Mayoral Column - 16 February 2022

Published on 16 February 2022

It was an honour to preside over the first meeting of the newly elected Council last Wednesday, officially kicking off the council term in a positive and productive way.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Councillor Moores, who was elected Deputy Mayor during the meeting. I look forward to developing a positive working relationship with the newly elected Deputy Mayor, and the whole of the elected council, as we focus on our shared commitment to the residents, organisations and businesses across the Cessnock Local Government Area (LGA).

It has been wonderful to see various successful NSW Government grant applications be announced over the past couple of weeks, which will see a number of fantastic community projects come to life. As a Council with limited income streams, we often rely on applying for State and Federal grant funding to get our shovel-ready projects off the ground. Last financial year, around 20% of Council’s revenue came from grant funding, which allowed us to progress key projects and masterplans.

This newly announced funding, coupled with funding for the BMX facility announced in December last year will see close to $900,000 invested in new sporting facilities at Carmichael Park, a $3 million shared pathway to connect Bridges Hill Park to Nulkaba, $140,000 for the Manning Park leash free dog area and $300,000 for the Maybury Peace Park play space upgrade. Each of these projects will contribute to making our community more connected and a better place to live, all while encouraging an active healthy lifestyle, which is so important.

As Mayor of Cessnock City, I am committed to improving inclusivity in our community and better facilities for people with disability, so I was delighted to see Council also received $200,000 for an accessible entrance at the Cessnock Performing Arts Centre and $60,000 to upgrade McFarlane Street Park with new inclusive play equipment, an accessible path through the playground and the construction of a new picnic shelter with accessible seating. There has been significant improvements made in many of our local parks over the past few years to ensure everyone can play and I will work to ensure these accessible upgrades continue.

I also want to take this opportunity to strongly encourage those who haven’t already booked in to get their vaccine booster shots yet to please do so as soon as you are eligible. This is one of the best and easiest things we can do to keep ourselves and our community safe from Covid-19. With so many cases active in the community we all need to remain vigilant.