The Mayor's Column
Last Saturday, 24 February, was a gorgeous summer day and I guess most of you were enjoying it outdoors. Not Mosman Councillors, the General Manager and staff heads of departments, who were indoors, attending a workshop dealing with plans for the future direction of Mosman.
Under the title ‘Future Mosman: 2088 in 2020’ the workshop, facilitated by Professor Peter Abelson, was a mid-term review, following the initial workshop held in 2005, which was compatible with the Department of Local Government proposal that all local Councils develop a community strategic plan over the next 10 years.
We began with a report on a recent community survey, gauging satisfaction with Council . Not surprisingly, areas of highest discontent were related to traffic and parking. Our corridors of Military / Spit Roads take approximately 70,000 vehicles a day. A number of them “rat run” through our streets. Unfortunately the State government is doing nothing to help Mosman or the region with traffic and we can only keep lobbying for a long term holistic solution.
Parking was discussed in the overall plan to provide adequate parking for commercial and residential areas. Council plans to upgrade and improve the amenity of the shopping/business areas in the next 12 months.
There was a clear message against over-development. Current demographics reveal a balance of young and old, with 20% of residents over 60 and 20% under18. We have a changing population, with new residents (less than five years residence) accounting for 44% of the population. We also have a higher than average proportion of people who live alone. These factors must be taken into account when assessing housing stock, infrastructure, environmental issues, social needs and council services. Finances need to be well managed to provide all this for the community. We must also predict future trends and needs of the population.
Council is currently reviewing our planning controls, which will be completed in the next 12 months. The State government is calling on Mosman to provide more dwellings over the next 25 years, and our suggested increase of about 60 dwellings per annum is in line with our current rate of development. Perhaps we can look at maximising some of our present homes to provide housing for smaller families and singles instead of looking to build more flats and multi- story apartments. One area of high satisfaction was our garbage collection service. Following recent research, we are looking at improving our recycling options and better controlling the collection of commercial waste.
The results of the community survey are available on request at Council. The content of the discussion papers on Future Mosman are on the website.
Cr Denise Wilton, Mayor of Mosman
