Agenda of Employment and Economic Development Policy Committee

Employment and Economic Development Policy Committee 1 May 2018

2.1 Minutes of the Economic Development Community Committee Meeting held 18 April 2018

RECORD NUMBER: 2018/1040

AUTHOR: Nick Redmond, Manager Corporate and Community Relations

EXECUTIVE Summary

The minutes of the Economic Development Community Committee meeting held 18 April 2018 are attached for Council’s adoption.

Link To Delivery/OPerational Plan

The recommendation in this report relates to the Delivery/Operational Plan strategy “11.1 Our Economy – Encourage the growth of local business, support emerging industry sectors and attract new investment to Orange”.

Financial Implications

Nil

Policy and Governance Implications

Nil

Recommendation

1 That Council acknowledge the reports presented to the Economic Development Community Committee at its meeting held on 18 April 2018.

2 That Council determine Item 3.1 of the Minutes of the Economic Development Community Committee held on 18 April 2018.

3 That the remainder of the minutes of the Economic Development Community Committee meeting held on 18 April 2018 be adopted.

further considerations

Consideration has been given to the recommendation’s impact on Council’s service delivery; image and reputation; political; environmental; health and safety; employees; stakeholders and project management; and no further implications or risks have been identified.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

The meeting held 18 April 2018 was primarily to resolve an action list for the Committee. The action list was drafted from comments from Committee members through email feedback prior to the meeting.

Bells Line Expressway

A potential Action List item was the Bells Line Expressway. The Committee discussed the issue at length and made a recommendation to Council to support an expressway. The Committee also expressed a desire to highlight some significant issues to Council in their continued lobbying for an expressway across the mountains.

The first issue raised is that the state and federal government have already constructed expressways north and south of Sydney, which has led to additional economic activity occurring along these routes. It is now the time for a western expressway to open up the economic potential of Central NSW and beyond. It was also suggested that there could be an alternative to Bells Line further to the south that could be expedited because it would be a greenfield site and could be tunnelled, cutting travelling time from Lithgow to the Sydney basin to just 30 minutes. As a greenfield site, construction costs would be reduced as there is no requirement to keep a lane of traffic open while construction occurs.

A Committee member reported that the sale of public owned infrastructure by the NSW Government has seen an allocation of infrastructure funds to metropolitan Sydney equal to $12,000 per person. It is estimated that an expressway through or over the mountains would service 300,000 people in Central and Western NSW. Applying $12,000 per person to 300,000 people equates to $3.6 billion, or the reported cost of an expressway. Alternatively, the government could just put aside $150 million per year (indexed) to begin and maintain construction over a 20 or 30 year period.

The Committee strongly recommended that any expressway limit any urbanisation along its route, otherwise the expressway will resemble the current crossings with fluctuating speed limits and local traffic merging with inter-regional traffic. Urbanisation should be restricted to existing routes.

NBN

The Committee also recommended that Council actively pursue an upgrade from Fibre to the Node (FTTN) to Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) in Orange, commencing with the business and industrial areas in Orange. The Committee also requested Council investigate becoming involved in the Smart Cities Program as well as consider how to best utilise the existing infrastructure for businesses in Orange.

Attachments

1 Minutes of the Meeting of the Economic Development Community Committee held on 18 April 2018

2 EDCC 21 March 2018 Agenda, 2018/621 ⇩

3 Action Plan - Economic Development Community Committee, D18/18634 ⇩

ORANGE CITY COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE

Economic Development Community Committee

HELD IN Councillors Workroom, Civic Centre, Byng Street, Orange

ON 18 April 2018

COMMENCING AT 8.00AM

1 Introduction

Attendance

Cr J Whitton (Chairperson), Cr R Kidd (Mayor) (8.30am), Cr T Mileto, Mr Tim Hall, Mr Russell Tym (8.10am), Mr Wayne Sutherland, Mr Tony Healey, Mr Greg Beileiter, Mr Phil Gunn, Miss Gemma McDonald, Mrs Neina Campbell, Mr Craig Hort, Ms Annella Powell, Mr Darryl Curran, Dr David Mallard, Acting Director Corporate and Commercial Services, Manager Business Development, Business Project Officer

1.1 Apologies and Leave of Absence

RESOLVED Cr J Whitton/Mr T Healey

That the apologies be accepted from Mr Michael Banks, Mr Phillip Donato, Mr Andrew Gee, Mr Todd Bryant and Ms Learne Spicer for the Economic Development Community Committee meeting on 18 April 2018.

