Mayor’s Message

By Cr Clare Le Serve

Hello Bass Coast 

Over the last week I participated in many events including a visit to the Anderson Street site where Council is doing great work to improve the playground and other facilities. It was wonderful to see how community influenced the design of this project and how valuable your contributions are.

I encourage you all to have your say on what we do across our region. Please visit Engage Bass Coast to help shape our community.

The designs of our four new playspaces being constructed this year are due to input from the community. Playspaces have an important role in keeping our youngest people active and engaged in play but also form an essential social connection and meeting point for families at a time in their lives where emotional wellbeing is critical.

On Thursday night a passionate community panel came together at Newhaven to co-design the upcoming engagement for the future of Graydens Reserve. It was great to hear so many wonderful ideas and we look forward to the wider community engagement later in the year to hear from more voices on this popular reserve.

Open for feedback right now is our Housing and Neighbourhood Character Study and Housing Strategy. We are all aware now of the growth our area will experience over the coming years.  This strategy aims to conserve the character of our neighbourhoods and towns that we are all so connected to. Also open for feedback now is our Fair Access Policy which aims to ensure equality across sporting clubs.

I wrote last week about the International Women’s Day event where we heard from women in sport. The benefits of physical exercise and being part of a team was a big part of their conversation that day.

We need to break down these barriers for women and everyone to participate in sport. As playgrounds connect our children and their parents, our sporting clubs can connect all of us. The Fair Access Policy also calls for women to be equally represented at a leadership level within community sports clubs. We want to understand your experience of community sport.

I look forward to seeing how we can all shape the future of Bass Coast.