Generic Plan of Management

Parks and open space in the Georges River area are either Council owned “community lands” or State owned “Crown Reserve” managed by Council. Changes to legislation guiding the management of Crown Reserves now requires Council to include Crown Reserves in a plan of management.

A Plan of Management is a report outlining how Council proposes to manage open space for the benefit of the community. The plan must identify:

• an appropriate community land category for the land;
• objectives and outcomes for management of the land;
• the means by which Council proposes to achieve objectives and outcomes; and
• the way by which council proposes to assess its performance.

The community lands categories as identified by the Local Government Act provide a system by which land is placed in a category which best reflects its environmental, cultural and recreational values. Accordingly the plan then describes how the land will be managed reflecting a series of core objectives for the community lands category, which are also defined by the Local Government Act.

The community land categories include the following:

• Natural area (including sub-categories of bushland, wetland, escarpment, watercourse, and foreshore)
• Sports-ground
• Park
• Area of cultural significance
• General Community use

Some larger more significant open spaces such as Carss Park have their own Plan of Management. However the majority of open spaces are covered by Generic Plans of Management which cover multiple parks within the one category.

Councils Generic Plan of Managements date back to prior to the amalgamation of Kogarah and Hurstville. As such Council has undertaken to review it’s generic Plans of Management to both address the Crown Reserve management changes and update the older documents for the Georges River Council area.