A Year of Possibilities (12 February 2021)

I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when 2020 finally disappeared below the horizon and I believe we’ve got a lot to look forward to in 2021, if we can keep COVID-19 at bay.

We’ve already celebrated the first new tenant for the Coffs Harbour Enterprise Park – a tenant that will bring cost-effective access to high-speed broadband and cloud storage which will be a major boost for local businesses – just after we secured a very important lease deal worth nearly $500m for the future management of the airport.

The long-awaited work on the Coffs Harbour Bypass is finally underway and we’re seeing major commercial and residential developments happening right across the local government area.

2021 is looking particularly positive in Woolgoolga where some major projects are starting to take shape including the beach reserve upgrades, the Whale Trail, the new swimming pool and the sports and community complex.

Culturally, there are so many great projects happening – there is the Cartoon Gallery, the new D-Block Theatre at the CHEC campus which has a nearly 500-seat capacity, the Jetty Memorial Theatre is back with a fantastic live performance programme for 2021 and we’re continuing to work on plans for a future Coffs Harbour Entertainment Venue in the city centre. This is all in addition, of course, to the progress on the Cultural and Civic Space which will be a wonderful new home for our city library, Gallery and Museum, as well as being a fantastic learning centre for our youth and our thriving creative industries.

Let’s not forget sport. The revamped – and totally awesome – Coffs C.ex International Stadium will host the Cronulla Sharks versus Gold Coat Titans in March. This will be the very first time that Coffs Harbour has hosted an NRL Telstra Premiership Game and promises to be an absolutely brilliant night of football.

As I said at the start of this Column, a lot depends on keeping COVID-19 at bay, so please don’t let your guard down.

And please, please continue to support our local businesses – who are also our friends, neighbours and family members. We had a fabulous summer season, but with the visitors gone, they need our support more than ever!