1.2 Acknowledgement of Country

1.3 Declaration of pecuniary interests, significant non-pecuniary interests and less than significant non-pecuniary interests

Nil

2 Previous Minutes

RESOLVED Mr T Hall/Mr G Beileiter

That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Economic Development Community Committee held on 21 March 2018 (copies of which were circulated to all members) be and are hereby confirmed as a true and accurate record of the proceedings of the Economic Development Community Committee meeting held on 21 March 2018.

3 General Reports

3.1 Review of action plan

TRIM Reference: 2018/975

Cr Whitton declared a less than significant non-pecuniary interest in the discussion on NBN as his company operates in the information and communication technology sector.

Cr Whitton declared a less than significant non-pecuniary interest in the discussion on Collective Renewable Energy Purchasing as his company provides services to major companies operating within the region.

Recommendation Cr J Whitton/Mr G Beileiter

1 That the Committee review the draft Action Plan and provide comment back to the Committee Clerk by 27 April 2018 for inclusion in the new Action Plan.

2 That the Committee strongly support an expressway crossing of the Blue Mountains and support Council in actively pursuing lobbying on the matter, in particular in relation to:

2.1 That the Government has already provided expressways north and south of Sydney which has opened up economic activity along those routes. It is now time for the west to be opened up and given the same opportunity.

2.2 The sale of the infrastructure by the government equates to around $12,000 per person. Since the expressway would service around 300,000 people, it equates to $3.6 billion dollars, which is about the estimated cost to build an expressway.

2.3 If the government could commit to an annual budget of $150 million dollars, the expressway could be built in 20 to 30 years.

2.4 That the government must seek to limit urbanisation along the expressway or it will end up the same as the Great Western Highway.

3 That the Committee requests Council take every opportunity to lobby the Federal Member and the Federal Government to upgrade the NBN to Fibre to the Premises for Orange.

The Meeting Closed at 9.12AM.

Economic Development Community Committee 1 May 2018

2.1 Minutes of the Economic Development Community Committee Meeting held 18 April 2018

Attachment 1 EDCC 21 March 2018 Agenda

1 Introduction

MEMBERS

Cr J Whitton (Chairperson), Cr R Kidd (Mayor), Cr T Mileto, Cr M Previtera, Mr Tim Hall, Mr Russell Tym, Mr Bruce Buchanan, Mr Michael Banks, Mr Tony Healey, Mr Greg Beileiter, Mr Phil Gunn, Miss Gemma McDonald, Mrs Neina Campbell, Mr Craig Hort, Ms Annella Powell, Mr Darryl Curran, Mr Learne Spicer, Mrs Bernadette Novotny, Dr David Mallard, TAFE NSW Representative, Director Corporate and Commercial Services, Manager Corporate and Community Relations, Manager Business Development, Business Project Officer

1.1 Apologies and Leave of Absence

1.2 Acknowledgement of Country

I would like to acknowledge the Wiradjuri people who are the Traditional Custodians of the Land. I would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present of the Wiradjuri Nation and extend that respect to other Aboriginal Australians who are present.

1.3 Declaration of pecuniary interests, significant non-pecuniary interests and less than significant non-pecuniary interests

The provisions of Chapter 14 of the Local Government Act, 1993 (the Act) regulate the way in which Councillors and designated staff of Council conduct themselves to ensure that there is no conflict between their private interests and their public role.

The Act prescribes that where a member of Council (or a Committee of Council) has a direct or indirect financial (pecuniary) interest in a matter to be considered at a meeting of the Council (or Committee), that interest must be disclosed as soon as practicable after the start of the meeting and the reasons given for declaring such interest.

As members are aware, the provisions of the Local Government Act restrict any member who has declared a pecuniary interest in any matter from participating in the discussion or voting on that matter, and requires that member to vacate the Chamber.

Council’s Code of Conduct provides that if members have a non-pecuniary conflict of interest, the nature of the conflict must be disclosed. The Code of Conduct also provides for a number of ways in which a member may manage non pecuniary conflicts of interest.

Recommendation

It is recommended that Committee Members now disclose any conflicts of interest in matters under consideration by the Economic Development Community Committee at this meeting.

