Wednesday 26 April 2017

Ten-year community plan released for Lake Macquarie

By LAUREN FREEMANTLE

A draft Community Strategic Plan detailing future regional projects has been placed on public exhibition by Lake Macquarie City Council.

The move comes after a council meeting on Monday night, where the decision was made to call for additional community consultation on the Delivery Program and Operational Plan which will be used to carry out the works cited in 'Our Future in Detail.'

The 'Our Future in Detail' plan includes more than $111 million worth of capital works which will be undertaken in Lake Macquarie throughout 2017 and 2018. The money spent will broken down into $30 million on road surface upgrades; $19.7 million on improvements to parks and playgrounds; $4.7 million on the upgrade of local sporting facilities and $4.6 million on traffic works.

"These plans capture our community's vision for the future of Lake Macquarie," says Mayor, Kay Fraser.

In addition to this, over the course of the next 10 years, Council are promising that Phase 2 green waste services will be rolled out to households and at least 2600 cultural programs will be brought to Lake Macquarie's art gallery and library.

Council is also promising to advocate for state and federal funding for the second stage of the Lake Macquarie Transport Interchange.

"What we're doing is first-off inviting community feedback on the plans," says Mayor Fraser.

"We've already gone through a detailed community engagement- we held Shape Our Future, where we were out asking the community what they wanted, what their vision and values were for the city..."

However, following the release of the draft Strategic and Operational Plans, Council is urging residents to read over the documents, available online or at Lake Macquarie libraries and get in contact with council regarding their concerns.