Sustainability Statement

At the City of Ryde, we are committed to sustainability in everything we do. Our Community Strategic Plan sets out the overall direction and long-term plans for the economic, social and environmental sustainability of our City.

The plan consists of seven key challenges and opportunities identified by our community about their needs:

1.

2. Managing the needs of a growing population

Addressing the needs of a changing population

3.

4. Offering suitable housing options while maintaining the characteristics of our suburbs

Creating a strong economy and employment closer to home

5. Managing the pressure of population growth on our amenity

6. Adapting to climate change

7. Remaining competitive.

We integrate economic, social and environmental sustainability across all aspects of our business and consider the triple bottom line impacts of our activities to ensure that they are also sustainable.

Social sustainability

To be socially sustainable, we develop processes and infrastructure that meet the current needs of our community and those of future generations. We recognise that we have a unique role in promoting active citizenship, reducing disadvantage, strengthening community wellbeing and celebrating diversity in the community. We have developed a range of policies, strategies and programs to help our ageing population, address disadvantage, increase physical activity, ensure public health, improve food security, and prevent violence against women and children.

Our Social Plan 2019-2024 outlines a strategic roadmap to sustain and improve social wellbeing in the City of Ryde. It provides a shared vision for a cohesive, inclusive and healthy community and network of connected places and people, and a framework to guide the future activities, services and programs delivered by the community and Council.

Our Creativity Strategy 2019- 2024 outlines a vision and strategic roadmap for Council, community and partners to support, build and empower arts and creativity in our City. We have also recently undertaken a review of our cultural facilities, which makes recommendations for future spaces that support and foster arts and culture, and provide space for creatives to meet and create.

Our Children's Play Implementation Plan helps ensure that all families within the City of Ryde have access to safe, accessible and high quality playgrounds.

Each year we celebrate Harmony Day in March and Social Inclusion Week in November, to encourage communities to reconnect and be inclusive of all cultures, age groups, nationalities and the disadvantaged. Find out more about how we are building a safe, inclusive and equitable community in our Diverse and Inclusive City outcome from page 204.

Our Disability Inclusion Action Plan is a commitment from Council that people with a disability are welcomed, accepted and respected in our community. A number of initiatives help support and encourage people with disability in our community including finding meaningful work, recognising and supporting businesses that welcome people of all backgrounds and improving our open spaces, recreational facilities and sporting opportunities to make them more inclusive. More about our work can be found in our Statutory Reporting Section on page 379.

Providing a safe and healthy environment for our staff is also crucial. We aim to provide a good work/life balance and offer flexible work options. Our policies and procedures support health and wellbeing, learning and development, human rights, diversity and inclusion, equal employment opportunity, and codes of conduct. Our Human Resources report on page 54 has more information.

Environmental sustainability recognises the role of the environment in the long-term stability of our City and our community.

We recognise the relationship between the health of our environment and the economic and social health of our City and have developed a range of programs aimed at reducing waste, enhancing our natural environment and help our community live more sustainably and reduce our environmental impact.

Our Ryde Biodiversity Plan provides a comprehensive framework to assist in the management, enhancement and protection of natural areas and biodiversity across the City of Ryde. Our updated Waste Management Strategy targets a 20 percent per capita reduction in waste sent to landfill while we have introduced a Council policy to ban single-use plastics. We have a wide range of programs aimed at helping our community live more sustainably, from our Ryde Environmental Education Network to our Home Waste and Sustainability Advisory service.

As well as actively working to reduce power and water consumption across all of our services and facilities, we embed sustainability principles into all areas of our work. This includes sustainable planning, transport, design, food production, handling of waste, and the way we do business.

We became the first council in NSW to develop and endorse a comprehensive local resilience plan. The Ryde Resilience Plan 2030 was developed in response to community concerns about current and future issues impacting resilience in our City, and in recognition that a city’s capacity to respond to and recovery from major shocks is influenced by other previous events and underlying chronic stresses that weaken the community. The plan will allow the community and our own operations to better prepare for major shocks and emergencies as well as respond to and recover from risks and threats from heatwaves, severe storms, floods and bushfires, as well as infrastructure failure, communications meltdowns and pandemics.

It sets out an action plan to help support and equip the community with the tools required to become more resilient to adapt, survive and thrive, with actions taken over a ten-year-period that build capacity and ensure the Ryde community, businesses and Council can prepare for local and global events, pressures and uncertainties.

Find out more about how we are working to build the health and long-term sustainability of our natural and built environment in the City of Ryde in the Our Natural and Sustainable City outcome from page 142, and in many other parts of this Annual Report.

To ensure our local economy remains vibrant and sustainable for the long term, we are working towards building a healthy and resilient local economy across our town centres and neighbourhoods. Our initiatives include revitalising town centres and commercial areas to attract businesses and an increased diversity of shops, cafés and restaurants as well as support for an improved night time economy, improving digital and transport connections across the City and supporting people and businesses to launch and nurture businesses and careers.

Our Economic Development Program supports micro, small, medium and large enterprises, with continuous and regular events, programs, and initiatives that will help drive job creation. During the year, many of these moved to an online mode of delivery, while additional workshops and activities helped local business cope with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part of our focus on economic sustainability involves leading by example. To support economic sustainability and the resilience of the City of Ryde economy we have developed a range of strategies and programs, including our Long-Term Financial Plan, Strengthening Ryde Strategy, Community Strategic Plan, Local Strategic Planning Statement and Local Environmental Plan. They encompass issues of sustainable growth, land use and planning priorities, infrastructure, housing and business development.

We are operating in a dynamic economic environment and our plans and strategies are designed to help existing business embrace change and encourage innovative businesses for current and future generations. These were tested during the COVID-19 pandemic as we pivoted our activities to support our community through a range of initiatives including online events programs and other activities as well as direct measures such as grants programs to support hard-hit businesses, rate deferrals for affected community members and the waiver of variety of regulatory fees aimed at assisting small business.

Prudent financial management over many years ensured that we were able to draw on internal reserves, reduce expenditure, bring forward technology upgrades to maintain operational continuity, and defer some projects to meet the expected $12 million net financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Find out more about how we are working to build a prosperous and thriving local economy in our Smart and Innovative City outcome from page 168.

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