2 Previous Minutes

Nil

3 General Reports

3.3 Committee Charter

RECORD NUMBER: 2018/358

AUTHOR: Michelle Catlin, Manager Administration and Governance

EXECUTIVE Summary

Orange City Council has developed and adopted the Charter for the Economic Development Community Committee. The Community Committee structure was determined late in 2017 with Council adopting the Charters in February 2018.

The Charter sets out the operations and composition of the Committee, and is presented for consideration and adoption by the Committee.

If required, the Committee may recommend to Council a change to the Charter, however any such change must be consistent with Council’s Code of Meeting Practice.

Link To Delivery/OPerational Plan

The recommendation in this report relates to the Delivery/Operational Plan strategy “1.4 Our City - Ensure a framework that Council’s policies, procedures and programs relate to the vision and directions of the Community Strategic Plan, including a disability action plan”.

Financial Implications

Nil

Policy and Governance Implications

All Community Committee Charters have been updated to reflect Council’s requirements and to comply with Council’s Code of Meeting Practice.

Recommendation

That the Charter for the Economic Development Community Committee be adopted.

further considerations

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

The Charter for the current term of the Committee is attached for consideration and adoption by the Committee.

The Committee may, if needed, recommend changes to the Charter be considered. Any such changes cannot be inconsistent with Council’s Code of Meeting Practice.

Attachments

1 Charter - Economic Development Community Committee - 2017, 2017/2277

Economic Development Community Committee 1 May 2018

2.1 Minutes of the Economic Development Community Committee Meeting held 18 April 2018

Attachment 1 EDCC 21 March 2018 Agenda

COMMITTEE CHARTER ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNITY COMMITTEE

2017/2277 F1508

purpose

To advise Council and make recommendations in relation to the implementation of economic development strategies contained within Council’s Delivery/Operational Plan.

The Committee does not have a role in the operational function of Council. This is the responsibility of the General Manager and staff. Equally, where Council has adopted a Strategic Policy or Strategic Planning document, the Committee must observe the Council position as set out in that policy, plan or document.

Reports to

Employment and Economic Development Policy Committee

Term

The Economic Development Community Committee shall dissolve at the General Election of Orange City Council. Council may dissolve the Committee at any time by resolution of Council.

Membership

Three Councillors (one of whom shall be Chairperson, as elected by Council)

General Manager (or nominee)

Non-voting Committee Clerk

Council staff as required (non-voting)

Community Representatives

Up to 16 community members with a particular interest in economic development and/or experience in:

· Health

· Tourism

· Education

· Manufacturing/Engineering

· Agribusiness

· Mining

· Small business

· Property development/sales

Other Representatives

· Federal Member for Calare (not included for quorum purposes)

· State Member for Orange (not included for quorum purposes)

· Representative of the Orange Business Chamber

· Representative of the Business Enterprise Centre

· Representative of the NSW Department of Industry (or equivalent)

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNITY COMMITTEE CHARTER

Quorum

Majority of community members and at least one Councillor.

meeting Frequency

Every second month, with specific meeting dates and times to be determined by the Committee.

voting

Each member of the Committee is entitled to one vote only. In the equality of votes, the matter is to be referred to Council for determination.

reports and recording

Matters to be considered by the Committee must be included in the agenda for the meeting, and must be provided in writing to the Committee Clerk at least 10 days before the meeting. Formal minutes of meetings of the Committee will be produced in accordance with Council’s Code of Meeting Practice. The Committee may make recommendations to Council, via the Employment and Economic Development Policy Committee. Council may adopt, amend or decline any recommendation.

Vacancies

Vacancies may arise during the term of the Committee. If a vacancy does occur, the Committee may invite an individual to join the Committee, or seek expressions of interest to fill the vacancy.

Committee Clerk

The General Manager will provide a Committee Clerk who will be the representative of the General Manager, and will exercise the functions of the General Manager so far as they are relevant to the Committee and its Chairperson.

Relevant Policies/Documents

Orange City Council Code of Conduct

Orange City Council Code of Meeting Practice

Orange Community Strategic Plan

Delivery/Operational Plan

Asset Management Plan Strategy and Plans

Statement of Business Ethics

Copies of these and other documents are available on Council’s website at www.orange.nsw.gov.au or from the Committee Clerk.

