Overview

At its Ordinary Meeting on Monday 29 January, Council resolved to accept a grant of $450,000 from the Regional Drought Resilience Planning program which is co-funded by the NSW Government and the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

The fund supports identified regions in NSW to develop their own Regional Drought Resilience Plans that can be implemented by councils and their communities to manage future risks.

It aims to encourage regional communities to be better prepared for drought through planning ahead, with consideration for environmental and social needs.

Wagga Wagga City Council was required to submit an application as a consortium with Lockhart Shire Council and will work together to develop the draft Regional Drought Resilience Plan.

Background

The Regional Drought Resilience Planning Program provides support to identified Local Government Areas in NSW to develop drought resilience plans that can be implemented by councils and their communities.

The program requires councils to work at a regional scale, and encouraging them to have plans for drought resilience beyond water security, considering environmental and social resilience needs.

It is designed to support the development of drought plans which will consider: 

  • growing the self-reliance and drought resilience of regional communities including the agricultural sector
  • improving natural capital of agricultural landscapes for better environmental outcomes 
  • strengthening the wellbeing and social capital of rural, regional and remote communities. 

The Regional Drought Resilience Planning program is administered by the Department of Regional NSW.

Community Consultation

How can we make our region more resilient to future droughts?

Community workshops were held in Tarcutta, The Rock, Lockhart and Wagga Wagga early August 2024.

Members of the community were invited to make submissions via the Regional Drought Resilience Plan Community Survey, which has now closed.

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