Reserve planning

1. Decide on the aim of your plan of management.
2. Decide what people and money you need to draft the plan.
3. Find and collect the information available on the reserve.
4. Identify any sources of funding available to prepare a plan of management. Funding may be available through, for example, the Crown Reserves Improvement Fund.

5. Identify who will manage the plan of management process. This could be the Crown land manager, a subcommittee, an employee, or a committee with representatives from the community (which may include a Department representative). Make sure you have a single person responsible for the overall preparation and delivery of the plan.
6. Prepare a project brief to guide those responsible for drafting the plan. This should describe the scope of the proposed plan of management, including the major issues that should be addressed. The brief should allow for a community involvement program.
7. Forward the draft project brief to the Department for review. Crown land managers should keep the Department informed of the progress of the work, as well as the content and proposals in the plan.
8. Select the person(s) responsible for preparing the plan. You may select an external consultant to do research, write the document and conduct community consultation.

9. Involve the general community in the preparation of the plan so that you can identify and consider visitors’ expectations. Refer to Visitors to Crown reserves. Community involvement may include identifying the values of the reserve. Consult the community when the draft plan is being prepared, not at the end of the process.

10. Draft the plan to include:
    1. the reserve purpose and values
    2. desired outcomes
    3. strategies based on identified values and issues
    4. appropriate actions to be taken, clearly indicating by whom, within what timeframes, indicative cost and priority.

11. Make the draft plan of management available to the public for comment through exhibition. Notify them by:
    1. publishing a notice in the NSW Government Gazette
    2. advertising in local newspapers.
12. Consider all comments received and decide if you should alter the draft plan to address this feedback.
13. Submit the plan, plus any comments received from the public exhibition, for ministerial approval.

14. Once the minister has approved and adopted a plan of management, the Crown land manager must carry out the actions approved.

    Crown land managers should regularly monitor and evaluate the progress of carrying out the plan, and review the action plan. For example, this could be an annual review.

    This may involve:

    • supervising staff to check that actions are completed
    • regular site inspections
    • collecting data
    • reviewing financial statements.

    To assess the overall success of carrying out the plan, measure the results against the intended outcomes of the plan.

    If the proposals set out in the plan are not being met, consider devoting more resources to its implementation. Where this is not feasible, propose changes to the plan with the permission of the minister.

15. The desired outcomes of the plan of management should be relevant for 5 to 10 years. At regular intervals, review and update the management strategies. The fact that a plan of management has ministerial approval does not mean that the management direction cannot change in the future. You can ask for ministerial approval to amend a plan as long as you have publicly exhibited the proposed changes for comment.

The introduction should cover:

• the legal status of the land – that is, if it is reserved or dedicated, and what its reserve purpose is
• a description of the land that the plan covers (this could be as simple as the lot and deposited plan number)
• a map of the land and a location map
• the principles of Crown land management
• the process of developing the plan and consulting the community
• the main legislative and policy requirements that apply to the reserve – for example, the CLM Act.

The aim of the plan of management should be to clearly articulate, in one place, how the reserve will be managed.

You may want other outcomes, such as to provide the framework for developing the land, to deal with specific issues, or to improve the financial position of the reserve, as examples.

The first thing to clarify when developing a plan is the purpose of the reserve. The purpose for which the land is reserved will point to its value and provide the basis for relevant management activities. For example, there is no clear connection or value in establishing a childcare facility at a reserve where the purpose is environmental conservation.

The plan should also make the reserve’s values clear. For example, the reserve’s value could be its:

• natural resources such as vegetation
• cultural values such as historic houses
• social values such as showground events.

Other values include education, recreation, visual, scientific, or as a resource for future generations.

The plan of management must be based on the reserve’s purpose and values. Although it will state how to resolve any management issues, the plan should not be based on these.

A plan of management should have a clearly specified timeframe. The priorities for reserve management can change over time, so the plan’s timeframe should not be too long. Typically it is 5 to 10 years.

Preparing the first plan of management for a reserve may take up to 2 years. The later review and update of the plan should not be a difficult or time-consuming process because most of the contents will not change.

However, in some circumstances it may be necessary to amend significant portions of the plan. For example, the values and expectations the community puts on the reserve may change over time. Reviewing plans of management helps to articulate such changes in value and may lead to a proposal to change the purpose of the reserve.

