Willoughby City Council is proud to publish its 2022-2023 Annual Report detailing high levels of service and infrastructure delivery despite an increasingly challenging financial climate.
The report highlights community projects including the St Leonards to Chatswood shared pathway and its on-going commitment to nurturing the Willoughby bushland setting with great successes in bush care and tree planting.
This year also saw new levels of community engagement on projects like the Artarmon and Naremburn Local Centre upgrades as well as initiatives to bolster resilience and inclusion in the community with a range of events and cultural and education programs including the Inspire to Lead initiative and the development of a Reconciliation Action Plan.
Willoughby Mayor Tanya Taylor said that the 2022-2023 Annual Report demonstrates Council's commitment to making Willoughby a liveable and connected place.
"I take immense pride in the services we provide to our diverse community. From initiatives like our award winning 'Hi Neighbours' program that connects our many apartment dwellers along with our vibrant events including our Senior's Festival and Emerge Festival.
"We delivered the new community garden as part of the Warners Park masterplan, a safer pedestrian precinct around Royal North Shore Hospital and we have made great progress on the Artarmon Local Centre upgrade," Mayor Taylor said.
Other highlights include;
• New rolling programs to upgrade recreation facilities and expand the urban tree canopy across Willoughby
• New public square at Bellambi Street Northbridge
• Participation in the multi-council $1 million Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) grant-funded project, which trialled and learned from 'food only' collections from apartments.
• 2023 Chatswood Year of the Rabbit Festival, which injected an additional $10.2 million into the CBD from visitors, with $5.8 million spent on dining and entertainment.
• Commenced implementing the Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2022-2026.
• Received the Premier's Multicultural Community Medal for Local Government Business Excellence for our MOSAIC Multicultural Centre.
• Finalised the new Local Environmental Plan (LEP) and Development Control Plan (DCP) to meet housing targets, increase affordable housing, improve density at transport hubs and address environmental considerations
• Established seven Advisory Committees to seek input from our community to assist in the development and delivery of Council's strategic priorities
In addition, Council continued to deliver a range of services, including: responded to 45,223 help and service calls, delivered 142 projects and capital works, engaged and consulted with 5,843 people, held 36 visual arts exhibitions and the highest visitation on record with a combined 19,900 visits to our two art spaces, repaired and re-sheeted 50,000m2 of road, constructed or improved 9,500m2 of footpaths, planted 342 street trees in our local area, over 680,000 visits to all libraries, over 8,000 residents attended 137 environmental and community resilience activities as part of the Live Well in Willoughby program, continued to operate a range of services including Willoughby Leisure Centre, maintained 197 parks, gardens and sporting grounds.
The report also details how some tough decisions were needed to maintain a strong financial future for Willoughby City Council. The 2022-2023 Annual Report is available to view at https://www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au/Council/Policies-and-publications
A copy of the final Report, including the 2022/23 Financial Statements, has been provided to the Office of Local Government.
