Year of plenty – Council endorses annual report

A $119.2 million capital works program headlined Lake Macquarie City Council’s Annual Report 2024-2025 which was endorsed by Councillors at tonight’s Ordinary Meeting.

The report shows Council’s accountability to the community in delivering outcomes set out in its four-year delivery program and Operational Plan 2024-2025.

Mayor Adam Shultz said there were many significant milestones to celebrate from the past year.

“Some of our key achievements in 2024-2025 included completion of the expansion of the Hunter Sports Centre, opening the Rathmines Youth Hub and playground, finishing the Fernleigh Awabakal Shared Track and hosting a vibrant calendar of 271 events, with more than 290,000 attendees,” he said.

“In terms of the economy we held our first Lake Macquarie Housing Forum and adopted the North West Catalyst Area Place Strategy.

“Awarding a tender for a permanent dredging solution in Swansea Channel, adopting the North Creek Flood Study and opening the new Belmont North Community Recycling Centre were all great results for our environment.”

Councillors placed proposed changes to the Lake Macquarie Development Control Plan (DCP) 2014 on public exhibition which aim to enable increased housing diversity across the city.

The proposal would allow for a broader range of housing types in the R2 Low Density Residential zone and R3 Medium Density Residential zone and greater flexibility to subdivide small lots down to 200m2 in R3 and 250m2 in R2 for a variety of land uses.

The North Creek Flood Risk Management Study and Plan was also approved for public exhibition for a period of 28 days.

The full agenda and reports are available at meeting agendas and minutes.

The stream of tonight’s meeting will be available online at lakemac.com.au within 48 hours.