Economic Development Community Committee 1 May 2018

2.1 Minutes of the Economic Development Community Committee Meeting held 18 April 2018

Attachment 1 EDCC 21 March 2018 Agenda

3.6 Quarterly employment and unemployment data

TRIM REFERENCE: 2018/361

AUTHOR: Tony Boland, Business Projects Officer

EXECUTIVE Summary

This report has historically been provided to the Economic Development Community Committee on a quarterly basis to monitor employment levels within the region. The Federal Department of Jobs and Small Business compiles and reports Small Area Labour Market (SALM) data. This report provides the most recently published data.

Employment data is one of the measures often used to analyse the performance of an economy. The comparison between Bathurst and Dubbo is for the information of the committee members as comments in the media and social media often portray a particular city doing better or worse than another. This independent measurement helps to clarify that situation.

Link To Delivery/OPerational Plan

Financial Implications

Nil

Policy and Governance Implications

Nil

Recommendation

That the report by the Business Projects Officer on the employment figures for Orange be acknowledged.

further considerations

The recommendation of this report has been assessed against Council’s other key risk categories and the following comments are provided:


Service Delivery	The data provided within this report is also provided to companies looking for assistance with information as well as being used by staff in submissions.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

The SALM data is released by the Department of Jobs and Small Business three to four months after the end of the quarter. The figures are published on a quarterly basis in the Small Area Labour Markets publication (https://www.employment.gov.au/small-area-labour-markets-publication ).

The most recent data available is for the quarter ending 30 September 2017. The data in this report is on a Local Government Area basis in the first section and then on a city by city (SA2) basis for the second half of the report. There is additional information on SA2 geography in the second part of the report.

Measurement – Orange LGA	Sept Qtr 2017
Labour force	22,320
Unemployed persons	985
Unemployment rate	4.4%

The unemployment rate for the Orange LGA was 4.5% in the September 2016 quarter. The Department of Jobs and Small Business cautions consideration of quarter on quarter comparison due to the volatility of the data. It recommends analysis on year to year basis.

A comparison of the Orange LGA results in the September 2017 quarter to other LGAs is shown in the table below (noting this relates to the LGAs as they were in September 2017):

LGA		LGA
Albury	8.4%	Blayney	3.6%
Armidale	6.0%	Cabonne	2.6%
Bathurst	3.9%	Cowra	6.4%
Dubbo Regional+	2.5%	Forbes	4.0%
Tamworth	6.1%	Mid-Western	4.9%
Wagga Wagga	4.8%	Parkes	6.2%
		NSW	4.6%

+ Dubbo City Council was amalgamated with Wellington Shire Council to form the new merged entity of Western Plains Regional Council and subsequently the Dubbo Regional Council.

The SALM data has been measured for over 30 years. This information has been provided on a geographic basis where the boundaries match the appropriate Local Government Area. The graphs in the first section below depict the historical data for the Orange LGA. Data has only been collected on a SA2 basis since 2010. There are two or three SA2 areas that form an equivalent geographical area to each of the cities.

Labour Force

The labour force is the number of persons aged over 15 years with the exclusion of certain persons, including those in permanent defence force positions, overseas residents in Australia and some diplomatic roles. The labour force is the number of non-excluded people who are working or actively looking for work, so the labour force figure includes people who are unemployed.

For Orange LGA, the graph below displays a peak in the labour force in March 2011 which coincided with a significant number of construction projects including Cadia East, CSU and new hospital by the Orange Health Service.

The period from December 2013 to September 2014 includes a significant number of people who relocated for the purposes of the Cadia East construction project and Orange Airport Development. This is reflected within our population statistics. September 2014 saw the completion of the last of these projects, with the conclusion of the Cadia East construction.

From September 2014 to June 2015 there was a significant reduction in the labour force. This was potentially linked to jobseeker confidence in the light of the scaling back of Electrolux operations. Jobseeker confidence and jobs have recovered well for the labour force to be at an all time high in June 2016 and only slightly less than that in the September 2016 quarter.

Unemployed persons

The number of unemployed persons in Orange LGA has traditionally been less than 1,000 persons.

The 1,000 person ‘barrier’ was broken after September 2012 quarter. This coincided with the completion of a number of large projects. The number of unemployed continued to climb quarter on quarter (with the exception of March and June 2014) until a peak of 1,504 was realised in September 2015 quarter.

