Review of NSW Local Government Social Plans

The State Government has released a report to help local councils better consult and involve young people in the decisions which affect them.

The report found that more than half of all 152 NSW councils, 87 in total, had conducted either an in depth or good exploration of the issues facing young people in their social plans.

They had either good plans for addressing the issues or had addressed some of them in future planning.  Only a small number of councils had not identified any issues relating to young people. 

The majority of councils had run some form of consultation with young people in the process of writing the plan but the quality of this consultation varied significantly.

The State Government and DoCS have made the report available to local councils in the hope it will help them better identify ways they can involve young people aged 12 to 25 at a local government level.