HORNSBY SHIRE COUNCIL
ICMA AWARD APPLICATION - 2009 ANNUAL AWARDS PROGRAM
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE AWARD

Hornsby Shire Council is one of the leading Councils in Australia in the area of sustainability and natural resource management.  The positioning of Hornsby Shire Council in this way is by no means accidental. It has been driven substantially by Mr Robert Ball, our General Manager.
Robert Ball has been the General Manager of Hornsby Shire since 1992.  During this time, his leadership and his recognition of the community’s expectation to better manage its natural resources has meant that Hornsby is now recognised as a leader in this field, not only in New South Wales, but across Australia.  As General Manager, Robert realised the need to better structure his organisation to meet the ever-increasing demands from the community to address sustainability.
To achieve this goal he established, in 1993, to our knowledge, the first Environment Division within Local Government in New South Wales.  This was designed wholly to address the issues evolving around natural resource management and sustainability.  The establishment of the Environment Division achieved a number of strategic outcomes.  These included:
a)	The grouping of functions that have a direct influence on managing environmental outcomes, e.g. it agglomerated the functional areas of water quality, bushland, parks, waste and fire management. Thus achieving efficiencies in areas such as the integration of ecological management and hazard reduction.
b)	It succeeded in lifting the profile of the environment both within the organisation and external to it.
c)	It resulted in an executive sponsor (Executive Manager) ensuring integration of environmental issues with other major Council Divisions.
d)	It resulted in the recruitment of personnel with the appropriate skills in sustainability management.
e)	It also allowed for the encouragement of innovation by staff when addressing environmental concerns.
Environmental education was also integrated into the Environment Division as a key function at this early time due to its importance in sustainability management.

