West Ward Councillor Giacomo Arnott said the Raymond Terrace CBD Town Improvement Project will build community connections and grow community pride in the Raymond Terrace Central Business District (CBD).

“The Raymond Terrace CBD Improvement Project is an exciting new initiative put together by myself and my fellow West Ward Councillors Peter Kafer and Peter Francis,” Cr Arnott said.

“We’ve been hearing from our community for a long time now about the ideas they have for our town centre – it’s time to put these ideas on paper and work together to deliver improvements in our CBD,” he added.

The Councillors are hosting 4 Community Idea Gathering Sessions for community members to share their ideas on beautification projects. Two sessions were held this week and another two sessions are scheduled for Monday 6 May and Tuesday 7 May. 

West Ward Councillor Peter Francis said the sessions are designed to capture as many ideas on improvements for the CBD as possible.

“So far we’ve had a great response. The first session provided lots of new ideas – some big ideas and some smaller, simple ones too”, Cr Francis said.

“There’s a strong focus on King Street, Riverside Park and Port Stephens Street but we’re keen to hear ideas our community has for any locations in our town centre,” Cr Francis added.

West Ward Councillor Peter Kafer said the community would be empowered to decided which of the many ideas submitted would come to life. 

“Our plan is to take all these ideas, work through what we can achieve and in a few weeks have the community vote on their favourite idea,” Cr Kafer said.

“Once we have a community vote, we’ll get our work boots on and partner with locals to bring these projects to life.

“If you’d like to contribute ideas but can’t make one of the sessions, contact any of your councillors or jump onto Councils website to post your submission,” Cr Kafer added.  

Find out more about the Raymond Terrace CBD Improvement Project and have your say at https://pscouncil.info/rt-improvement or email councillor@portstephens.nsw.gov.au.