Recognition galore for Northern Beaches Council

It’s been a busy year and October has been fruitful month for Northern Beaches Council with staff and teams being recognised for the incredible work they do.

From Hall of Fame inductees to Excellence Awards, Council would like to acknowledge and congratulate all involved for their hard work and dedication to our community.

Justin Burke, Team Leader, Youth Services at Northern Beaches Council has been announced as an inductee into the 2020 NSW Youth Work Hall of Fame.

Justin works in establishing and innovating a variety of youth programs, events and activities on the Northern Beaches. He has over 25 years of experience in a variety of roles and is a strong advocate for young people to be involved in decision making processes.

He has built a new youth team which focuses on innovation, community and Council collaboration and partnerships.

Council’s Youth Team were also nominated for several awards.

Work with our community on our Local Strategic Planning Statement, Towards 2040, and our Arts and Creativity Strategy, Connected through Creativity 2029, ensured Council took home the prestigious Greater Sydney Commission’s Community Collaboration Award on 29 October.  This is great industry acknowledgement for our organisation.

Delivering the award, the judges said: Northern Beaches Council has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to close collaboration with their community. Being a Council that was formed in 2016 after the amalgamation of Manly, Pittwater and Warringah Councils, the development of a shared vision and the Local Strategic Planning Statement was one of their highest priorities. They used a wide range of innovative engagement methods to understand community views and to focus on opportunities for enhancing their local economies, liveability and sustainability. Other simultaneous strategic work, Connected through Creativity 2029, explored ways to enrich the local cultural landscape and economy – an especially significant piece of work in the wake of COVID-19. The strength and robustness of these pieces of work are a testament to the council’s vision and approach to community collaboration.

Thanks to the many people who worked with us on these significant projects that provide a vision for the future of the Northern Beaches. 

As finalist, Council has been highly commended for two projects in the Local Government NSW – 2020 Excellence in the Environment awards, for a special waste reduction event, video series, and the Swap for Good business program. The event and video series empower and creates long lasting behaviour changes by building capacity among residents and encouraging them to think differently about unwanted goods and household waste.

Over 11,000 people have taken part in the series, leading to a 21 percent drop in tonnes of domestic garbage sent to landfill and a 34 percent drop in tonnes of bulky goods waste sent to landfill.

The Swap for Good business program was created to provide direction and empower businesses to phase out single-use plastics (SUPS).

Waste educators worked with over 2,000 local food and beverage businesses to help facilitate change to help reduce SUPS. This was done through face-to-face and online engagement, events, workshops, webinars and a resource kit.

A webinar “A Plastic-free School Canteen” was conducted after interest from schools, attracting 170 registrations with half the schools on the Northern Beaches represented.

This led to a new wave of development of resources focused on sustainable options for school canteens.

Council was crowned the Metropolitan Regional Winner of Risk Management Excellence Award, for its Disclosure Management System.

The innovative program brings together a range of disclosure requirements into one application. The tool will enhance our ability to pre-emptively manage conflicts of interest and increase a culture of proactive disclosure, substantially reducing Council’s risk exposures in this key area.