Blockbuster meeting next Monday

The Business Papers for next Monday’s Council Meeting are available and it’s a huge agenda covering a diverse range of topics.

It highlights the range of services Council delivers to ensure Wollongong is a great place to live, work and play.  This broad agenda covers dogs on beaches, Flinders St, Botanic Gardens, risk management, alcohol free zones and forts on Flagstaff and Smiths Hill and more.

While I completely understand that not every agenda item we discuss at Council is of interest to every person, there is certainly enough diversity in this agenda to peak a lot of people’s interests.

For instance, dog owners who love to take their pooches for a beach stroll, may be keen to read the post exhibition report on the Dogs on Beaches and Park Policy, following the 291 submissions received.

We heard that you’d prefer the current seasonal approach to the orange zone beach access to remain in place, and the report recommends that the current access times remain in place.

Read Item 9 Post Exhibition – Dogs on Beaches and Parks Policy

The Wollongong Botanic Garden is a favourite space for many in our community, and the Botanic Garden Request for Proposals closes the loop on an Expressions of Interest process undertaken by Council.

We invited commercial businesses to come forward with possible activation opportunities for the site that aligned with the site’s Masterplan. This report recommends that Council directly negotiates on the possibility of a TreeClimb proposal for the Gardens.

Read Item 12 Botanic Garden Request for Proposals

While there are reports on the draft Wollongong City-Wide Contributions Plan 2026, Flagstaff and Smiths Hill Forts Conservation Management Plan and the Lease of the Thirroul Beach Café for discussion, if you are looking for lighter fare, I have one recommendation that is a must-read.

To really understand the breadth of what Council does, the draft Quarterly Review Statement for March 2026 is essential reading, which highlights the extent of work undertaken across our city over the first three months of the year.

Read Item 1 draft Quarterly Review Statement March 2026

It can be easy to forget that in the first three months of 2026 we:

• Opened the Wollongong Regional Tennis Centre at Beaton Park
• Completed the first phase of the Cleveland Road upgrade at Fowlers Road, West Dapto.
• Held a record sell-out Creative Wollongong Short Film Festival, and the inaugural Keira Laneways Live event.
• Secured $482,658 to accelerate urban greening including street trees, shade planning and tiny forests through the NSW Government’s Greening Our City Program.

If you’d like to join us in the Chamber next week, the Public Access Forum and Council Meeting start at 6pm. Alternatively, you can tune in to the webcast.

Just be sure to keep an eye on Council’s socials for updates after next week’s meeting that’ll keep you in the loop of what we’re doing to keep Wollongong moving forward.