General News

Unique remembrance garden opened
Wyong Mayor, Clr Bob Graham has opened a new addition to Palmdale Lawn Cemetery and Memorial Park, to be known as The Grove. The Grove provides for both burial and cremation memorial sites set around an impressive waterfall with adjoining pond, and the centrepiece of the garden being a gem quality rose quartz crystal imported from Brazil and largest ever imported into Australia.

Palmdale Group General Manager, Barry Abrahams said The Grove had been specially designed to meet the needs of families incorporating private, intimate spaces whiles retaining the natural beauty of the 65-hectare Park.

Palmdale Lawn Cemetery and Memorial Park was established in the early 1970s and is now the resting place for over 55,000 people. The Park has been publicly recognised for its environmentally sensitive practices and aesthetic qualities. These include initiatives for water retention, recycling and low consumption.

The Park has been a consistent winner of the Wyong Shire Council Annual Award for ‘best commercial property’. In recent years capital expenditure programs totalling over three million have been invested on Palmdale facilities.

Construction of The Grove was undertaken by Central Coast landscape and civil construction company, Scape Constructions.

New police station for Wyong
The 2009-10 NSW Budget has allocated $8.9 million to start construction of a new police station at Wyong with the total cost of the project to reach $14.6 million.

Wyong Council received final plans for the new station in mid-December 2008 and considered the approval of the development at the earliest possible time in January. “Council has always supported the approval of the police station,” said Wyong Council Mayor, Bob Graham. “However, given the lack of onsite parking for police staff and visitors, we entered into negotiation with NSW Police.

“We tabled a number of alternative options at subsequent meetings held between senior staff to allow the development to proceed but NSW Police sought the involvement of the Department of Planning to resolve the outstanding parking issue. Because this is a specific provision in the planning legislation, that makes the Minister for Planning the approval authority,” said Clr Graham.

“As such, the Minister has had the application since April and Council is no longer able to issue an approval for the application and is awaiting direction from the Minister,” he said. Mayor Graham said Council would continue to support the proposal to build a much needed new police station in Wyong, and was eagerly awaiting the Minister’s response.

Central Coast well placed to host World Cup
The Central Coast Mariners FC have thrown their support behind Australia’s united bid to host either the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup – one of the world’s largest sporting events.

“The Central Coast Mariners Football Club, as a passionate member of Australia’s football family, is 100% behind Football Federation Australia’s bid to host either the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cups,” said Mariners’ Executive Chairman, Lyall Gorman.

“Geographically, we believe our region is in a prime position to play a major part in hosting such an event. With world-class hotels, training facilities and natural beauty at our disposal, the Central Coast will both contribute to, and also benefit massively from a tournament of this magnitude coming to our country.

“Along with this, the Mariners’ Centre of Excellence at Tuggerah would be the perfect location for a competing nation to base itself for the duration of the tournament – giving itself access to state-of-the-art training, recovery and sports science technology, while being housed in modern comfort, away from the intense glare of a capital city yet just an hour away from one of the tournament’s major hubs,” said Mr Gorman.

“While the existing stadiums we have are world-class, it is clear that a significant investment in new and existing stadiums will be needed to meet the FIFA requirements. And the Mariners believe their foothold in the Central Coast community could help sway officials into making decisions regarding the region’s role in hosting a World Cup.

“Plans for our centre of excellence are already well advanced, and the area already has the luxury of a 20,000 seat stadium to call its own. The Central Coast is already passionate about the game, we have around fourteen thousand registered players, and Mariners memberships are as strong as ever.

“We want to see that current commitment to the game from the grassroots to the A-League and beyond help us to help Australia in its bid to secure the rights to host either the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cups, and we wish Mr Lowy and his team every success, and our full support as they continue their quest,” said Mr Gorman.

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