Health Impact Assessment of Lithgow City Council’s Strategic Plan
Sydney West Area Health Service and Lithgow City Council
This report explains the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) process and presents the findings of the HIA of the Lithgow City Council Strategic Plan, 2007. The primary output of the HIA is a set of evidencebased recommendations geared to informing the decision-making process. These recommendations aim to highlight practical ways to enhance the positive impacts or minimise any negative impacts on health, well being and health inequalities that might arise or exist in response to the Lithgow City Council Strategic Plan.
The Lithgow City Council Strategic Plan is the first long-term plan to be developed by Lithgow City Council in collaboration and consultation with the community and government. It introduces a new framework of strategic planning in the Lithgow local government area, which is driven by the community’s vision and issues. The Plan incorporates the visions and strategies and feeds these into Council’s management and operational plans to deliver actions that ultimately achieve the vision for the community. The objective of the Strategic Plan is to provide the strategic framework for the future development of the Lithgow Local Government Area and to encourage environmental, economic and social sustainability (Lithgow City Council Strategic Plan, 2007, Page 4).