There was a rapid decline in the number of unemployed people (to 1,018) in the twelve months from September 2015 to September 2016. This is a net reduction of 486 unemployed people over the twelve month period. The labour force also increased by 1047 people in this same period. This decline continued in the December quarter, albeit at a lesser rate of decline.

Unemployment rate

The unemployment rate has historically been relatively conservative in the 4-5 per cent range. The unemployment rate peaked in September 2015 at 7.0%. This quarter coincided with a significant number of retrenchments from Electrolux and the reduction of contractors at Cadia Valley Operations.

Employed persons

The figure for employed persons is not reported by the Department of Employment but is derived by taking the unemployed persons out of the labour force. The December 2016 quarter saw a slight drop from the highest ever level of people in employment (21,724 people) achieved in Orange. This figure is higher than the number of people employed at any time during the major construction projects or in the mining boom. The September 2017 data shows employment remaining consistently high, approximately 400 people less than the peak record one year earlier.

City to City Comparisons

It has become increasingly unreliable to do city to city comparisons using LGA boundaries as a number of Local Government Areas are now merged, and therefore increase in geographic and population size. The Department of Jobs and Small Business now releases employment data using the Australian Statistical Geography Standard Statistical Area Level 2 geography. This allows data to be closely matched to the geography of a city as well as a Local Government Area.

By matching to the geography of a city, direct comparisons can be made between each city’s labour market rather than guessing how much of the LGA data is attributable to the city and how much is attributable to villages and rural communities.

To help put the city based employment data in context, it is useful to gain an understanding of each city’s population. The table below shows the estimated residential population for the year ending June 30 for each of the cities. Estimated Residential Population is the most accurate measure of population available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, even more accurate than the Census data.

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Orange City	36,988	37,785	38,215	38,666	39,168	39,390	39,755
Bathurst City	33,328	33,754	34,105	34,561	34,985	35,510	36,013
Dubbo City	35,056	35,281	35,555	35,883	36,599	36,751	37,125

The Labour Force for the three cities is contained in the following graph. Of note, the lines denoting the Orange and Bathurst labour force almost run parallel over the entire period. Orange has consistently had a workforce of around 2,000 more people than Bathurst. This is consistent with having around an extra 4,000 residents in Orange compared to Bathurst.

It is interesting to note in the following two graphs that the unemployed persons and the unemployed rate for Orange and Bathurst follow a similar trend while the unemployed persons and rate for Dubbo trends differently. Some of the similarity in the Orange and Bathurst trends could be apportioned to the relatively close geographic positioning of the two cities to each other, allowing flexibility of people to move between the two labour markets for work. This would help to counter individual city labour market peaks and troughs in Bathurst and Orange.

The figure for employed persons is not reported by the Department of Jobs and Small Business but is derived by taking the number of unemployed persons out of the labour force figure. The graph below shows Orange has around 2,500 more jobs than Bathurst and just under 1,000 more than Dubbo in September 2017.

Economic Development Community Committee 1 May 2018

2.1 Minutes of the Economic Development Community Committee Meeting held 18 April 2018

Attachment 1 EDCC 21 March 2018 Agenda

3.7 Quarterly Housing Data for Orange

TRIM REFERENCE: 2018/454

AUTHOR: Tony Boland, Business Projects Officer

EXECUTIVE Summary

The quarterly housing reports are an indicator of economic activity and housing pressures and as the report is consistent with the charter of the Economic Development Community Committee, the report will be provided to this committee on a quarterly basis.

Link To Delivery/OPerational Plan

Financial Implications

Nil

Policy and Governance Implications

Nil

Recommendation

That the Committee acknowledge the report on the Quarterly Housing Data for Orange.

further considerations

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

The most comprehensive reports on property sales and rental data is published by Housing NSW. Council has used other data sources to supplement the Housing NSW information.

There are two other commonly reported sources of data on housing prices:

· RP Data (trading as CoreLogic)

· Domain (combination of former Australian Property Monitors, Pricefinder and owned by Fairfax media)

Both of these sources are more commonly reported in the media, however the source of the data and the methodology applied to the collection and inclusion of the data makes these sources less certain to use. The only advantage of these data sources is that they are more ‘real time’ than the Housing NSW data.

The supporting information in this report is broken into three categories:

· median sales price

· median rental price

· building approvals.

Median Sales Price

The information surrounding housing sales and rent data is reported in terms of a median price. The median is the value that divides a set of ordered numbers equally into a bottom half and a top half. Unlike a mean (average) price, median prices are not significantly affected by unusually high or low values. Therefore median prices are considered the better values in assessing the property market.

The Housing NSW sales data is captured 3 months after the end of the reporting period. On average, around 80% of all sales contracts have been notified in this timeframe. Statistical analysis and testing by Housing NSW has shown that the housing mean and median prices do not vary greatly if data is captured at the 6 month point. The sales statistics are derived from information provided on the “Notice of Sale or Transfer of Land” form that is lodged with Land and Property Information NSW.

The Housing NSW median sales price in Orange in the June 2017 quarter was $370,000 which is a new peak for Orange, eclipsing our previous highest quarterly median of $350,000 (December 2016). This is less than Bathurst and higher than Dubbo as shown in the graph below.

Due to the smaller nature of both the Cabonne and Blayney residential housing sales markets, the median sales price is subject to increased volatility in pricing as can be seen in the graph on the following page.

Data from other sources can fluctuate significantly from the Housing NSW data. As an example, the median price listed by RP Data on 10 February 2017 was $345,000 and the median price from Domain in their 2017 Domain House Price Report was $368,000. These fluctuations are often seized on by the media for news.

There are both positives and negatives from the median sales price. A lower median sales price means it is more affordable to get into the housing market in Orange. It is also more attractive to investors as the similar median rent (see later in the report) across the three cities provides a better return on investment for a lower median sales. The downside of a lower median sales price is that the growth in capital investment for the home owner.

Median Rental Price

The rental statistics from Housing NSW is derived from information provided on the rental bond lodgement form that is lodged with the Office of Fair Trading. Where there are less than 10 bonds lodged in a quarter the data will return a nil result. Because of this, measuring smaller locations such as Blayney and Cabonne can be difficult and inconsistent for premises other than 3 bedroom houses.

The median rents for the region in the September 2017 quarter are listed in the following table.

The areas are Local Government Area boundaries with the exception of Dubbo, which is measured on the 2830 postcode due to the amalgamation with Wellington Shire Council.

Type	All Dwellings				Separate Houses		Flats/Units
Bedrooms	1	2	3	4	2	3	1	2
Orange	220	260	335	410	275	340	215	250
Bathurst	190	275	320	420	288	328	188	265
Dubbo*	200	270	330	400	280	330	210	240
Cabonne	-	-	260	-	-	260	-	-
Blayney	-	-	270	340	-	270	-	-

The rent for a one bedroom unit is higher in Orange than both Bathurst and Dubbo. The rent for a two bedroom unit in Bathurst is significantly higher than for a one bedroom unit. The prices for 2 and 3 bedroom separate houses is very similar across Orange, Bathurst and Dubbo.

Cabonne and Blayney remain more affordable than the regional cities, providing affordable living for younger families and those on a lower income who struggle to live in the city but work or study here.

The rental costs for 3 and 4 bedroom houses in Orange were at an all-time high between June 2011 and September 2012. This was a period of intense commercial and mining construction with a number of projects going on in and around the city. Accommodation at that time was at an absolute premium, driving up the price.

Building approvals

The number of building approvals is a key indicator in the confidence and growth of a geographic location. While not all approvals graduate to the commencement of construction, it is a consistent way to measure potential building activity between regions and from year to year. This information is from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (Category 8731.0 – Building Approvals).

The table below shows the comparison between the cities (not LGAs) of Orange, Bathurst and Dubbo. The three measures are new houses (houses), other new residential premises (other) and the total numbers of new residential premises approved (Total).

		2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17
Orange	Houses	133	248	287	305	283	269	280
	Other	2	19	20	14	21	193	26
	Total	135	267	307	319	304	462	306
Bathurst	Houses	52	118	171	203	196	293	278
	Other	0	38	64	58	116	77	90
	Total	52	156	235	261	312	370	368
Dubbo	Houses	61	139	168	232	251	303	263
	Other	20	26	20	112	58	87	86
	Total	81	165	188	344	309	390	349

There was a rapid growth in building approvals in 2011. This rapid growth has been sustained and was still at 269 at the end of last financial year. This rapid growth in approvals (and subsequent construction) would have contributed to keeping the median sales and rent prices in check in Orange. Both Dubbo and Bathurst experienced a steady growth in approvals over the same period. Although they had a higher number of approvals last financial year, they both had less net approvals over the same period, potentially leading to shortage in supply and driving up the median sales price.

The total building approvals for Orange shows a rapid growth from 30/6/14 to 30/6/15. This growth is in spite of a reduction of houses being approved in the same period. For the majority of the time the total residential approvals in Orange are higher than in Bathurst and Dubbo. This will be in part from having a larger population.

Economic Development Community Committee 1 May 2018

2.1 Minutes of the Economic Development Community Committee Meeting held 18 April 2018

Attachment 1 EDCC 21 March 2018 Agenda

3.8 Future reports to the Economic Development Community Committee

RECORD NUMBER: 2018/618

AUTHOR: Tony Boland, Business Projects Officer

EXECUTIVE Summary

The first meeting of the Economic Development Community Committee is often dominated by governance issues regarding how meetings are managed and member obligations. In order to ensure the volume of paperwork and the length of the meeting is not overwhelming, the number of full operational reports is limited at the first meeting.

This report summarises some operational matters that may interest Committee Members and can be brought back to the Committee as full reports. Alternatively, the Committee may wish to deal with some of these matters through the Action Plan.

Link To Delivery/OPerational Plan

Financial Implications

Nil

Policy and Governance Implications

Nil

Recommendation

That the Committee indicate which reports be prepared for future meetings.

further considerations

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

Council undertakes many activities in the field of economic development, both at a local and at a regional level. While the general community is aware of some of the activity undertaken (or participated in) by Council, most people are unaware of the depth of monitoring, analysis and activity from Council in trying to maximise economic development in a sustainable manner.

Listed below are some of the activities that Council are participating in, or managing, in relation to economic development. Each activity has an accompanying paragraph summarising the activity. Committee members may wish to receive a short verbal update on the activity, or where the issue is more complicated, receive a full report.

Some of the current economic development activities include:

· Events – Council organises, funds, provides assistance to and promotes events. The majority of the events can be found on the visitors website located at https://www.visitorange.com.au/images/Whats_on_in_Orange_2018_V3.pdf. This document is updated as information becomes available and is free for people to notify their event (if it is likely to be of interest to visitors).

· Regional Economic Development Strategy (REDS) – the NSW State government has funded a joint economic development strategy between Orange, Cabonne and Blayney Local Government Areas (LGA). The purpose of the REDS is to look at broader regional development issues and guide the State government on grant funding. The REDS is in draft form but will be presented to the committee shortly.

· Evocities – Orange City Council has re-joined the Evocities program to attract people living in Sydney to move to one of the seven inland cities. The Evojobs platform (job vacancy platform) has recently been upgraded and the Evocities Enquiry function is about to switch to a new platform.

· Shop Orange – Council has been hosting the Shop Orange gift card program for just on 18 months. The program encourages locals to buy a Shop Orange gift card that can only be redeemed in Orange stores that have signed up to the program. The aim of the program is to keep local money local and stop retail leak to other centres.

· Tourism Development Organisation (TDO) – Orange, Cabonne and Blayney Councils and the tourism industry have joined together to form the TDO. The committee will be kept abreast of developments through verbal updates and formal reports as the development of the organisation progresses. As it stands, the TDO is working on organisational governance, regional branding and events.

· Economic Profile – Council produces an in-depth economic profile in-house to assist businesses and government organisations by informing them (on an independent statistical basis) of activity and performance of Orange City, Orange LGA and the combined Orange, Cabonne and Blayney LGAs. The profile is continually updated as new data becomes available.

Reports to the previous Economic Development Community Committee (formal written, conversational briefing or formal presentation) include:

· Development of Shiralee

· Development of old hospital

· Grants received by Council for economic development or tourism purposes

· Quarterly employment and housing data

· Tourism campaigns

· Bloomfield Medical Precinct

· Rail infrastructure

· NBN progress and updates

· Recreational Vehicle parking

· Grow Local business campaign

· Evocities

· Shop Orange

· Canberra Airport Freight

· Murray Darling Medical School

· Regional Development Australia

· Orange Ex-Services Club redevelopment

· Wangarang Industries

· Input into the Strategic Planning Process for Orange City Council

· Community Strategic Plan

Council is able to research and report on many issues related to economic development, however, Council will not divulge information on commercial-in-confidence negotiations with individuals, companies or government departments.

Employment and Economic Development Policy Committee 1 May 2018

2.1 Minutes of the Economic Development Community Committee Meeting held 18 April 2018

Attachment 2 Action Plan - Economic Development Community Committee

Date	Action	Who	Community Strategic Plan reference	Budget status	Start	End	Update/Completed	Completed
18/4/18	Blue Mountains Expressway	Committee	11.1 Our Economy	$0	18/4/18		Individual members to lobby local and federal member. Minutes to reflect committee’s position and expectation.
18/4/18	Council to investigate the use of green/renewable energy	Environmental Sustainability Community Committee		$0	18/4/18		Committee Clerk to provide a report to ESCC to advise them of the EDCC position.
18/4/18	Identify large scale industry/ employment opportunities for relocation	Committee	11.1 Our Economy	$0	18/4/18	ongoing	Committee members to identify actual opportunities to staff.
18/4/18	Business Incubators	Business Projects Officer	11.1 Our Economy	NA	18/4/18		Currently working with one business to investigate feasibility.
18/4/18	Support local retailers to move into the online shopping space	Business Projects Officer	11.1 Our Economy	$0	18/4/18		Staff have been identifying opportunities for information and training as well as teaming with CenWest Innovate from CSU.
18/4/18	Work with key stakeholders to develop a program to encourage locals to give local businesses a chance to quote before going elsewhere to purchase.	Committee	11.1 Our Economy	$0	18/4/18		Council have been running the Shop Orange campaign to encourage locals to shop locally.
18/4/18	Better facilities for holding large state sporting events	Director Community Recreation and Cultural Services	2.3.1, 4.1.1, 5.2.2, 6.2.1, 6.2.2, 6.2.3, 6.3.1, 6.3.2	Variable	18/4/18	ongoing	Council looking at rectangular sporting complex and cricketing centre of excellence. Rectangular sports field is expected to cost upwards of $20M.
18/4/18	Build on the cycling activity and visitation	Tourism Manager	14.1.16	$2m+ over 4 years	18/4/18		Council continues to install the cycle ways infrastructure which a large grant had been secured for. Cycling tourism is part of the recent funding agreement with the industry led tourism entity.
18/4/18	Lobbying of government for upgrade of the NBN FTTN to FTTP and the improvement of mobile service.	Business Projects Officer	11.4.3	$0	18/4/18		Will also be considered within the concepts of smart cities and CBD upgrade.
18/4/18	Separation of heavy vehicle routes from built up areas remains relevant. Rail crossings around south Orange and the completion for the Southern Feeder road a priority to complete the City’s long term ring road.	Manager Operations	14.1.1 14.1.8 15.1.1	$ various sources including council and other govt funding.	18/4/18		Approximately $15M has been allocated to the roads renewal over 4 years. $8M worth of projects brought forward in the 2017/18 budget on top of other roads project funding. SFR project remains high priority but is subject to securing funding.
18/4/18	Secure Tesla and universal charging stations.	Business Projects Officer	11.1	$0	18/4/18		Tesla will supply a two car charging station. Currently looking for an appropriate site. To chase up universal charging stations. Committee Clerks from EDCC and ESCC to meet to discuss progress.
18/4/18	Collective Renewable Energy Purchasing	Orange Business Chamber	11.1 Our Economy	$0	18/4/18		Will approach Orange Business Chamber and discuss viability of applying for a grant to coordinate this.
18/4/18	Business forum on CBD redevelopment	Business Projects Officer	11.1 Our Economy	$0	18/4/18		Forum to discuss potential CBD redevelopment, smart cities concept and issues affecting business in the city.
18/4/18	Recreation use of Suma Park dam for water based activities including fishing, sailing etc	Manager Water and Sewer Strategic	10.2 Facilitate & support the attraction & development of events, festivals, venues and activities	$0	18/4/18		Report to Council in June progressed with need to update the Gosling Creek Plan of Management identified – this is because this is community land. Resolution identified Suma and Spring Creek dams recreational use would be considered subsequently. An update will be sought.
18/4/18	Improving the amenity at Mt Canobolas	Director Community Recreation and Cultural Services	Section 75A of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974	$0	18/4/18		Council has made a large funding application seeking $10M for the development of the Mt Canobolas Mountain Bike Trail.