New South Wales has over 180,000 km of roads across its network. Local councils manage over 85% of these roads.

This audit will consider how effectively three councils are managing their road assets. The audit will examine whether the selected councils have a strategic framework in place for road assets, have effective data and systems for managing road assets and whether they manage their road assets in line with planned service levels and quality outcomes.  

The councils selected for this audit are Gwydir Shire Council, Wollondilly Shire Council and Clarence Valley Council.

The audit will also consider relevant guidance and support provided to councils by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.

The coast is one of our greatest assets in New South Wales and is home to nearly 85% of the state’s population. The NSW Government has established a framework to manage the coastal environment in a sustainable way for the wellbeing of the people of New South Wales. This includes the Coastal Management Act 2016, which requires certain local councils to prepare a coastal management program, and the State Environmental Planning Policy (Resilience and Hazards) 2021. The Department of Planning and Environment is responsible for the Act and assists local councils in the coastal zone ('coastal councils') by administering grant funding and offering technical support and coordination for their coastal management programs.

This audit could assess how effectively the Department has overseen and implemented key elements of this reform package, and how effectively coastal councils have progressed coastal management planning and delivered coastal management programs.