FAQs

Council’s objective under the Policy is to ensure that public land is maintained and used safely for the amenity and benefit of the community, visitors and the environment; to obtain appropriate rentals for the use of public land; and to apply the principles of consistency, transparency and accountability when leasing and licensing Council controlled land.

The purpose of the Procedure is to provide Council with an equitable, transparent and accountable management framework for determining rental assessment and rebates with clear priorities linked to Council’s strategic directions and Community’s needs. Further, the Procedure acts to help Council to clearly communicate its intentions in relation to the allocation of rental rebates with user groups and the broader community.

The updated Procedure will provide Council and the community with the following benefits:

• Alignment with NSW Crown Lands Rental Concession Policy
• Clarified and simplified rental rebate application
• Fairness and transparency of application of rental rebate for community groups
• Provision of commercial market rate rentals applied where appropriate

The Procedure currently incorporates a mechanism whereby the rental rate and any applicable rebate is assessed based on 12 different criteria. Council is proposing to update the Procedure by simplifying the rebate mechanism. It is proposed that rental rebates be assessed based on:

• Land classification (i.e. whether it is operational or community);
• Land ownership (owned and managed by council or owned by the crown and managed by
• council); and
• User category.

Consistent with the principles of the NSW Crown Lands Rental Concession Policy, Council is proposing to distinguish between the following user categories:

• Commercial entities;
• Community volunteer service groups;
• Single interest and sporting groups;
• Registered clubs; and
• Other groups or individuals as appropriate.

The proposed Procedure includes a matrix for determining the rental to be applied. Where the

application of the revised procedure results in a significant increase in rental being charged (i.e. full

market-based rental), then Council will apply a staged process for increasing the rent over a specific

period (e.g. five years) in order to allow the organisation to appropriately budget for such increase.

This mainly impacts organisations with high revenue turnover.

Council has resolved to place the Procedure on public exhibition for a period of 28 days. The exhibition period will close on Friday 15^th April at 4pm.