Lithgow City Council recently adopted the Economic Development Strategy 2010 – 2014. The full strategy can be downloaded from this website as can the Economic Development Summary document. Printed copies of the Economic Development Summary document can also be obtained from Council’s administration building in Mort Street.

1. Economic Development Strategy - COMPLETED

In 2007 the Council adopted its Strategic Plan. The Vision for the community is:

A centre of Regional excellence that:

• Encourages community growth and development
• Contributes to the efficient and effective management of the environment, community and economy for present and future generations.

The Strategic Plan provides a comprehensive overview of the directions to which the Council on behalf of the community has committed. Amongst other things, the Strategic Plan commits Council to communicating with the community, developing an economic development strategy, strengthening brand awareness, and continuing to develop tourism opportunities across LGA boundaries.

In November 2008 Council employed a full-time Economic Development Officer to write and implement an Economic Development Strategy with support funding from the Department of State and Regional Development. The key objective of the Economic Development Strategy is to develop programs to achieve the outcomes identified in Council’s vision statement noted above.

The Economic Development Strategy was specifically identified as a key task in the 3 year rolling management plan Council adopted in June 2007 for the 2007/08 – 2009/10 period.

What is Economic Development?

Economic Development is essentially a means of encouraging the sustainable development of a region through direct investment and growth of established industries for the benefit of the community as a whole. It involves identifying the characteristics of a region and its people such as:

• Demographic make-up and analysis; and
• Identifying the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to a region.

It also requires a series of other actions to be completed that will contribute and influence the outcomes of the strategy. These are done as part of the process prior to the final document being published. Some of these actions include:

• Completing a Business Retention and Expansion Survey to identify issues including ‘skills-gaps’;
• Organising workshops to harness public input;
• Overhauling the Council ‘Business’ website;
• Developing an ‘interim’ investor pack which can be modified once the strategy has been completed;
• Coordinating services/assistance for small/medium businesses in the region;
• Developing a full retail strategy which takes into account the entire region (including Main Street).
• Considering marketing and branding which adopt a wholistic approach and includes the Local Government Area, Lithgow City Council, business growth and tourism.

The end goal is essentially to produce a series of actions which will need to be prioritised, in order to take the region forward. The Strategy will provide an achievable direction for the region as it will be specific to the requirements and opportunities of the Lithgow Local Government Area.