A shout out this week to State Emergency Service (SES), NSW Police and all in the community who pulled together in the face of the bucketing rain and floods last week. At Council we had crews out all weekend attending to blocked drains, managing traffic and road closures, assessing damage, monitoring conditions and backing up the great work of the SES removing fallen trees.

Incidents like this really showcase the incredible community spirit here on the Northern Beaches, with neighbour reaching out to neighbour and our wonderful local SES volunteers out in the elements, supporting the most vulnerable.

We are celebrating Youth Week this month with some fantastic events, workshops and activities aimed at 12- to 24-year-olds. There’s a young writers’ competition, inflatable obstacle course, open mic night, 3x3 basketball comp, second hand market, plus screen printing, car maintenance and managing money workshops. Check out the full program.

And good luck to all those competing in the semi-finals of Northern Composure, our youth band comp. I’m looking forward to the grand final later this month, supporting popular headline act The Grograns.

With school holidays upon us, there are still spots available in our vacation care program, or see our school holiday guide for some suggestions on how to keep your kids busy.

Have a great weekend.

Mayor Sue Heins

With significant rainfall predicted over the next few days, please prepare if you are in a flood-prone area. Never drive through flood waters, follow the advice of SES and stay safe.

A thriving local economy generates local jobs and promotes diversity in local business, supporting the vibrant local culture we all love.

Last year a staggering $3.6billion was spent by locals outside our local area – much of it in Chatswood and the city in businesses similar to those you can find on your doorstep.

That’s why this week we are launching the Go Local to Grow Local campaign, promoting the benefits of shopping locally.

We’ll be highlighting the diverse array of local services, dining and shopping options. Look out for distinctive green stickers in shop windows and on social media encouraging the community to shop local.

I encourage you to help by leaving an online review on your favourite local business, share and like them on social media, recommend them to friends and family, and use local tradespeople.

On a more sombre note, last week your elected Council renewed our Gambling Harm Minimisation Policy and went a step further by committing to look for opportunities to eliminate gambling advertising on Council property where possible.

Many people participate in gambling activity without it impacting their lives. But for others it can result in significant financial, emotional and psychological harm.

At Council we can play an important role in minimising the harm caused by gambling through education, advocacy and supporting local gambling help agencies.

Problem gambling is not just an individual problem, but a major social issue that impacts individuals, their families and the broader community. I am proud that Council is doing all that we can to reduce these impacts.

Have a great weekend.

Mayor Sue Heins

I’m thrilled to report that at the meeting of your elected Council this week the Waste and Circular Economy Strategy 2040 was endorsed.

Over twelve months in development and following extensive consultation with community and waste experts, the strategy is all about working with the community to reduce waste by implementing a circular economy – embracing reuse, repair and recycling initiatives.

That means we’ll be piloting programs to help reuse and repair household items, implementing trial collections of recyclables like timber and textiles. We’ll be running education and behaviour change campaigns, advocating for manufacturer responsibility, and supporting business to reduce single use plastics. We will also begin working with our community to understand how best to trial options for recycling of food organics which makes up such a large proportion of waste in our red bins.

A huge thank you to the hundreds of people who gave input to the strategy. I can’t wait to see the impact it will have to reduce waste in our community.

It’s that time of year where our crews are out in force getting our parks ready for the winter sports season. Congratulations to all the teams who made the finals for their summer sports – we are now seeing cricket and softball bats replaced with footies, netballs, frisbees and soccer balls!

We are halfway through the season changeover – covering cricket wickets, removing baseball and softball back nets, installing 120 sets of goal posts and line marking 150 playing fields. And a shout out to the Council team tasked with the challenging sports allocation process that tries to provide equitable access to our high demand fields.

It’s great to see so many already out for winter sport training and trial games. Good luck to all for a successful season.

Finally, a very happy to Easter to you all! And a reminder, double demerits are in place from Thursday to Monday – drive safely.

Enjoy the long weekend.

Mayor Sue Heins

The fences are down and the long-awaited new amenities block at Shelly Beach is open for use.

