WAVERLEY COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16 CONTENTS Preface 04 Part 2: Delivery Program Achievements 36 Mayor’s Message 05 Sustainable Community 37 General Manager’s Message 06 Year in review 38 Part 1: Waverley Council Overview 07 Sustainable Living 42 Waverley – Our cosmopolitan city 08 Year in review 43 Our Local Government Area (LGA) 10 Sustainable Environment 47 Year in review 48 How every $100 you pay is spent 11 Sustainable Governance 51 Community vision 12 Year in review 52 The elected Council 13 Council committees 13 Part 3: Meeting our Additional Our Mayor and Councillors 14 Statutory Requirements 55 Our organisational vision 18 Amount of rates and charges Our planning framework 24 written off during the year 56 The Community Strategic Plan: Mayoral and Councillor fees, Waverley Together 3 25 expenses and facilities 57 Delivery Program and Resourcing General Manager and senior Strategy 25 staff remuneration 57 External bodies exercising Council Report on infrastructure assets 58 functions 26 Government Information Partnerships and cooperation 27 Public Access (GIPA) 59 Our performance snapshot 28 Compliance with Companion Our financial snapshot 30 Animals Act and Regulation 65 Awards received 31 Amount incurred in legal proceedings 66 Grants and donations awarded 32 Progress against Equal Employment Opportunity Management Plan 71 Grants received 34 Voluntary Planning Agreements 73 Sposorships received 35 Contracts awarded by Council 73 4 PREFACE PURPOSE OF THIS ANNUAL REPORT This Annual Report documents Waverley Council’s performance during the 2015/16 financial year in relation to the principal activities detailed in the Delivery Program 2013/17 and Operational Plan 2015/16. The Annual Report is made up of four parts: Part 01. Is an overview of Waverley Council Part 02. Provides details of Council’s performance against the Delivery Program 2013/17 Part 03. Provides additional reporting information required by legislation Part 04. Contains Council’s audited financial statements The first three parts are published in one volume. Part 4 is published separately. This report is prepared in accordance with Section 428 of the Local Government Act 1993 and the Office of Local Government Integrated Planning and Reporting Guidelines for Local Government in NSW. Waverley Council 5 MAYOR’S MESSAGE Waverley has been an important events hosted include our Business driver for Council. Awards, Bondi Winter Magic Festival with its amazing ice rink and camels Our new multi-purpose synthetic on Bondi Beach, the Nib awards, turf field in Waverley Park opened which celebrates amazing authors in May this year, enabling hundreds and their research, and the award- more children to play their chosen winning , multi-media project Eat sport year-round. Pray Naches, which is now travelling We have also built or upgraded the world. play spaces at Macpherson Street, Our ANZAC Day, Remembrance Day O’Donnell Street, Dickson Park and and regular Citizenship Ceremonies Thomas Hogan Reserve. continue to be inclusive and On the environmental front our welcoming as we promote and take Green Infrastructure Master plan is pride in our multicultural community. well under way to deliver incredibly We continue to work with our aspirational greenhouse gas businesses through the Bondi and reduction targets as well as reduced Districts Chamber of Commerce I am very happy to commend our waste to landfill and reduced use of and our Waverley Business Annual Report to the residents drinking (potable) water. Forum where we share ideas and and ratepayers of Waverley. Our stormwater harvesting promote economic development opportunities. I am particularly proud of our sound installation in Tamarama Park, financial position, which has enabled new solar panels on our buildings Nature has thrown challenges to us us to deliver many projects and including our Library, our Second with the East Coast Storm hitting us services that have improved the Nature, Blue Bondi Green and Green in June. Our staff worked tirelessly amenity of our residents. Sparks Programs are all contributing to re-build the coastal walk in time to us meeting our targets. for Sculpture by the sea and are As one of the most densely Our capital works program has currently repairing Bronte Pool and populated Local Government the Cemetery landslip. Areas in Australia, open space is at been highly productive delivering a premium. In late 2011, Council new toilet blocks at South Bondi, Of course this is just a snapshot of purchased some residential land Marks Park, North Bondi and what we have achieved over the in Tamarama Gully to incorporate Tamarama Park – with its new kiosk. past year and as we edge closer into the Park. I am thrilled that next Additionally we have rebuilt road to amalgamation with