning for a local government is holistic in nature and driven by the community
  • builds organisational and resource capability to meet community need
  • optimises success by understanding the integration and interdependencies between the components
  • emphasises performance monitoring so that local governments can adapt and respond to changes in community needs and the business environment.

The Integrated Planning and Reporting Guidelines provide a process that aims to:

  • ensure community input is explicitly and reliably generated
  • provide the capacity for location-specific planning where appropriate
  • update long term objectives with these inputs
  • identify the resourcing required to deliver long-term objectives, and
  • clearly convey long term financial implications and strategies.

Legislation

All local governments are required to produce a plan for the future under S5.56 (1) of the Local Government Act 1995. 

The Local Government (Administration) Regulations 1996 provide a brief outline of the minimum requirements to meet this requirement, which includes the development of a strategic community plan and a corporate business plan.

Strategic Community Plan

Outlining community long term (10+ years) vision, values, aspirations and priorities, with reference to other local government plans, information and resourcing capabilities.

Corporate Business Plan

Internal business planning tool that translates council priorities into operations within the resources available.

Informing Strategies

Informing Strategies (particularly financial, asset management and workforce) inform the local government of how capable it is to deliver the services and assets required by the community.

ICT Strategic Framework

Information is a strategic resource that underpins the key functions and decision making processes of a local government

Long term financial planning tools

​​​​​The department and Western Australian Treasury Corporation have partnered to release long term financial planning tools for local governments.

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