Council Action Plans

Creating and implementing a Sustainable Public Lighting Action Plan can help councils to build their capacity in three areas:

• Internal Strategy and Support: The processes, systems and strategies that underpin public lighting management within council, and the strength of support for energy efficient public lighting amongst senior management, councillors and staff with public lighting responsibilities within your council. 
  

• Data and Technology: Council’s access to public lighting data (e.g. on public lighting stock, its energy use and greenhouse production), ability to analyse and use that data, and access to people with public lighting expertise. This enables a robust business case, effective decision-making, and full consideration of the Australian Standards and other regulations.

• External Relationships: Building effective relationships with your local distribution business, lighting suppliers, the community and, perhaps most importantly, other councils.

To create an Action Plan for your council, follow the steps below:

• Step 1: Assess the current situation
• Step 2: Setting priorities
• Step 3: Writing the action plan
• Step 4: Implementing actions
• Step 5: Review and re-strategise
• Example action plans and relevant contacts
• More information

Benchmarking council's current public lighting situation will inform and direct council’s overall direction, goals, priorities in the Action Plan. To do this, council can use the Council Self-Analysis Checklist or the more detailed Gap Analysis Tool. Remember to involve all staff with responsibility for public lighting in the process, preferably through an internal whole-of-council working group, or through meetings, briefings or memos. Here are some hints for finding public lighting information in your council.

Council's goals and priorities for sustainable public lighting should:

• be developed internally with the input of all staff responsible for public lighting management
• fit into councils' asset management planning and strategic planning framework
• consider how council defines 'sustainable' and 'public lighting' (ie are issues besides achieving energy efficiency in street lighting included?)
• are achievable and measurable within set time frames.

One process council could use is to imagine as a group what a sustainable public lighting future what would it look like for your council. Using this vision, identify council’s goals, breaking them down into objectives that act as steps along the way.

Alternatively, some councils have found that goals are not as important to them as the actions, or that they don't fit well into councils' strategic planning framework. In which case, this step is not as important; however it is still worth making sure everyone in council is on the same page.

Possible example goals

• By 2015 reduce energy use in the public lighting sector to 20% below 1996 levels.
• Achieve a 2% (pro rata) decrease in energy use from public lighting by 2010-11 from 1998-99 levels.
• Reduce toxic waste resulting from mercury light disposal by 10% by 2010.
• Maintain public lighting amenity as per the Australian Standards and Public Lighting Code by 2010.

Possible example objectives

• Establish good relationships by 2007-08 with distribution business and lighting supply companies that specialise in energy efficient street lighting.
• Work collaboratively with all levels of government, lighting suppliers, and distribution companies to develop regional approaches to sustainable public lighting (e.g. establish a regional Public Lighting Working Group).
• Improve data collection, recording and revision for public lighting.
• Have a public lighting policy in place by 2007-08 requiring developers to install energy efficient street lights in all new developments.

See the example SPLAPs for more ideas about goals and objectives.

Action Plans are usually internal working documents with background information and prioritised actions to increase the sustainability of councils' public lighting services. To write your Action Plan:

1. Incorporate the development of the Action Plan into relevant staff's workloads. 
2. Use the updated Action Plan Template, which outlines how to:
   • Incorporate background information (from Step 1) and goals (from Step 2)
   • Choose actions to achieve these goals using the Action Planning Worksheet, information and advice in the Taking Action section, example action plans, and/or the Actions Checklist
   • Identify staff responsibilities for actions
   • Set priorities, timelines, and budget figures (where possible) for actions
   • Establish a monitoring and review process and timeframe.
3. Many councils find that having a meeting or workshop (or two) to identify the actions, responsibilities, priorities and so on is extremely worthwhile.
4. Check over your draft Action Plan using the Self-Verification Checklist, and circulate it to all relevant council staff for comment before finalising.
5. Have your mayor, council or CEO/General Manager sign off on the goals and objectives, the objectives, and the monitoring and review process using (or adapting) this Template Council Endorsement Report.

As council progressively implements actions from its Action Plan, ensure you:

• Work through the other topics in Taking Action for resources and information.
• Build tasks/actions into relevant staff/unit work schedules, using the Action Planning Tool.
• Incorporate actions into council budgets as relevant.
• Progressively build the business case for action within council.
• Actively pursue funding opportunities.
• Regularly identify opportunities for new projects and actions through the monitoring and review process.
• Work with other councils and stakeholders to implement actions.
• Build political support by keeping councillors up to date.
• Keep abreast of technological developments and council actions and broader developments in your state or territory.

Note that CCP councils can receive technical, political and program support to ensure the effective implementation of the Action Plan. This includes the annual quantification all energy efficient public lighting installations for the CCP National Measures Report, using the ICLEI Oceania Quantification Toolkit (remember to use your login to access this tool.)

Your council will have determined a monitoring and review process as part of developing an Action Plan (see Step 3).

Monitoring should be done on a regular basis with responsibility allocated for this task, and should feed back into ongoing implementation.

A review process should be conducted by council’s workplace public lighting working group, environmental team, or other equivalent body and involve:

• Reassessing the situation (see Step 1).
• Checking that actions are still aligned with sustainable public lighting priorities (see Step 2).
  
• Updating the SPLAP (see Step 3).
• Report the review outcomes to senior management and council.

See example action plans, below, for other councils' monitoring and review processes.

• Banyule City Council, Victoria. Contact Clayton Simpson, CCP Officer, Ph: +61 (0)3 9457 9828 for more information.
• City of Armadale, WA. Contact Jason Menzies, Regional Greenhouse Coordinator, Ph: +61 (0)8 9399 0622 for more information.
• City of Melbourne, Victoria. See also how they developed it.
• Bass Coast Shire Council, Victoria. Contact Clare Landry, Environment Project Officer, Ph: +61 (0)3 5671 2270 for more information.
• Gannawarra Shire Council, Victoria.
• City of Port Adelaide Enfield, South Australia.

In addition to creating an individual action plan, councils may also wish to consider developing a regional action plan and/or a sustainable public lighting strategy or policy.

If you have any questions about writing or implementing an action plan, contact the CCP Public Lighting Manager, ICLEI Oceania.

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