Using natural materials to blend into the beach environment, it includes internal and external showers, change areas, baby change room, bench seating and plants. There are some finishing touches still needed, which will be completed in the coming months, but it’s great to have this new critical infrastructure ready for Easter swimmers and picnickers.

We have some incredible artists and designers here on the Northern Beaches and each year I look forward to the annual showcase of the best of the best in our Environmental Art & Design Prize.

Now in its fourth year, the Prize invites participants to submit works which explore our relationship with the environment and inspire action toward a sustainable future.

With a $20,000 prize for each category, a renowned judging panel and inclusion in the exhibition in August, the Prize is highly coveted and open to artists and designers of all levels and backgrounds. Entries close 19 May.

Or if music is more your gig, online voting is now open for the Northern Composure band comp – the largest and longest-running youth band competition in the area. Past winners have unearthed the likes of Ocean Alley, Lime Cordiale and The Rions. This year our grand final winners will support popular garage rock band The Grogans. You can watch all the heats and help your favourite band secure a spot in the live semi-finals.

Have a great weekend.

Mayor Sue Heins

The 2024 Seniors Festival is in full swing with a heap of events up until 28 March. Try a virtual reality experience, Tai Chi class, painting workshop or Pickleball game. Get tech support at the library, meet your local seniors groups, enjoy a dance or join an Aboriginal Heritage walk – the program is packed with events to suit all tastes and interests. See the full program.

Next week also marks Harmony Week – an opportunity to celebrate diversity and bring together people from all different backgrounds. You might be surprised to learn that the Northern Beaches is home to people from over 110 different countries of birth and one in three of us were born overseas. I know lots of local schools and workplaces will celebrate by wearing orange next week and our libraries are running story time sessions in Mandarin, Serbian, French and Tibetan.

And a shout out for parents looking for care for their littlies. We have vacancies for 3 to 5 year olds at our long day care Early Learning Centres at Belrose, Dee Why, Harbour View (Seaforth) and The Roundhouse (Balgowlah). We offer affordable fees so do get in contact and take a tour.

Or if you need some help with the school holidays looming, our fun-filled vacation care program is now open for bookings or check out Glen Street’s NIDA workshops, circus and science shows.

Have a great weekend.

Mayor Sue Heins

Cost shifting. Not the sexiest of topics but one that does impact every ratepayer as it means Council has less to fund the services and infrastructure our community expect.

Cost shifting occurs when state and federal governments force councils to assume responsibility for infrastructure, services and regulatory functions without providing sufficient supporting funding.

Based on a recent report on cost shifting, ratepayers on the Northern Beaches were out of pocket $39 million, or the equivalent of $379 per ratepayer in 2021/22. On top of that Council’s Emergency Services Levy has since increased to $9.3 million this financial year, equivalent to $90 per ratepayer.

Every dollar we pay in levies and subsidies to the state government is one less dollar we can put into our local roads and footpaths, our parks and community centres or our libraries and event programs.

We, alongside Councils across the state, are calling on the NSW Government to urgently address the costs through a combination of regulatory reform, budgetary provision and appropriate funding.

Today is International Women’s Day, a day of collective global activism recognising women's contributions and highlighting the many issues women still face.

At Council we have a strong focus on gender equity with women making up 58% of our workforce and 52% of our Executive Leadership Team. Nine of your 15 elected Councillors are also women, including the roles of Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

As a society we still have a long way to go with women still doing the lion's share of caring and household duties, a domestic violence epidemic which sees on average one woman a week murdered. A recent report confirming some of the country’s biggest and most recognisable employers have gender pay gaps of 30-40% in favour of men over women.

Thanks to all those marching, attending events or celebrating in your own way today – every voice raised applies the pressure needed for the long term attitudinal and structural change needed to improve women’s lives. 

Have a great weekend.

Mayor Sue Heins

There is no doubt Sydney is facing an affordable housing crisis which is felt particularly acutely here on the Northern Beaches.

