In one morning last week, I attended two very different events that neatly illustrate the diversity of roles and responsibilities modern councils have in their communities.
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The first was a media event to promote a project Lake Macquarie City Council is leading to substitute sand with recycled crushed glass for use in civil works projects.
It is a bid to find a local solution to a global problem – establishing a use for some of the recyclable material that is currently being stockpiled around the world – and a great example of big-picture innovation at a local level.
What’s more, the ‘glass sand’ is being manufactured at a custom-built plant on the Central Coast, which means this potentially game-changing technology will continue to be developed and refined locally.
My second event for that morning was at Luskin Way, in Belmont North, where I opened a new playground developed by Lake Macquarie City Council with the support of a grant from the Department of Family and Community Services.
It was the first of two I had the pleasure of opening last week – the other being our upgraded playground at Warner Park, in Warners Bay.
Building, upgrading and maintaining playgrounds is the sort of work for which Councils are traditionally known and delivering these grassroots community projects remains an important, and very rewarding, part of our role.