Randwick month we will finalise the purchase and fences in Waverley Cemetery. City and Woollahra Councils, I am of a second piece of land in North Our literary and cultural events are confident that we will be able to Bondi to be used as open space in at the heart of Waverley and we deliver better services and capital perpetuity for our residents and have delivered more and better works to our community. their families. programs throughout the year. I was very pleased to be re-elected as Niblick Reserve had been placed We have celebrated Sculpture by Mayor of Waverley and am looking on the market by Sydney Water for the Sea, Flickerfest, Festival of the forward to another successful year. residential development, but will now Winds, Shir Madness Jewish Music be retained as a park with improved Festival, Bondi Wave, Christmas Sally Betts, children's playground equipment. Carols by the Sea, Jewish Writers' Mayor of Waverley Festival, Children’s Art Awards, Looking after the needs of the Waverley Woollahra Arts Awards and growing number of children in the Shabbat project. Other major Annual Report 2015–2016 6 GENERAL MANAGER’S MESSAGE Architecture Conservation Award Whilst continuing to deliver our and the Planning Institute of commitments to our community, Australia’s Commendation Award. Council also responded to the NSW State Government’s 'Fit for the Council continued to deliver the Future' Local Government Reform overwhelming majority of its process including the establishment commitments in the Delivery of a Transition Project Unit to lead Program 2013/17 and Operational and manage our progress towards Plan 2015/16. probable amalgamation. A particularly pleasing action was I would like to take this opportunity Council’s reinvestment of reserves to thank all the staff who worked from its affordable housing program very hard to deliver our many to purchase a block of four, two- services over the past year and I bedroom units. The new building look forward to working with our will expand Council’s stock of community to continue to improve units that are suitable for housing our services in the forthcoming year. families. Peter Brown The 2015/16 year has been a The free Public Wi-Fi network was General Manager busy year for Waverley Council. expanded to include Waverley Our commitment towards Library, Mill Hill Community Centre, Waverley Together 3, our Margaret Whitlam Recreational Community Strategic Plan has Centre, Bondi Pavilion and parts of seen the delivery of a range of Bondi Beach/Park. The 27,000KW beneficial capital works, green of energy used by the Public Wi- initiatives and social and cultural Fi will be offset by the newly events. installed Solar Panels on five Council buildings. Council’s financial position as at 30 June 2016 was sound. The total Council launched an integrated comprehensive income for the year community engagement and was $162 million. The total income behaviour change program for from continuing operations was sustainability called Second Nature. $138 million and the total expenses It is pleasing to report that more from continuing operations was than 1020 people have joined this $120 million. campaign thus far. Council won several awards this Council also organised a range of year including Keep Australia initiatives and projects including Beautiful, Australian Clean Our Heartbeat of the East initiative, Beaches Awards 2015, NSW Public Global Table, pop up libraries and Libraries Association’s Multicultural Palmerston Avenue Community Excellence Award, the 2015 Heritage Project. Waverley Council 7 Part 01. WAVERLEY COUNCIL OVERVIEW Annual Report 2015–2016 8 WAVERLEY – OUR COSMOPOLITAN CITY OUR LOCAL OUR SUBURBS: GOVERNMENT Bondi Beach, Bondi Junction, North Bondi, AREA: Bronte, Dover Heights, Queens Park, Rose Bay, Tamarama, Vaucluse and Waverley 2 9.2km OUR ATTRACTIONS: Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama Beaches, Bondi Pavilion, Bronte House, OUR DWELLINGS AND BUSINESSES: Waverley Cemetery, the Coastal Walk, Bondi Junction, Margaret Whitlam Recreation Centre, Bronte Gully and Dudley Page Reserve 30,854 35,000 POPULATION dwellings registered businesses TOTAL POPULATION MEDIAN AGE 70,706 years PROJECTED POPULATION 35 POPULATION DENSITY • 15.4 per cent of our residents are 0–14 years old 2031 • 9.8 per cent are 15–24 years old 68.68 • 62.2 per cent are 25–64 years old 80,100 persons per hectare • 11.9 per cent are more than 65 years old ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLE OVERSEAS BORN RESIDENTS 49% 250 Waverley Council LANGUAGES 9 70.5 per cent of us speak English at home while EDUCATION 29.2 per cent speak a language other than English Russian is spoken by 2.6 per cent of our residents, NUMBER OF SCHOOLS 1.6 per cent speak Hebrew, 1.4 per cent Italian, 1.3 per cent French