🚘 WEEKLY ROAD WORKS UPDATE We continue each week to roll out a sustained program of works to deliver road improvements and maintenance.

Council has adopted its first Water and Sewer Customer Charter and Customer Complaints Management Framework with a focus on better outcomes for customers.Developed with the community, the Charter outlines standards of service and mutual responsibilities between Water and Sewer and its customers as described by newly customer-defined water and sewer values.Council’s Water and Sewer continues to keep the community informed on performance and progress with the publication of Water and Sewer’s bi-annual Delivery Plan Progress Report (January-June 2023) and its annual Performance Report 2022-2023 on our website.Water and Sewer’s Delivery Plan focuses on improving reporting to our community, enhancing our community engagement and making improvements in service reliability of our water and sewer assets.

Swimmers will be welcomed back in the water at Wyong Olympic Pool from today, 3 October for the opening of the new season. Community members will be greeted with refreshed and upgraded facilities including maintenance of the pool which took place during the winter closure period.

Central Coast Council’s project ‘The Rough Story’:

The Eucalypts are an iconic group of plants that can be complicated to identify correctly.

MEDIA RELEASE Council is encouraging the Central Coast community to let the people they care about know that you’re ‘here, to hear them’ ahead of R U OK?

Central Coast Council has announced the winners of the 2023 Grandma Moses Art Competition, with Giuliano Balos of Killcare taking out the top prize of $1,000 for their acrylic artwork titled ‘The House on the Hill’.The 2023 Grandma Moses Art Competition category winners are:•    Open Section – Giuliano Balos of Killcare for ‘The House on the Hill’.•    Watercolour Section – Louise Kenny of Narara for ‘Rainbow Road’.•    Novice Section – Josephine Kan of Gosford for ‘We are One’.•    50+ Centre Art Group Member Section – Helen Carson of Terrigal for ‘Place du Tertre Montmartre, Paris, France’.•    Central Coast Inspired Section – Beth Miller of Kincumber for ‘Beautiful Central Coast’.The Grandma Moses Art Competition and Exhibition was open to local amateur artists over the age of 50, with the 2023 entrant’s artwork on exhibition at Gosford’s 50+ Leisure and Learning Centre 12 to 15 September.The program is inspired by the life and work of Anna Mary Robertson, better known as Grandma Moses, who became widely famous for taking up painting in her late seventies, proving that age is no barrier to expand or learn new skills.Council’s Grandma Moses program is more than just a popular art competition and exhibition – it is a celebration of the talents and contributions older residents make to the cultural fabric of our community and highlights continual learning and achievement for people of all ages.This program is one way that Council delivers on our Positive Ageing Strategy, which aims to create an age-friendly community on the Central Coast which values, supports, and empowers older people to live active and fulfilling lives.

It’s almost time for the much-loved Little Terns to arrive on our shores!Each year the endangered bird species makes the long journey to the Central Coast from South-east Asia for their annual breeding season.To prepare for the Little Tern’s arrival we will be conducting sand building works at Karagi Point, The Entrance North - at the location where the birds are likely to nest (they’re strongly site faithful).Machinery will be on site from Wednesday 13 September for up to a week and will involve strategic fencing and sand-building to mitigate threats to Little Tern eggs and chicks.Works include:•    Installing a small sand filled geo-fabric barrier parallel with the beach and to the east of the Little Tern nesting area, this temporary structure would be approximately 200m long.•    A sand berm will be constructed along the eastern inside edge of the fenced area to act as a secondary barrier, grading into existing sand levels.•    Sand will be taken from the area between the Little Tern nest site and The Entrance Channel.•    Once the nesting area has been secured, Council will carry out maintenance as required before fencing and geo-fabric is removed at seasons end.The Little Terns are expected to arrive on our shore in October to begin their breeding season.Once the Little Terns arrive, we understand it’s exciting to see these rare birds nesting and ask visitors to the area to help protect the eggs and chicks and make their breeding season another success by:•    Keeping well back from the fenced area as they are highly sensitive to disturbance and can abandon their nest site if they feel unsafe•    Taking your litter with you when leaving the beach - especially all food waste, fishing tackle and bait, as this can attract predators or lead to entanglement (bins are located in the car park)•    Avoid being unnecessarily noisy (loud music, boat and jet ski motors, fireworks etc.)•    Avoid flying kites and drones near the fenced area (this can lead to colony abandonment)•    Reporting fox sightings in the area•    Keeping your cats indoors at night and dogs away from the reserve.Dogs (including dogs on leads) are prohibited from Karagi Point at any time.

Council is proud to be taking part in mental health awareness campaign R U OK?