with Tony Bleasdale OAM Mayor Blacktown City
This is the last Message from the Mayor for this term of Blacktown City Council , with Local Government Elections set for 4 December .
The elections were scheduled for September 2020 , but just like so many things in our lives , they were postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic .
But now with a definite date set for the elections it is time to reflect on your council ’ s achievements over the past five years and judge if the councillors representing your ward have earned your vote .
From my point of view , the last 18-months as your Mayor have been both challenging and extremely rewarding . We have seen the first students enrol at Australian Catholic University ’ s Blacktown Campus . The opening of the University in the CBD was the result of hard work by council over its entire five year term .
We have seen the opening of a redeveloped Warrick Lane precinct ,
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marking the start of an exciting redevelopment of our CBD .
Construction has started on the $ 100 million International Centre for Training Excellence in the Blacktown International Sportspark and the $ 30 million Blacktown Animal Rehoming Centre at Glendenning .
During the last five years council has presided over unprecedented residential and industrial development in the northwest of our city and around Eastern Creek . Your council has among the lowest DA approval times in NSW , while at the same time we have pushed hard , and in many cases succeeded , in getting vital community infrastructure constructed in the new areas .
Your council has embarked on a massive program of developing a network of nearly 800 minor and major parks , reserves and sporting fields , that has been voted by our residents as one of the main reasons they love living in Blacktown City .
In February 2020 , council made a commitment to residents by acknowledging a climate emergency and committed to a target of 100 per
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cent renewable electricity for council operations by 2025 . Council is well on the way to meeting the target and has also committed to providing refuge from extreme heat for residents and ensured that our planning controls and policies reduce urban heat .
Your council is proud of its long and determined campaign on behalf of our residents to halt the development of industrial energy-from-waste incinerators within our city , culminating in a NSW Government Policy that forbids the construction of EFW incinerators close to residential areas .
Your council has achieved many of these milestones while the whole city suffered under some of the tightest COVID restrictions in Australia . And it was due to council working with our community groups , health workers , religious organisations , NSW Health and our residents in general , that Blacktown City achieved some of the highest vaccination rates in Australia .
With a population of more than 400,000 those high Blacktown City vaccination rates contributed greatly to
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ending the lockdowns . There ’ s still a lot more work to do , but your council is determined to make Blacktown City a modern exciting , go ahead place where people can work , recreate , educate and live in a safe and diverse community . |