Then and now

Where were you 10 years ago? What were you doing? You weren’t using filters on Snapchat, posting on Instagram or listening to Spotify. Uber wasn’t around to get you to your Airbnb and you certainly weren’t paying for your groceries by tapping your card. You weren’t driving along the Hunter Expressway, swimming in Maitland’s indoor pool or sipping coffee at The Riverlink. But you might have been reading about the planking challenge craze in the daily edition of the Mercury or playing Candy Crush on a fancy new touch screen phone.

 A lot can change in a decade and that’s why we’re revisiting our long term community vision so we can plan for the next 10 to 20 years.

Last month a community engagement program began which will help inform how Council will meet its social, environmental, economic and civic leadership responsibilities as part of our Community Strategic Plan, Maitland +10. The plan captures our community’s vision for the next 10 years. Each new term of Council is required to review the plan to make sure it aligns with our community priorities. We’ve started this work now in anticipation of the Council election in September 2020.

We’re also preparing our first Local Strategic Planning Statement (LSPS), a 20 year vision for land use planning that will guide how we manage population growth while respecting the existing character of our city and community values. Thank you to everyone who provided their input at the pop ups or used our interactive mapping tool throughout November. This information will help us draft the LSPS as well as contribute to Maitland +10. The draft LSPS should be out on exhibition for further community comment by April 2020.

There is lots more happening over the coming months so sign up to the Your Say mailing list to stay up to date. Visit maitlandyoursay.com.au or join the Maitland Your Say Facebook group.