The establishment of the Environment Division was in response to a series of toxic algal blooms in the Hawkesbury River estuary in 1993.  These blooms caused fish kills and enormous publicity and resulted in much community concern at the direction this implied for the degradation of the general Hornsby environment.  To address this issue, Robert worked with Councillors to develop a strategy to influence the State Government to undertake an active role in addressing these impacts and their involvement in the Hornsby Shire.  
This resulted in Hornsby Council stopping the assessment of development applications pending the support of the State Government to address the issue of these toxic algal blooms in the estuary. This action forced the State Government to enter into negotiations with Sydney Water, Hornsby Shire Council, the Environment Protection Authority, the Hawkesbury Nepean Catchment Management Trust and the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning to develop a Statement of Joint Intent (SoJI) which committed all the above parties to the remediation of the Berowra Creek catchment.
This Statement of Joint Intent (SoJI) was the first of its kind in NSW and was driven by Robert.  This agreement has resulted in a vast array of natural resource and sustainability programs being implemented over the past 10 years to mitigate against the impacts of development and to enhance the environment of Hornsby Shire.  Some of the initiatives at this time included:
•	The upgrade of the two sewage treatment plants in Hornsby to reduce nitrogen output at a cost of approximately $23 million.
•	The initiation of the first “Environment Levy” to be levied by local government in NSW, called the Catchment Remediation Rate, which has constructed approximately 400 catchment remediation projects, and currently removes approximately 1200 tonnes of gross pollutants per annum. These works collect tens of kilograms of nutrients per annum, and have resulted in the restoration of approximately 15 kms of riparian vegetation.  Over the past 10 years, approximately $20M has been expended on this program.
•	A Water Quality Management Strategy was developed with 145 actions for each of the State agencies to progress over the following 10 years covering all aspects of aquatic ecosystem management, protection and education.
•	The initiation of a comprehensive Water Quality Monitoring Program which has been used over the last 10 years as the basis for Council’s assessment of environmental quality across the Shire. This is the most comprehensive monitoring program currently deployed anywhere in NSW. The program monitors physical, chemical and biological parameters, including the use of diatoms and macroinvertebrates as indicators of ecosystem health. 
•	Being the Bushland Shire, the management of terrestrial habitats is also high on the list of importance to residents of this Shire.  To this end, Robert has ensured significant support to programs such as the Volunteer Bush Regeneration Program and a contract Bush Regeneration Program.
•	A Flora and Fauna Corridors and Vegetation Links program was initiated.
•	A Generic Plan of Management for natural bushland areas was developed and implemented.
•	A Plan of Management for Threatened Species within the Shire was developed and implemented.
•	The Bushfire Management and Hazard Reduction Programs were integrated into the goals of conservation, ecological management and sustainability.
•	The concept of strategic environmental assessments was introduced into Council’s planning activities through the application of a ‘Sensitive Urban Land Study’ which addressed the integrated issues of topography, proximity to water courses, soil dispersibility, soil landscapes, plant communities, bushland, fauna habitats and bushfire hazards.  For each parameter, one of 3 environmental sensitivity levels (the highest being 3) was applied to each parcel of land in the Shire to assist in the assessment of proposed developments in these areas.
•	A Sub-catchment Pollution Stream Load Monitoring Program was established with a catchment-wide Pollution Combing Strategy.
•	An extensive environmental auditing program was also established to address industrial areas, marinas, and agricultural land use types across the Shire.
•	A comprehensive study was conducted regarding the importance of street sweeping to environmental management which supported its use and resulted in an expanded Street Sweeping Program.
•	A series of ‘Codes of Practice’ were developed for soil and water management.
•	A ‘Water Sensitive Urban Design Development Control Plan’ (WSUD DCP) with a ‘Manual of Best Practice’ was also developed. This DCP was ahead of its time as only now the State Government is coming to grips with the need for such planning instruments.
•	Estuarine algal bloom dynamics and algal bloom toxicity monitoring was also worked into the Water Quality Monitoring program.
•	Estuarine sedimentation rates were assessed and related to previous development.
•	A comprehensive ‘Estuary Management Plan’, production and implementation program was entered into with the establishment of the ‘Berowra Creek Estuary Management Committee’ and subsequently, the ‘Brooklyn Estuary Management Committee’.
•	A baseline aquatic ecosystem survey was conducted to assess aquatic ecosystem health across the Shire.
•	A Water Quality Load Monitoring Study was completed to target highly impacted sub-catchments and direct water quality capital works projects.
•	In principle the concepts surrounding ecologically sustainable development were rolled out across Council.
Since the instigation of the SoJI Agreement, Robert has ensured, through the expansion of the Environment Division that issues of sustainability continue to be assessed through Council’s actions, ongoing budget allocations, and support for grant applications. 
Some of the more outstanding recent sustainability successes within Hornsby Council, and driven by Robert personally, include the following:
•	Development of a triple bottom line decision making process for all Council Business Papers with alignment to Council’s Strategic Themes of conserving our natural environment, contributing to community development through sustainable facilities and services, fulfilling our community’s vision in planning for the future of the Shire, working with our community, supporting our diverse economy and maintaining sound corporate and financial management. 
•	Alignment to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Reporting Framework.  GRI is an independent non-profit organisation that has developed globally applicable sustainability reporting guidelines and indicators.  These have been incorporated into Council’s Management Plan and Annual Report.
•	Moving towards Integrated Reporting with the development of Council’s first Annual Report and Sustainability Report.
•	Attendance by Robert in the Environs Australia Delegation and Local Agenda 21 Case Studies from Australia Summit in Johannesburg 2002.  Robert outlined Hornsby Council’s primary organisational aims on building partnerships around climate change, LA21 committees in other regions, biodiversity and indicators development. Robert indicated that the ‘Summit’ would allow some assessment of how Hornsby Council is performing at both the regional and global level.
•	Establishment of the ‘Local Agenda 21 Committee’, which has subsequently been developed into the Sustainability Action Committee.
•	Since committing to its target of a 20% reduction in greenhouse gases (based on 1995/96 levels) by 2010, Council has already invested over $2 million in the past 7 years to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 28%.   Council has independently measured and verified this reduction and set new targets of 30% by 2010, 35% by 2012 and 60% by 2050 for its own operations and 5% by 2010 and 10% by 2012 for the community. Council’s success in achieving our emission reduction target has been primarily achieved through the implementation of Australia’s most comprehensive local government energy performance contract, and an Australian first trigeneration air conditioning system. In order to achieve and maintain our target of a 30% reduction by 2010, Council is currently extending its energy performance contract across more of its existing assets, along with implementing a Sustainable Energy Strategy that will assist in overcoming the threat of the growth in the number and size of new Council assets.
•	The development and rollout of the International Standards ISO 14000 and ISO 9000 to strategic areas within Council. Hornsby Shire Council was the first Council in NSW to achieve dual certification in ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 for the Water Catchments Team.
•	Hornsby Shire Council is now one of the recognised leaders in the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) programs for Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) and is now rolling out its commitments to the ICLEI Water Campaign, being one of the first Councils to achieve Milestone 5, with the development of a Water Conservation Policy and a Water Management Plan.  
•	The initiation of the first public boat effluent pumpout facility on the Hawkesbury River in an effort to address the volume of untreated effluent which was entering the estuary and impacting on the oyster industry, and commercial and recreational fishing.
•	The current initiation and development of a Sustainable Water Cycle Management Strategy and Model for all of Hornsby that will address and integrate all elements of the water cycle and feed this information into our planning processes.
•	The development of the innovative treatment of leachate from old land fill sites to reuse it for irrigation and other worthwhile purposes.
•	The application of the principles of life cycle asset management to Hornsby’s natural assets such as bushland and waterways.
•	The implementation of an ‘Environmental Pollution Hotline’ for the residents of the Shire of Hornsby, in addition to that offered by the State Government.
•	The development of a remote algal bloom warning station in Berowra Creek with a dedicated webpage.
•	The development and implementation of a comprehensive assessment methodology to regulate development applications to mitigate against environmental impacts.
•	The development of Plans of Management for Council Parks which integrate both community needs, environmental impacts and sustainable resource use.
•	The instigation of a sustainable business program which worked with the business communities in the three industrial areas across the Shire.
•	The development, by the Waste Management Team, of the Green Organics Strategy and the Waste Minimisation and Management Strategy.
•	The initiation of water conservation and reuse programs in such areas as swimming pools, parks and the conservation of water across all Council buildings.

This organisational structure and these initiatives have placed Hornsby Council at the forefront of corporate sustainability reporting and natural resource management in Australia. This has only been possible through the dedication and foresight of our General Manager, Mr Robert John Ball.