This Sunday is National Tree Day, Australia’s largest community tree planting and nature care event. We are celebrating by planting 5000 native plants on the dunes at North Narrabeen to help stabilise the area and reduce the transfer of sand into the lagoon.

We’d love your help! Register your interest and drop in between 10am and 2pm. A special shout out to Narrabeen Sports High for giving us a head start, with students getting the planting underway this week. And to all the schools participating in National Schools Tree Day – Council delivered plants propagated by our local volunteers to 22 schools across the area.

The volunteers at Stony Range Regional Botanic Garden are also getting involved and will be giving away one tree per person on Sunday at Stony Range while stocks last.

And of course, Sunday isn’t the only time you can get involved. We have over 450 Bushcare community volunteers working with us on a regular basis to conserve and rehabilitate our natural bushland at over 50 different sites throughout the Northern Beaches. They support us to manage our bushland, dunes and waterways. It’s a great way to meet like-minded people, get some exercise and enjoy our natural areas.

A reminder Creative Open is now in full swing with an incredible array of arts, music, comedy and exhibitions running tonight and across the weekend, including the Creative Open Live music festival in Manly. Be sure to check the Creative Open program to find something near you.

And finally, good luck to all the budding young authors who are finalists in the 2024 Young Writers’ Competition. There are some incredible entries who have developed a piece of creative writing using the featured word ‘crystal’. All the finalists from each category will have their stories published in an eBook that will be added to our library collection, and winners are announced Sunday.

Have a great weekend,

Mayor Sue Heins

It’s less than a week until Creative Open kicks off, bringing 4 days of music, art and design events to venues across the Northen Beaches, starting next Thursday.

There’s circus, night markets, live music, comedy, open studios, salsa, art exhibitions, DJs and workshops – the program is so packed you'll be sure to find something happening near you.

Manly Corso will come alive with a two-day music festival, Brookvale breweries are hosting a range of top events and you can learn woodturning in Forestville, Aboriginal history in Mona Vale or salsa in Collaroy. Make a zine, learn to write fantasy, sculpt a sandcastle or join a family day at the Baha’i Temple. And much much more. Be sure to check out the full program and see what takes your fancy.

Only 57 sleeps to the local government elections! If you have moved or changed your name, it’s important to update your details now. You can check and update your enrolment with the NSW Electoral Commission. There are also a range of opportunities to work during the election and expressions of interest are now open.

Finally, the Rotary Club of the Upper Northern Beaches is hosting their art show this weekend with proceeds supporting some important local not for profit organisations. You can get tickets to the opening event on Friday evening or drop in across the weekend.

Have a great weekend,

Mayor Sue Heins

What comes after two wet days in Sydney?

Monday.

Jokes aside, if you are sick of your weekends being endlessly washed out you’re not alone. Sydney has broken records for average rainfall for Saturdays and Sundays from April to June, causing havoc with our roads and sportsfields.

It’s having huge impacts on the around 32,000 people who play winter sport locally with the rain forcing the closure of fields. And headaches for local sports associations trying to juggle hundreds of fixtures.

Council staff are out checking fields from 4am on Saturday and Sunday to inform players and associations of sportsfields status by 7am. Fields are assessed to consider player safety, the damage playing would cause to the field surface and our ability to remediate them in a timely manner so they can continue to be played on for the rest of the season. On occasion the associations or clubs also call off games for safety reasons or deteriorating conditions throughout the day.

No one wants to close the fields or cancel games. Our preference, and that of all the clubs, is always for a field to remain open and to provide as many usable hours during a season as possible.

The incessant rain is also keeping our road crews busy repairing potholes. Over the last six months we have repaired more than 1140 potholes with another 200 on the schedule we are currently working through. Over 900 potholes were reported in May and June alone.

Council manages pothole repairs on all local roads. We encourage people to report potholes through our website. The NSW state government is responsible for maintenance on major arterial roads such as Mona Vale Road, Wakehurst Parkway, Barrenjoey Road, Forest Way, Sydney Road and Pittwater Road.

Good news this week for Glen Street Theatre with a significant lighting upgrade in partnership with the NSW government. And a reminder that our grants program is open with a range of opportunities in the areas of arts, environment, placemaking, sports infrastructure and community development.

Hoping for a blue-sky weekend – have a good one.

