Community Strategic Plan Review 2024/25

Planning for our community’s future

Let’s work together on the vision and plan for Hornsby Shire.

You told us about your aspirations and priorities for our local government area over the next 10 years.

Background

The Community Strategic Plan (CSP) sets out a vision, the community’s long-term goals and a plan of action for Council, local residents, community and sporting organisations, businesses, and state agencies for the Hornsby Shire.

Hornsby Shire’s first Community Strategic Plan was adopted in June 2010. The CSP is required to be reviewed, updated and endorsed by each new Council by 30 June after they have been elected. This updated Hornsby Shire 2035 Community Strategic Plan, Your vision | Your future 2035, will be Hornsby Shire’s fifth Community Strategic Plan. The refreshed Plan will guide our Shire’s future from now until 2035.

The 10-year plan for Hornsby Shire

Your vision | Your future 2035 reflects the thoughts and ideas of many members of our community. At its heart, it is a shared vision of where our people want Hornsby Shire to be in 10 years.

The review process

Council undertook significant community engagement over the three-year period 2018-2021 which involved over 15,000 stakeholders across a wide range of demographics. Much of the engagement was to gain community feedback to allow Council to develop strategies and technical documents for the long-term future of the Shire.

During 2022-2024, over 10,000 people participated in further community engagements which included Community Satisfaction Surveys in 2023 and 2024 to understand satisfaction with Council services and facilities, a Liveability Census in 2023 where people identified what really matters to local communities and their priorities and ideas for making their neighbourhood better for them, consultations on the Social Plan in 2024 which included a survey, pop-ups and forums and a focus group with senior students from a high school within the Shire on their aspirations for the future of Hornsby Shire. Outcome reports on these community engagements are available in the Consultation Reports section.

This review of the Community Strategic Plan was not intended to comprehensively revise Your vision | Your future 2032 but rather to test and refine the focus and approach based on extensive ongoing consultation. A detailed ‘Discussion Paper – Hornsby Shire 2035 Community Strategic Plan’ - summarising findings from the community engagements, the steps Council has taken in reviewing the Community Strategic Plan and outlining the changes that have been made is available in the Related Documents section.

On exhibition - Checking in with the community

Your vision | Your future 2035 was on exhibition from 13 March to 21 April 2025 on the Your Say Hornsby consultation website together with a Quick Poll on the Vision statement and a five-question online survey asking about the Vision, the top 10 priorities and the key challenges to ensure they still resonate with the community. A full report of the ‘CSP survey results 2025’ is available in the Consultation Reports section.

After consideration of feedback received, two minor updates were made to the Vision statement as below:

Updated Community Vision 2035 – Your vision | Your future 2035

The Bushland Shire is a place that inspires and sustains us. A place where we value our connections to each other and our environment, and celebrate living in our unique urban, rural and river communities.

Feedback confirmed the top 10 priorities remain the same and that relevant key challenges were already included.

Nine submissions were received during the exhibition period, none resulting in changes to the draft CSP.

There was wording added to three (of the eight) Strategic directions for clarity and to complete the statements:

“4. Resilient and sustainable” becomes “4. Resilient community, living sustainably”

“5. Natural environment” becomes “5. Healthy natural environment”

“7. Open and engaged” becomes “7. Informed and engaged community”.

Other minor administrative changes were made not affecting the intent of the draft CSP – see ‘Summary of submissions and changes after exhibition’ and link to Council Business Paper in the Related Documents section.

The final Plan

The final Hornsby Shire 2035 Community Strategic Plan, Your vision | Your future 2035, was endorsed by Council at the 11 June 2025 General Meeting.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Hornsby Community Strategic Plan (CSP) is a long term plan that factors in social, environmental, economic and governance impacts. The aim of the plan is to assist the Council to make informed decisions about the best ways to address challenges and make the most of opportunities. It provides more certainty for the community about our future priorities.

The plan represents the “blueprint” for the future – the community’s vision. It describes the focus of Council’s activities. It also recognises that others in our community (individuals, businesses, governments and agencies) can also contribute to future outcomes and are key partners in the development and implementation of the plan.

The plan is supported and underpinned by other Council plans and strategies which seek to deliver, resource and report on the outcomes of the plan.

The use of the word “strategic” is used intentionally to focus upon the ‘big picture’ items that will shape the community, the environment, the economy and the leadership of Hornsby Shire. Smaller, subservient and more detailed issues are important and will be addressed by policies and plans subsequently prepared in the context of the Hornsby Shire Community Strategic Plan 2035.

The plan is reviewed at the commencement of each new Council (councils are elected for four year terms) in consultation with the community.

The Community Indicators under each of the eight Strategic Directions will be measured to show progress. The results will inform a State of the Shire Report to be produced after the current Council term (ending in September 2028) showing progress towards the 25 goals and overall Vision identified in the Plan, and will also inform the development of the next Community Strategic Plan.