Council endorses Local Strategic Planning Statement
Council has endorsed the Blue Mountains Local Strategic Planning Statement and will now forward the statement to the Greater Sydney Commission, for review. Developed with extensive community consultation, Blue Mountains 2040: Living Sustainably is Council’s long term land use plan aimed at ensuring the Blue Mountains local government area can respond in a locally appropriate way to the challenges and opportunities for the future.
The local planning priorities set a clear direction for how land will be used for housing, employment and sustainable tourism. The statement acknowledges the important link between land use and infrastructure planning in creating sustainable, liveable and productive cities. The priorities describe how the unique values and characteristics of the Blue Mountains will be protected, to ensure our distinctive lifestyle and sense of place is retained.
Liveability funding for new Springwood Library entrance
We received just over $40,000 for Springwood Library in the second and final round of the Western Parkland City Liveability Program.
The funding will be used to design and construct a new entry from the existing car park into Springwood Library. This will be delivered as part of the current upgrade project at the Library, worth $2.5 million.
Read about the 10 projects, valued at more than $18.7 million, that will be completed across Blue Mountains City over the next three years providing a welcome boost to community infrastructure and public spaces.
Extensive damage to tourism infrastructure after floods and fires
The damage toll in the Blue Mountains, following the state declared natural disaster that occurred earlier this month due to unprecedented rainfall, continues to rise.
The much-loved Charles Darwin Walk, including its many entry points, have been closed to the public, after bridges were damaged, numerous boardwalks destroyed and large sections of the walking track were wiped out as a result of unprecedented stream bank erosion. Repairs may take up to two years to complete. Cliff Drive, Chelmsford Drive and Leura Cascades are also closed indefinitely after a landslide in the area on Sunday, 9 February. The cost to remediate the affected area, approximately 20 metres wide and 5000sqms overall, is still being determined, but is expected to costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Find out more:
All Creatures Great and Small recorded in the Blue Mountains
A research and citizen science project that catalogued fauna species within the Blue Mountains, has now been published online.
The Blue Mountains Fauna Project Inventory was celebrated on 26 February, at a launch event. Data was collected from publicly available records, from special interest groups such as WIRES and the Australian Herpetological Society, as well as from Blue Mountains residents for the project.
The Blue Mountains Fauna Project is a joint partnership between the Blue Mountains Bushcare Network and Blue Mountains City Council, with grant funding from the Greater Sydney Local Land Services.
Electronic and chemical waste services
Electronic waste, mobile phones, batteries and compact fluoro light bulbs and tubes should not be thrown in any bin, and chemicals should never be disposed of down the drain or into the soil.
Help keep electronic and chemical waste out of landfill by taking advantage of our free disposal services.
We offer a range of services for the safe disposal of hazardous waste at both the Blaxland and Katoomba Resource Recovery and Waste Management Facilities, throughout the year. In addition, we also run Chemical CleanOut events twice a year, where we can collect additional hazardous waste that our facilities can’t normally take.