However, the NSW Government’s answer of a crude, one-size-fits-all approach to increasing housing supply that’s currently on the table will lead to an explosion of medium and high- density development in areas that can’t support it, with Council having little to no ability to stop it.

At the meeting of your elected Council this week we endorsed a submission to the Department of Planning and Environment, calling on the NSW Government to abandon their proposed reforms.

We know that unplanned development of this scale will lead to greater congestion on local roads, put pressure on community infrastructure, overload the public transport network, reduce tree canopy and in some instances threaten local heritage.

Council already has an adopted housing strategy which accommodates growth in areas where we know it can best be managed such as in the new Frenchs Forest Town Centre, in Dee Why and in and around Brookvale.

Detailed studies, mapping and extensive community input informed the development of our housing strategy to ensure we continue to take our fair share of Sydney’s growth and foster affordable housing while preserving the precious character of our local government area. It recognises the unique challenges we face with very limited road access in and out of the peninsula and minimal public transport options. It considers our bushfire, flood, storm and coastal inundation risks which only last week were highlighted in the State Disaster Mitigation Plan as among some of the most extreme in NSW.

It is simply unacceptable for the state government to ride rough-shod over the top of all this expert analysis, ignore local knowledge and experience, and impose a blanket approach to planning across Sydney in order to fast track some arbitrary housing targets.

The government is saying that they do want to hear from and work with local Councils. Let’s hope this is a genuine commitment and our submission and ongoing advocacy has some impact.

Have a great weekend.

Mayor Sue Heins

A small fragment of bonded asbestos found by a child in playground mulch in the Inner West has spurned one of the largest investigations ever undertaken by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA).

On the Beaches, we had one local school impacted at Allambie Heights where bonded asbestos was found in an isolated garden which was made safe and fenced off without causing the school to be closed.

At Council we use mulch quite extensively in our playgrounds and garden beds but have not been contacted by the EPA and are not part of their supply chain investigations to date.

It will reassure the community to know that the mulch used in our children's playgrounds comes from controlled environments such as sawmills. This mulch produced is from the off cuts of items such as sleepers and does not contain any waste from building materials, so there is little to no risk of contamination.

The mulch used in Council garden beds for the most part comes from the public trees removed by our tree contractors which are chipped and immediately stockpiled at our depots. So again, there is little to no risk of contamination to this mulch.

Occasionally we use other suppliers for garden bed mulch and have sought assurances from all our suppliers that they have not been exposed to the current issue. To date this has not revealed any exposures for Council.

From time to time the community report asbestos and other materials which have been dumped illegally. Our teams immediately respond to safely remove the asbestos, but these reports are not related to the current mulch contamination issue.

The EPA reports that to date the asbestos that has been found in sites around NSW is predominantly bonded (non-friable) which, in good condition, is likely to be low-risk.

They advise that anyone concerned about contamination in mulch they have received or on sold should contact the EPA Environment Line on 131 555 or email info@epa.nsw.gov.au.

If you want to check in on the sites being investigated, the EPA is regularly updating the list here.

Mayor Sue Heins

This week the 46th Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras kicks off with an expansive program across Sydney. Here on the Beaches, you can enjoy a performance by RAYN, make a pride badge or plant pot, or visit the Daniel Mudie Cunningham: Proud Mary exhibition at the Manly Art Gallery and Museum. Happy Mardi Gras all!

Also this weekend, head to Manly beachfront for the 2024 Health and Wellness Day. Delivered in partnership with Manly Business Chamber, there is a packed program of talks, fitness, cycling and breathing classes on the beach and grass. There is even a mums and bubs pilates, kids decathlon and a heap of local stallholders. Take a look at the program and join in.

If that’s not enough, the last World Food Markets for the summer is on at Killarney Heights this evening from 5pm. Don’t forget to bring your water bottle.

And we have a few projects on exhibition and ready for you to have your say including the plans for new recreation spaces at Killarney Heights Oval and Winnererremy Bay, the draft Multicultural Inclusion Plan (closing soon) and the survey on the changes made to traffic and footpaths in Avalon. We’d love to hear from you. 

Have a great weekend.