Community Catch Ups – Connect with your Council

Community Catch Ups are the perfect opportunity to have an informal chat with your local Councillors, General Manager, and Council staff.

Come along to chat about what’s coming up in your local place. The catch ups are an important way for us to hear about the things that matter to you.

Scan the QR code for upcoming dates, locations and times or go to pscouncil.info/community-catchups

Winter is whale season

In June, the Mayor officially opened whale season at Nelson Bay Marina. It’s mind-blowing to think that over the next few months, approximately 26,000 whales will pass our coastline for their annual migration.

To enjoy whale season, head to one of the amazing whale spotting locations in our region. This year you will also have the opportunity to experience a free and interactive augmented reality (AR) to get up close with digital whales on the pristine waters of Port Stephens. Find the QR codes at Barry Park, Boat Harbour and Birubi Beach lookouts and learn some fun whale facts!

Housing in Port Stephens

Like many regional communities across Australia, Port Stephens is facing a huge challenge – the trifecta of housing supply, diversity, and affordability. If not managed now, it has the potential to threaten the long term sustainability of our communities.

As a community, we’re facing a critical point in time, where our collective actions and decisions will shape the future of our communities for years to come. It’s important that we face this challenge head on.

As a start, to help us address these issues, Council will be reviewing our Housing Strategy. This strategy will guide future land use planning decisions for new housing throughout Port Stephens in all our unique towns and villages, particularly Raymond Terrace. In partnership with the community, we’ll seek solutions to how we can enable a move away from the standard detached home, how we encourage more town houses and apartments around our town centres, how we encourage developers to invest in a mix of housing types and what we need to do, as a community, to drive this change. For more information visit pscouncil.info/LivePortStephens