News from Council Meeting - 25 October 2021
Published on 25 October 2021
Central Hobart Precinct Plan to open for discussion
A discussion paper addressing the future needs of Hobart city will be released for public consultation.
The Council tonight endorsed the release of the discussion paper, which outlines the next stages of the process of preparing the Central Hobart Precincts Plan – a framework for future development and service provision in the city.
The discussion paper considers population and economic trends and offers city-shaping ideas and directions to guide the city’s growth during the next 20 years.
Public consultation will open tomorrow (Tuesday) via the City of Hobart’s YourSay website.
Tasmanian Planning Policies submission
Affordable and social housing, sustainable transport options, and response to climate change are among the key themes of the City of Hobart’s submission in response to the Tasmanian Planning Policies Scoping Paper.
The submission identifies the need to consider the social cultural and economic impacts of climate change and how these will affect land use.
It suggests that a clear policy direction regarding legislative changes needed to address the shortage of affordable and social housing; and that consideration be given to a standalone sustainable transport and mobility policy.
The submission also proposes that bushfire, as the state’s most significant large-scale threat, be addressed separately of other natural hazards.
Climate change policies to be reviewed
The City of Hobart will assess its existing strategies and policies relating to climate change to see if they can be strengthened to help to meet the state government’s emissions target.
Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds moved the motion in response to the Tasmanian Premier’s plan to introduce a target of zero net emissions by 2030.
“Over the coming months, the state government will develop legislation and support the development of emissions reduction and resilience plans for key sectors,” Cr Reynolds said. “This will include sectors generating emissions that operate from the City of Hobart or are emissions that are influenced in part by decisions made by local government.”
The Council resolved to produce a report that looks at how the City can strengthen its existing strategies, targets, practices and policies across a range of operational areas.
In addition, a meeting will be sought with the Premier and Climate Change Minister to discuss opportunities for collaboration on emissions reduction projects.
Financial bottom line improves
The City of Hobart finished the 2020-21 financial year with a near-balanced underlying operating result, following earlier predictions of a significant deficit.
The final result is a deficit of just $25,000, though it does not account for costs associated with the May 2018 flood event, for which some rectification works are ongoing.
The favourable variance is due to a number of cost-saving measures across the organisation, as well as growth in the rates base, and fewer applications for rates remissions than had been predicted due to the impacts of COVID-19.
The City also performs well against Financial Sustainability Indicators, achieving the benchmark threshold on five indicators – including loan and interest repayments – and falling just short of the benchmarks relating to underlying surplus.