I have a challenge for the community: to develop a new vision for the next 20 years. As a Councillor I put up a motion in November 2006 that Council create a 20-year Community Strategic Plan. My motion was passed unanimously by Council, but has yet to be implemented by the General Manager.

When I joined Council, the Cowarra Dam was just being finished. That we now have better water security than most Councils in NSW is testament to the foresight of previous terms of Council.

Over the last four years Council has rolled out a massive infrastructure programme with big ticket items such as the Water Treatment Plants for Wauchope and a number of the outlying villages, while spending more on recurrent costs such as footpaths and road maintenance than has ever been spent in the history of Council.

Major projects have been planned and funds allocated, such as the $17.4 million upgrade of the Lake Cathie - Bonny Hill Sewerage Treatment Plant. This term of Council has also seen the design and commencement of a new town at Thrumster, with Area 14 north of Bonny Hills not far behind.

With many significant infrastructure developments either built or planned and locked in, it is now time to turn to the future and as a whole community consider where we go from here.

We need to think now of what needs to be planned to meet community needs over the next two decades. I urge everyone to talk with friends and family about what we need to plan for as a community and then feed those ideas into the 20-Year Community Strategic Plan when Council calls for input.