Mayor Sue Heins

NAIDOC Week kicks off this Sunday providing an opportunity for all Australians to learn about and celebrate First Nations cultures and histories. There are a range of fantastic NAIDOC Week events on offer across the area including Story Box screenings at the libraries, weaving workshops, art, NAIDOC markets and live music.

It’s also Plastic Free July, a global initiative to encourage us all to say no to single use plastics. It’s easy to pop a reusable water bottle in your bag – Council has provided a heap of local refill stations. Or say no to that plastic wrap on the kids sandwich and try reusable containers instead. There are plenty of things we can all do as individuals that collectively will make a huge difference to keeping plastic out of our precious environment.

School holidays are right around the corner and we still have a few vacancies in our vacation care programs. Keep them busy with laser tag, a visit to Taronga Zoo or Reverse Garbage or join a day of baking, craft or science.

Did you know the NSW Government vibrancy reforms are now in place with the aim to boost the night time economy? It does mean Council won’t have the authority for live music or entertainment noise concerns relating to licensed premises. Visit the Liquor & Gaming website to learn more about the reforms and what it means for licenced premises.

Have a great weekend,

Mayor Sue Heins

One of the joys of visiting a country area is stepping outside after dark and marvelling at the incredible night sky, made clearer and brighter away from the lights of the city. If you visit Palm Beach Headland you can have a similar experience in an urban environment. This location has been recognised internationally as an Urban Night Sky Place – the first one in the southern hemisphere and one of only 200 such places around the world.

Thank you to those on the Working Group and to the many dark sky enthusiasts who supported Council to achieve this declaration. Read the story to learn more about the Palm Beach Headland Urban Night Sky Place or visit DarkSky International to see the other locations around the globe.

We are incredibly lucky to have an array of community, arts, environment and sporting groups who foster community connections and enrich our neighbourhoods here on the Northern Beaches. To support these groups, we have an array of grants available, now open for application. So, if you need to improve a sporting facility, create a new community support program, or develop a creative community endeavour, apply now.

Finally, we all know how tough it is to find affordable housing on the Northern Beaches. This has a huge impact on keeping young people in our area and attracting essential workers. At Council we are continuing to look at ways we can help foster more affordable housing. This week your elected Council endorsed exploring how we can expand our Affordable Housing Contributions Scheme to apply to more developments to raise critical funds to facilitate more affordable housing stock. Stay tuned – we’ll be asking for community feedback.

Have a great weekend,

Mayor Sue Heins

I am extremely proud to share that our very own Belrose Children's Centre is one of only 29 early learning centres nationally to be awarded the highest possible quality rating – ‘excellent’.

Given there are over 17,000 centres across Australia this is an incredible accolade and squarely positions them as one of the best centres in the country.

It’s testament to the incredible commitment of the educators and their dedication to providing innovative programs that enrich the lives of our local children. Congratulations to them all.

This week we also moved a step closer to one set of planning rules for the Northern Beaches with the draft Local Environmental Plan endorsed to go to the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, ahead of broader community consultation.

As we have spent more than four years talking to the community about what they value and completing studies on traffic, hazards, housing, workforce and the environment it’s important to have reached this next critical step in the process.

The draft does not propose significant new development, recognises the unique characteristics of our neighbourhoods and protects our precious environment while meeting our housing needs for the future.

We look forward to having discussions with the community once the Minister has provided any feedback on the draft.

Finally, Northern Beaches businesses dominated at the 2024 Sydney Business Awards this week. Belrose watercraft business The Whiskey Project Group won the prestigious Business of the Year award as well as Excellence in International Business. Manly’s Little Ripples Wine won the Excellence in Micro Business and specialist architectural drafting and building service Brother Nature Build in Brookvale took out the Employer of Choice (20 employees and under). Run by Business NSW, these awards are hard fought and it is impressive such a high number of our local small businesses have been so highly recognised.

Have a great weekend,

Mayor Sue Heins

It’s great to be able to give you a sneak peek at the program for the Creative Open 2024, a huge 4-day winter creative arts festival coming to the Northern Beaches from 25 July.

Not only is Creative Open a chance to glimpse behind the scenes of our galleries and studios or hone your artistic practice through workshops and artist talks, but this year we also have an incredible line up of music and comedy.

