During the 2018-19 financial year Port Macquarie-Hastings Council continued its strong performance delivering projects across the local government area.
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During the year, council delivered around $60 million of works across the local government area, taking the total of works delivered over the past five years to more than $310 million.
This includes adopting the Laurieton Sports Complex Master Plan, construction and completion of the Flynns Beach sea wall and finishing the Wauchope off-leash dog park.
General Manager Craig Swift-McNair said one of the greatest challenges that Council and the community continue to face is keeping up with the growth of the area.
"In addition to Councils significant continued investment during 2018/19, there was high confidence and a continued level of investment being made in our area as evidenced by the 1,096 development applications that were received by Council, at an approved value of more than $438 million," Mr Swift-McNair said.
"This level of investment and growth brings with it numerous challenges including addressing traffic congestion, and during 2018/19 there was a large continued focus on broad transport network improvements to our existing road network."
Other projects completed across the Hastings include continued upgrades to the Port Macquarie Coastal Walk, design works for the Hastings Regional Sporting Facility at Wauchope and over 620 hectares of land was treated for invasive weeds
Mr Swift-McNair said the work undertaken was to ensure the region had a strong future.
"One of the guiding principles for a Council is to strategically plan for the future of our area, and our challenge is how best to undertake this strategic planning whilst balancing the diverse needs of the local community," he said.
"As can be seen by all that was achieved in 2018-2019, Council continues to strive to deliver improved outcomes for our community.
"Our focus remains on improving the customer experience across all our operations and more broadly, on remaining a leader in local government, all in an effort to ensure our region is a place where people want to live, learn, work, play and invest."
Mayor Peta Pinson spoke positively about how Council is truly focussed on delivering and improving on all fronts.
"It is impressive to see the range of initiatives that Council have delivered on behalf of our community during 2018/19, in addition to the diverse offerings being provided by the public sector," Cr Pinson said.
"This is an exciting time for the Port Macquarie-Hastings region, and our future is definitely bright.... why wouldn't you want to live, work and play here?"
Some of the projects and actions Council delivered throughout 2018/19:
- More than 743,000 visits to the Council corporate website
- Nearly 1,000 residents have been involved in Community Planning
- More than 75,000 calls were received by the customer call centre and over 92,000 counter enquiries were processed
- The Laurieton Sports Complex Master Plan was adopted
- Maintenance programs continued for parks, reserves, sporting fields and beaches
- The Port Macquarie Coastal Walk upgrade continued, with the Westport Park segment completed in November 2018
- The Flynns Beach sea wall commenced construction, with completion in November 2019
- Design works continued for the Hastings Regional Sporting Facility at Wauchope
- Upgrades to the Kooloonbung Creek foreshore from Gordon St to Hayward St were completed
- The Wauchope off-leash dog park was completed
- Library membership across the area increased from 33,087 to 34,231
- In late 2018, Council adopted the Port Macquarie-Hastings Cultural Plan
- Council completed a business confidence survey of over 400 businesses
- Visits to the destination web site increased by over 46% compared to 2017/18, with 367,900 users
- Stage 1 of the Port Macquarie Airport terminal building upgrade was completed, with Stage 2 due to be completed in December 2019
- The $29 million implementation of the small village sewer scheme at Long Flat, Comboyne and Telegraph Point commenced in October 2018
- The Wauchope Main Street upgrade continued
- The Newport Island Road and Hastings River Drive roundabout was completed
- Pavement improvements continued on roads such as Bago Road and Beechwood Road
- The road rehabilitation program continued across the area
- Over 620ha of land was treated for invasive weeds
