Welcome to my first official Mayor’s Column of 2017. We’ve had our first Council Meeting of the year too and I’m very glad to let you know that the new Councillors team is back full of enthusiasm and energy and keen to get working for Coffs Harbour.
I thought I’d share with you some of the key points to come out of that Meeting.
One was that we agreed, in our capacity as Corporate Manager of the Coffs Coast State Park Trust, to approve an allocation of $600,000 towards the cost of moving Marine Rescue Woolgoolga’s operations to Arrawarra Headland -part of an overall strategy to improve Woolgoolga Beach Reserve.
These moves will have far reaching benefits, not only for the volunteer rescue organisations, but for the wider community as it will free up space for improvements that both the community and visitors can enjoy. It’s a complex project, and involves a lot of negotiation between the various stakeholders, but it will ultimately have very positive outcomes for the Woolgoolga community and all the organisations involved.
Another exciting project we supported was to seek Australian Government funding of $6.72m towards the cost of a proposed $13.44m upgrade of C.ex Coffs International Stadium.
The Stadium already enjoys a reputation as one of the best regional venues in the country. Every year it hosts top tier elite sport events, as well as lots of school carnivals and local sports finals.
The recent addition of broadcast quality lighting has seen the Stadium attract even more major events – such as our first A-League/W-League double-header and, of course, this weekend’s Swans v North Melbourne AFL clash.
But we have to look at ways for the Stadium to maintain its ranking as a top regional and national venue into the future.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the Federal Government agrees that it’s a valuable regional project and provides us with the funding we need.
