Strategic Community Plan

Your feedback has helped shape the East Pilbara’s direction for the next decade.

Council unanimously adopted the Shire’s Strategic Community Plan 2026–2036 on 31 July 2026. The plan sets out our communities’ priorities and will guide the Shire’s planning, services, future budgets and advocacy.

Thank you to everyone who completed a survey, joined a workshop, stopped for a conversation at a pop-up or provided a written submission. More than 650 people participated across the engagement rounds, including approximately 230 people who provided feedback during consultation on the draft.

That feedback supported the plan’s overall direction and helped identify where objectives needed to be strengthened.

How your feedback changed the plan

• Housing: Concerns about housing availability informed a new objective to advocate for investment in employer-owned, private and social housing. The land-use objective was also broadened to explicitly include residential, commercial and industrial land.

• Health and public services: Feedback about GP wait times, inconsistent medical practitioners and gaps in other public services informed a new objective to advocate for and support workforce attraction and retention, helping address continuity of services and care.

• Newman town centre: Requests for more shops, food options and pop-up retail, alongside concerns about lost retail space, informed a new objective to work with building owners, business and industry to maintain the town’s retail and hospitality footprint and attract a wider range of offerings.

• Roads to remote communities: Feedback about isolation and road failures strengthened the plan’s recognition of remote roads as lifelines for the communities they serve.

What happens next

The plan provides the direction for the Shire’s work over the next ten years. The Corporate Business Plan sets out supporting actions and responsibilities, while annual budgets determine funding for the work ahead.

Some priorities are the Shire’s direct responsibility. Others require advocacy and collaboration with State and Federal governments, Traditional Owners, community organisations, businesses and industry.

The adopted plan includes a summary of what communities told us and the objectives that respond to those priorities.