After a review of Council assets, it was determined that several of them were in poor condition and in need of urgent repair.

Council made a commitment to residents to embark on an asset improvement project, including:

• Renewing Roads and Footpaths
• Improving Community Facilities
• Pruning our Street Trees
• Making our Town Centre Attractive
• Improving Green Spaces
• Making our Streetscapes Look Clean and Tidy

Since July 2023, Council has been working hard to fulfill this commitment. To date*, Council has spent $2.5 million on footpath upgrades, $906,000 on road resurfacing and $45,000 on kerb and gutter works. We’re well on track to deliver 117 footpath, 38 road and 33 kerb and gutter upgrades by June 2024.

Below you will find examples of Your Rates at Work.

* As at 12 April 2024.

Council’s Parks staff have been out repairing and updating the local parks for our littlest residents:

• Bark Huts Reserve has had it’s flying foxes and see-saw repaired, and the futsal court has been pressure cleaned.
• Strathfield Park flying foxes are all in the process of being re-tensioned.
• Austin Park has had running repairs and also has been re-painted and re-oiled.
• Surface repairs to the rubber soft fall have been carried out at Cooke Park, Edwards Park, Melville Reserve, Ismay Reserve, Mason Park, Strathfield Park and Bressington Park.

Council has undertaken a significant project to upgrade and repair our roads and footpaths. This will be an ongoing project for the next couple of years. Below you can see examples of the work, and a list of roads and footpaths completed so far.

Council is working with Ausgrid to replace existing street lights with energy efficient LED lights.

For the next 2 years, 1,028 lights will be updated.

This project will reduce energy levels, greenhouse gas emissions and will save Council up to $100,000 per annum.

The Civil Works team took a proactive approach to mitigate a potential flooding issue in March by clearing a blocked stormwater pipe at Freshwater Park. They replaced it with a channel made from recycled sandstone which is now home to a family of ducks.

In 2023, Council conducted a review and community consultation of the Strathfield Connector bus service. The results indicated that the bus was not an efficient use of Council funds and the following decisions were made:

• From 2 March 2024 the Bus was reduced to 1 route, servicing the areas identified in the survey as requiring additional transport.
• The Connector Bus service will cease completely in 2026
• Council will instead lobby the State Government to cover the public transport black holes in our area.

Read more about the Strathfield Connector Bus consultation here.

The culvert running under Telopea Ave in Homebush West was recently replaced, like-for-like. The replacement ensures the culvert continues to work effectively and protect homes from flooding. Work began at the end of April 2024 and was completed in June 2024.

And this is just the start! The below items have also been identified as key projects for the next couple of years: