INTRODUCTION
Although historically there has always been a need for a direct relationship between Social and Environmental Planning, Australia and New South Wales particularly have only just come to realise the importance of this in recent years.
Kiama Council not only has given a high priority to its involvement in Social Planning, but has also clearly formalised a relationship between Social and Town Planning.
This paper describes briefly the developments of Kiama Council in the last five years towards the integration of Social Planning within Council's Corporate structure and its relationship primarily with Town Planning as well as with Engineering, Health and Building, Finance and Administrative Functions.
In the preparation of this paper I could not disregard my previous experience with Fitzroy City Council in Victoria and Alice Springs Town Council in the Northern Territory. Thus, many of the successes as well as some of the not so successful programs and strategies applied previously in these local government areas served as a background for my approach to my tasks within Kiama Council.
EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL PLANNING
Ratcliffe in "An Introduction to Town and Country Planning" when commenting on the relationship of Town Planning with other disciplines states that the application of social aims and objectives to the philosophy and design of urban planning has a long and distinguished tradition which can be traced back as far as Aristotle. Plato and Socrates, through Aquinas, More and Savonarola, to Owen , Buckingham and Salt.
As a matter of fact when studying some literature on the development of Town and Country Planning in Britain and Australia, I was surprised to read about the importance given to the connection between Social and Environmental Planning.
The fact that this has not been the case with the emergence of Town Planning in Australia, I can assume has been only because of the traditional conservative nature of local government and the lack of vision of legislators at State and Federal levels.
On the other hand Town Planners have been too occupied with prescriptive and regulatory functions to attempt addressing social implications of environmental planning and thus, the need for the emergence of Social Planning as a separate but complementary function within Local Government has developed.
Sandercock in "Cities for Sale" outlines the development of a blue-print issued in 1943 by the Commonwealth Housing Commission which was to assess the resources, physical and human, to provide development, decentralization, and the fullest participation of citizens at every level of representative government. It argued that in any area, new or old, a wide range of community facilities needed to be provided.
This was never done and this crucial issue was never put forward as a policy or legislative proposal but some of the recommendations were later incorporated in the Commonwealth - State Housing Agreement of 1945.
This failure to develop some progressive planning according to Sandercock could have been in part due to a capitalist conspiracy, since a "redistributive approach to city planning required changes in the system of property rights and ownership; regional and participatory planning required redistribution of power as well as of resources and the government could not get the votes for such changes, as the 1949 election shows".
Further, Sandercock states that the assumption that physical arrangements rather than economic and political change could bring about social reform has been a persistent weakness in the social theory of planning advocates.
FITZROY SOCIAL PLANNING MODEL
In the early seventies, Fitzroy City Council in Victoria embarked on a very radical approach to Social Planning heralding to a greater extent the most progressive and comprehensive approach to Social Planning at Local Government level.
Right from the outset, Fitzroy City Council made sure that when creating the position of Social Planner it established a direct relationship between Social and Environmental Planning.
The Social Planner's Position Description was quite specific on one of its duties-: "to actively co-operate with the Urban Planning Officer in the preparation of Social Planning objectives, policy formulation and program implementation".
With the appointment of the first Social Planner, Fitzroy City Council endorsed the direction of its welfare work in terms of a broader political context.
Fitzroy's radical approach was based on a class analysis of society in which it was accepted that long term goals of social justice and social equity would be achieved only in a classless society. This was clearly a reflection of the new Australian political mood initiated by the change of government in Canberra with the election of a Labor Government in 1972 after 23 years of conservative coalition ruling.
Social Planning in Fitzroy was based on a Community Development Planning model and followed the United Nations concept outlined in the 1971 U.N. Report.
"Planning for community development in the fullest sense involves much more than the elaboration of plans for education, health and housing and other social sectors, to be fully effective it also requires that economic policies and plans shall be deliberately designed to serve the purpose of enhancing human welfare and promoting desirable changes in institutional and social structures simultaneously with the more obvious material objectives".
SOCIAL PLANNING IN N.S.W.
In N.S.W. Social Planning emerged much later than in Victoria and only in the last decade Local Government began to take a more active role in this field.
It was not only until the State Government's introduction of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPAA) that Councils slowly became more aware of their Social Planning opportunities through Section 94 of the Act, giving power for levying developer contributions for community services and public amenities.
Other Sections of the Act (S4, S24, S35(1), S40) also provided opportunities for Council's involvement in Social Planning within the physical planning framework. However, the number of Councils which today employs Social Planners, or have adopted a social Planning process as part of their normal municipal functions is still very much in minority.
The Community Services Manual prepared by the Local Government and Shires Associations of N.S.W. published in December 1983 was the first document in the state that addressed the issue of relationship between Physical and Social Planning.
"Physical and Social Planning have been somewhat divergent in Australia over the past few decades. Physical Planning in Local Government has been preoccupied with statutory planning while Social Planning until very recently has been non-existant as a formal field of endeavour. Yet many of the activities of Councils are inter-related."
Another problem faced by Councils has been academic institutions lack of provisions for careers directly related to Social Planning and hence the lack of professionals in this field to competently deal with Social Planning functions at Local Government level.
KIAMA COUNCIL SOCIAL PLANNING
For Kiama, a rural Council with a population estimated at the end of June 1990 of 15 500 people, becoming involved in Social Planning and broad programs of Community Services is more the exception than the rule and undoubtedly makes it the vanguard of Community Services in N.S.W.
The involvement of Kiama Council in the field of Community Services as distintive from other traditional roles, can be traced back to 1953 when Library Services were provided by Council for the first time. A second milestone was the running of the Home Nursing Service in 1969.
Since then Council increasingly but cautiously became more involved in different areas of Community Services, with its involvement in the State Youth Training Program in 1978 and the opening of the first stage of the Blue Haven Retirement Village in 1979. Later in a community development role by way of providing subsidies and financial grants to Community groups and acting in an advocate's role, towards the provision of different services and facilities for the Municipality.
In 1981 Council employed its first Community Worker with the main aim of developing a Community Profile in the areas of social welfare and community development needs and resources within the Municipality.
After Council adopted in principle the Community Profile Report in 1982 there was little policy direction or forward planning for Council's involvement in Social Planning.
The creation of the position of Community Projects Officer in 1986 and later this role becoming part of a Social Planner/Community Services Co-ordinator's position with the consequent development of a Social Plan for the Municipality, gave a clearer direction for Council's involvement in this field.
The implementation of a Social Planning Process was based on a research proposal initiated in September 1986 and used the Local Government and Shires Associations' Community Services Manual definition of Social Planning for Local Government as:
"The process by which strategies and plans are developed in order that Council may fulfill the general responsibility for enhancing the quality of life of its citizens."
This Social Planning process adopted by Council, included also the provision for Aldermen, Citizens and Council Staff to work together in the formulation of goals, objectives and strategies for inclusion in the Social Plan. This consultative approach was achieved through the formation of a Social Planning Development Group (S.P.D.G.).
The S.P.D.G. consisted of:
Three Aldermen,
Five Community representatives,
The Town Clerk,
The Town Planner and
The Social Planner.
This S.P.D.G. also had the support of four other Community advisory groups which provided advice on specific target groups as follows:
Children Services Advisory Group
Youth Services Advisory Group
Aged/Disabled Services Advisory Group
Recreation and Leisure Advisory Group
The Social Plan was a document which evolved as part of broad consultation among Council's elected representatives,senior officers and community residents between May and December, 1987. It established the position which Council desired to take in the provision of Community Services and the main framework for the evolution of a Community Facilities Plan.
This Social Plan was developed within the context of Kiama Council's history of involvement in the provision of Community Services. It also took into account the following factors impinging upon local government involvement in the field of Community Services:
(i)The demand for community services was likely to increase at a rate exceeding the capacity of local government to supply those services. Thus, ecomonic constraints must be recognised.
(2)There is now a more concerted effort by community service providers in all levels of government and in non-government , to adopt a planned rather than ad-hoc approach to the delivery of community services.
(3)Local government in N.S.W. through its Local Government and Shires Associations has given clear recognition for its involvement in community services, as stated in the Association Policy Statement of May, 1986.
After a Draft Social Plan was completed in December 1987, the document was made available to residents, community organisations and Government Departments for further comment for a period of three months. The final document was endorsed by Council in March 1988.As part of the Social Plan , the role of Council in the development and provision of community services in the Municipality was to be two-fold; firstly a local role and secondly a regional role.
Local Role
Council's role of co-ordinator and catalyst of community services was to be expanded. While continuing in the roles of advocacy and development support, it reduced its role as service provider to achieve greater community participation, community based and locally controlled services.
Regional Role
Council also recognised that it functions in a regional context and its role was to become actively involved in planning community services at a regional level.
Council was to have a supportive role and was to assist in promoting co-operation between all government departments and authorities whose decisions on community services provisions affected both the local area and the Illawarra Region.
As well as priority being given to the development of a Social Plan , two other tasks were envisaged as part of Council's emerging involvement in Social Planning.
The first task was to establish a strong relationship with other Council's functions and more particularly with heads of departments.
This task was achieved initially by consulting with senior staff in the preparation of a Community Needs Survey conducted between October and November 1986.
This survey was designed with the primary purpose of gaining information about the community in the Municipality; including household structure, usage of facilities and services, preferences and attitudes towards the level of service provision and future directions within the town.
One important aspect of the survey was that rather than assessing only human services facilities, residents were asked also to provide information about other traditional Local Government facilities, such as roads, footpaths, sporting ovals and future street development. This not only allowed for senior staff to become aware of the relationship between Social Planning and other Council functions but also provided hard data for different departments to reassess their priorities.
My second task was to develop a policy which would clearly formalise the relationship between Social Planning and Town Planning.
In early 1990 following the completion of two studies, (the "Kiama Community Facilities Review' and the "Open Space Recreation Planning Study") and an internal review of Council's functions, the Community Services Department was created to provide more effective management and co-ordination of all Community Services programs. I was then appointed Social Planner/Community Services Manager with full responsibility, as Department Head, for Social Planning, the overall management, financial, policy and administrative functions of the Community Services Department.
In October 1990 Council adopted its Community Services Policy with a clear objective to promote co-operation between Social and Physical Planning and thus, formalising the long overdue Local Government relationship between Social and Environmental Planning for the Kiama Municipality.
(In 1993 after the introduction on the new Local Government Act I was appointed as Director of Community Services in the new Council's management structure.)
(A new Social/Community Plan was adopted on 24 June 1999 as required by NSW Government following the introduction of the Local Government ( General) Amendment (Community and Social Plans) Regulation 1998. Further information can be obtained from the Manual and the Guidelines prepared by the NSW Department of Local Government).
REFERENCES
Ratcliffe. John, "An Introduction to Town and Country
Planning" 1981
Will. Jenny, et al "Local Government and Community
Services
Fitzroy A Study in Social
Planning"1983
Sandercock. Leonie, "Cities For Sale" 1977
Vallejos. Mario M, "Kiama Municipal Council, Community
Services Social Plan" 1988
Vallejos. Mario M, "Kiama Municipal Council
Kiama Community Needs Survey" 1987
Local Government and "Community Services Manual" 1983
Shires Associations of N.S.W.
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