As a Council we have now approved the Budget for 2022-23 and once again we have a busy year ahead of us.

As we have done for so many years, our rates increases have been kept to a minimum despite the broader escalation of costs our nation is experienc­ing. On average our residential rates will increase by $50 in total, less than $1 per week. Despite this we have been able to deliver a budget that will continue to see many projects undertaken to meet the needs of our growing population and maintain our assets.

Brighton Council is fully fund­ing our depreciation of assets, replacing 1.2 km of footpath with a focus on major pedestri­an routes including Green Point Road in Bridgewater and

Lamprill Circle in Herdsmans Cove, 1.3 kilometres of road reconstructions, including Baskerville Road and Albion Road.

Major projects being under­taken this year will include:

Cris Fitzpatrick Park, Gage­brook. Upgrade works are now in the design phase. Both Mona and Centacare Evolve Housing will play significant roles in this project made possible through the Tasmanian Government’s Community Sport and Rec­reation Grants Program and the Australian Government’s Building Better Regions Fund. The project will see a new play­ground constructed in the park as well as significant upgrades to the connecting pathways between Bridgewater and Gagebrook.

Swan Park, Herdsmans Cove. Initial community consultation has been undertaken to un­derstand what the community would like to see in Swan Park and the project is with consul­tants to prepare a design that we can share with the local neighbourhood for feed­back before commencing construction.

Master planning of Bridgewa­ter Foreshore. This year will see the engagement of a con­sultant to develop and complete a comprehensive Master Plan for the Bridgewater Foreshore taking into consideration the construction of the new Bridge­water Bridge.

Ted Jeffries Memorial Park Masterplan, Brighton. The first stage of works will com­mence to establish a quality recreation and sporting precinct across Ted Jeffries Memorial Park, in keeping with Council’s commitment to plan for and provide infrastructure to support our rapidly growing communi­ty. This includes construction of car parks and bus stops to make our community safer, together with soccer grounds, clubrooms, change rooms and a long awaited dog park.

Elderslie Road, Brighton. With the Brighton High School works soon to kick off, Council have been busy coordinating with the Department of Edu­cation on plans for the area. Council will take an active role in construction of the street in­frastructure, including a round­about at the Elderslie Road, Brighton Road intersection, pedestrian refuges, footpaths and bus stops.

Lighting for Fergusson Oval, Pontville. New lighting will be installed over Fergusson Oval at Pontville. This will allow clubs to safely train throughout the winter months and take full advantage of the newly con­structed clubroom facilities.

Roll out of Rural Living Pathways. Council has allo­cated $50K per annum over the next 10 years to further connect our municipality. This is in line with Council’s strategic aim to improve the health and wellbeing of our community, increasing access to recreation and connectedness across the municipality.

Addressing flooding risk with mitigation measures. The impacts of climate change are already being seen. Council is taking a proactive stance in reducing the flood risk across our municipality by conducting targeted works in those areas that will be most exposed in the future.

Not least amongst all of these activities, Council has commit­ted to achieve a climate action target of net zero emissions by 2040.

We are pushing hard to have the River Derwent ferry ser­vice extended to Bridgewater and beyond to assist with our community transport challenges and accessibility issues.

We have the new Bridgewater Bridge commencing construc­tion, the largest transport infra­structure project in Tasmania’s history, opening up transport and employment opportunities for our residents.

Our budget is one that reflects we are a place and community that is planning for the future, we have a 2050 Vision, and nothing is standing still.

It will certainly be an exciting and dynamic year ahead for our region.

Brighton Mayor

Leigh Gray