A Busy New Year

With the start of the New Year, so too begins Council’s next actions, in keeping with overwhelming community support, to maintain our independence.

Our case against the State Government’s merger proposal involving Mosman, North Sydney and Willoughby will be dealt with in two separate hearings in coming months, including on 23 March 2017 in the Land and Environment Court and on 3 and 4 April 2017 in the NSW Court of Appeal.

As always, I will continue to inform you of the outcomes and next steps on this critical community issue.

In the meantime, many residents have been enjoying the continuing warm weather around backyard pools during the holiday period.

This makes it timely to raise the serious issue of swimming pool safety, particularly given that drowning is a leading cause of accidental death in very young children in NSW.

While we all know that the most effective home pool safety measure is adult supervision, a well-maintained child-resistant pool barrier is vital to preventing
unsupervised access by young children to backyard swimming pools and spas.

For those of you who are not aware, you can gain life-saving skills from training in Cardio- Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) by organisations such as the Royal Life Saving Society, Surf Life Saving NSW and Red Cross.

As the local body responsible for promoting backyard swimming pool safety through inspection and community education programs, Council encourages pool owners to ensure their barriers are well-maintained and meet State Government standards to ensure we can continue to enjoy the warm weather in safety.

With best wishes for a happy and safe 2017.