With over 170 events at more than 70 venues across the Beaches you are sure to find something to warm your creative spirit while supporting our local creative venues, musicians, and artists.

Once again some of the extraordinary individuals of our area were recognised in the 2024 King's Birthday Honour list this week. The awards were as diverse as for services to lifesaving and netball, business and education, science and health. Congratulations to all the recipients and thank you from all of us for all that you do.

And congratulations also to our local wheelchair basketball stars, the Manly Wheel Eagles, for first time entry into the Australian National Wheelchair Basketball League. You can see them play locally over the next few months, starting this Sunday at the Northern Beaches Indoor Sports Centre when they take on one of the League's strongest teams. This is an exciting spectator sport and a chance to see current and emerging Paralympians compete – I encourage you to get along and give them a home team advantage!

Have a great weekend,

Mayor Sue Heins

A huge congratulations to all the finalists in the 2024 Environment Art & Design Prize. With almost 700 entries across four categories, our esteemed panel of judges have certainly had a tough job.

It’s particularly pleasing to have received so many entries in our youth categories this year.

The work of all finalists will be exhibited at the Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Curl Curl Creative Space and Mona Vale Creative Space Gallery from 2 to 25 August. Good luck to all – the winners will be announced on 1 August.

Thank you to everyone who came along to our inaugural Net Zero event last Sunday. After threatening to be a wash out all week, it was fantastic to see the sun beaming down as hundreds of people streamed through to learn more about solar, energy savings, biodiversity, the circular economy and green transport.

Don’t worry if you missed it, you’ll find a heap of information on our website on what you can do to help the environment and also your hip pocket. For example, you can book a free Solar Conversation with one of our experts or put your address in the SunSPoT tool to calculate how much electricity and money a Solar PV system could save your home or business.

Check out the A to Z reuse, recycling and disposal guide or get tips on creating your own backyard habitat for local wildlife. Keep an eye out for our regular events such as the upcoming Solar and Energy Roadshow and Avalon Car Boot Sale. Together we can all work together to reduce our waste and emissions.

Finally, it’s great to get the Warriewood Community Centre construction underway. This $17 million facility will feature 5 multi-purpose halls, 2 multi-purpose meeting rooms, large covered outdoor spaces, accessible amenities, multiple kitchenette facilities and increased parking. When complete, expected late 2025, this will provide a fantastic new community asset for this area.

Have a great weekend,

Mayor Sue Heins

This week the NSW government announced new housing targets which would see 5,900 new homes on the Northern Beaches to be completed by 2029.

We have always been prepared to take our fair share of the housing needed for Sydney’s future within our constraints and have done a lot of work to plan our growth in areas that can sustain it, such as the new Frenchs Forest town centre and around our transport hubs.

We are still analysing what the announcement means for our area but at face value it is heartening to see that the government has not applied a more unrealistic target.

We have always said we need infrastructure ahead of development and we’d urge the government to share how they will support infrastructure alongside these targets, in particular, transport infrastructure.

In the meantime, we have been having constructive conversations with the government on their proposed low and mid-rise housing reforms and expect them to announce a refinement of their policy soon.

On another note, the Northern Beaches is an environmentally conscious community, inspired by a passion to protect the beautiful beaches, bushland and native birds and animals that make our area so special.

But it can be overwhelming when trying to decide on what actions you can take to make a difference – like getting household solar or buying an electric vehicle, finding ways to reuse or recycle household waste, reducing energy consumption or even to know how to start to grow your own vegies.

So, I’m excited to be opening Council’s inaugural Net Zero Expo this Sunday. This is a great opportunity to talk to experts, road-test products, demystify solar and electric vehicles, and learn more about the circular economy and biodiversity.

See the full Net Zero Expo program and register to get your free ticket. And let's hope the weather is kind to us!

And a final reminder to have your say on Council’s proposed budget for the next 12 months – the date for submissions has been extended but must close Tuesday.

The draft budget allocates funding to deliver some important projects including stormwater management works to reduce flooding and pollution, critical structural repairs to rockpools, improvements in roads, footpaths, playgrounds and sporting fields, and trials of different options for the reuse, repair and recycling of household items.

Explore the map to see what’s planned for your area, review fact sheets on projects in the environment, footpath and roads and heath and recreation or do a deep dive into the full document. We really value your feedback.

Have a great weekend,

Mayor Sue Heins