Public use and enjoyment of the reserve is consistent with the purpose of most reserves managed by Crown land managers. The plan of management should outline:

• what activities are and are not allowed on the reserve
• what facilities are needed now and within the timeframe of the plan to provide for those activities.

You should address disabled access requirements and other special services (if needed).

If you add activities to the purpose for which the land was set aside, the plan needs to make clear that it is authorising an added purpose or purposes.

The plan of management should state what environmental values you need to protect and how you will do this.

Common issues to address include management of:

• bushfire risk
• weeds
• feral animals
• threatened species
• heritage structures
• Aboriginal cultural heritage.

The plan of management should also address sustainable use of resources, for example recycling programs and water conservation.

You should explore income-producing avenues for the reserve in the plan of management. Funding is an issue for many reserves; you need to maximise income-producing opportunities. Any commercial use of a reserve must be consistent with its reserve purpose unless the plan of management authorises an added purpose. Alternatively, the minister may authorise an added purpose through a lease, or another separate authorisation.

You may be able to lease or license areas of the reserve. Include details of any existing or proposed new leases or licences in the plan. The plan should also include a statement that there will be public competition for any commercial lease or licence opportunities.

Where plans are to make provision for the leasing and licensing of facilities to commercial operators or special interest groups, they need to address:

• the sustainable use and management of the reserve
• the size and scale of the proposed area or facility in relation to the size of the reserve
• the relationship of the proposal to development on adjoining land or on other land in the locality
• landscaping provisions, including preserving trees and other vegetation, and improving the visual experience and amenity values of the reserve
• providing enough infrastructure, water, electricity and sewerage
• providing enough protection and management of environmental features and/or hazards such as:
  • landform stability
  • coastal erosion
  • erosion control
  • drainage and flooding
  • bushfire
  • buffer zones
  • vegetation and landscaping
  • waste control
  • noise
  • lighting
• the social and economic effect of the proposal on the reserve and the locality
• the character, siting, scale, shape, size, height, design and external appearance of the proposal
• provisions for protecting and maintaining any:
  • heritage buildings
  • archaeological values or sites
  • Indigenous values or sites
  • threatened species critical habitat

• criteria for erecting signs for the proposed use

  Minimal signage should be the aim. Product advertising and sponsorship signage should have minimal impact on the landscape or amenity of the reserve and surrounding locality

• the amount of traffic, parking, loading unloading and manoeuvring the proposal is likely to generate and how it can be provided without compromising other uses and users of the reserve.

Refer to Leases and licences for more information.

There have been examples where a Crown land manager has little chance of carrying out proposed plans of management because funds are not available or the plan does not address how to source such funds.

Your plan of management should indicate:

• the level of current income and expenditure available
• the likely source of other available funds (both current and proposed)
• how these might be used to carry out the plan of management.

The plan of management should outline how risks are and will be managed. For example, if you have not completed a risk assessment, this could be a high-priority action in the plan of management. Preferably, the risk assessment should be done at the same time as the plan of management. Include actions for addressing risks in the action plan.

A risk management checklist can help you identify risks and appropriate response strategies.

Risk management should include how the reserve will be maintained in a safe manner and include Bushfire and hazard reduction (if appropriate).

The areas mentioned above provide the strategic framework for managing the reserve. You also need to have an action plan to set out how you will achieve the strategies.

The action plan should identify for each of the above strategies (and any other strategies included in the plan of management):

• actions required
• priority
• indicative cost
• timeframe for achievement
• person(s) responsible for completing them.

A plan may authorise a reserve purpose that is additional to the one for which the land was dedicated or reserved.

The CLM Act sets out the consultation and other processes that you must follow when preparing a plan of management that authorises an added reserve purpose. The community will have a say in the proposal through the consultation and public exhibition stages used to prepare the plan.

If you intend to prepare a plan that proposes an added reserve purpose, you must advise the minister when seeking approval to prepare it.

The minister may also direct a Crown land manager board to prepare a plan of management that considers an added reserve purpose. The minister can specify the matters the draft plan must address and can also impose conditions.

The minister may require the Crown land manager to consult on the draft plan with any persons or bodies, and to exhibit the draft plan accordingly. The minister may change the plan at any stage before it is adopted, and may stop the preparation of a plan that authorises added uses, or the minister may not adopt the plan.

In deciding whether to adopt a plan that authorises an added purpose, the minister must consider:

• the declared purpose of the reserve
• the compatibility of the added purpose with the declared one
• the principles of Crown land management
• effects on native title
• the public interest.