Delivering the completed Mill Park Leisure, an All Abilities play space and extensive support for COVID recovery for community and local business are just some of the highlights of the City of Whittlesea’s Annual Report 2020-21.
In what was the first full year for the Council under the leadership of Administrators, and with a new CEO and Executive Leadership Team, the City of Whittlesea worked closely with the community to provide much needed COVID-19 support to businesses and residents, while also continuing to deliver essential services and major infrastructure projects.
Chair Administrator, Lydia Wilson, said that while the pandemic had a significant impact on the community, the City of Whittlesea has been able to adapt and deliver important services.
“Throughout the challenges of the last year, I am immensely proud of the resilience our community has shown,” Ms Wilson said.
“Our residents, service providers, local business and the staff at the City of Whittlesea have all responded and adapted to support and provide for one another during these uncertain times, and I feel privileged to be representing this community,” Ms Wilson said.
Council’s $2 million COVID-19 recovery program includes $400,000 to community organisations for emergency relief and $400,000 for a “support local” campaign and incentive program to help local business.
“Community representatives have helped us shape the initiatives in this program, and I thank them for the suggestions and input,” Ms Wilson said.
“Over this past year, we have also delivered more than $54 million of projects as part of our new works program and completed a number of important infrastructure projects.”
The state-of-the art facilities at the $25 million redevelopment of Mill Park Leisure opened in April and the All Abilities Play Space was completed in February.
“We have continued to develop strong strategic partnerships and advocate to all levels of government about the issues that matter to our community, including funding for community infrastructure, roads to reduce congestion and mental health and family violence support services,” Ms Wilson said.
Council has successfully advocated for and received an Orange Door Access point, a key family violence support service, and a headspace satellite service for youth mental health at the Baseline for Young People facility.
Ms Wilson said Council had also kept its focus on customer service, working to make it easier for the community to interact with Council and built a dedicated online engagement portal to help engage with the community more often on the things that matter to them.
Other highlights of the Annual Report 2020-21 include:
- The introduction of an opt-in food and garden organics waste recycling service, resulting in a 16 per cent increase in the diversion of food and garden waste from landfill.
- The implementation of a new online planning portal, allowing people to manage their planning applications from start to finish in the one location, as well as receive real-time application status updates, making it a quicker and easier process.
- Continued work on the $4.5 million McLeans Road Kindergarten, which will open in January 2022, ready for the start of the new kindergarten year.
