Help plan the future of Merriman Reserve

On 11 March 2024, Council's Environment and Planning Committee considered a report presenting a draft Merriman Reserve Master Plan and Plan of Management for exhibition.

The recommendation of the Environment and Planning Committee was considered by Council on 25 March 2024 who resolved:

• That Council notify the draft Merriman Reserve Plan of Management and Master Plan to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Industry, as the representative landowner of part of the land under section 39 of the Local Government Act 1993, to obtain owner's consent prior to public exhibition.
• That Council seek written consent from the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure to adopt the draft Plan of Management, in accordance with section 3.23(6) of the Crown Land Management Act 2016.
• That Council delegates authority to the General Manager to make any further amendments to the draft Merriman Reserve Plan of Management and Master Plan to address any points raised by the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure and make minor modifications to any numerical, typographical, interpretation and formatting errors if required.
• That Council endorse the draft Merriman Reserve Plan of Management and Master Plan for public exhibition for a period of no less than 28 days and allow submissions to be received up until 42 days in accordance with section 38 of the Local Government Act 1993.
• That Council endorse the proposed changes to the land categorisation and hold a public hearing under section 40A of the Local Government Act 1993.

In accordance with Council's resolution, the draft Merriman Reserve Plan of Management was forwarded to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure on 26 March 2024 seeking consent to exhibit.

On 8 May 2023, Council's Environment and Planning Committee considered a report on the results of the public exhibition of the Merriman Reserve Master Plan options. The report was subsequently considered by Council at its meeting on 22 May 2023.

Council resolved:

1. That Council note the submissions received during the consultation for the draft Merriman Reserve Master Plan options.
2. That Council endorse the preparation of a preferred Merriman Reserve Master Plan option based on the exhibited Option 1.
3. That all persons who made a submission during the consultation for the draft Merriman Reserve Master Plan options be advised of Council's decision.
4. That a further report be considered by Council seeking endorsement to place a preferred draft Merriman Reserve Master Plan and Plan of Management on public exhibition for 28 days.

The preferred draft Merriman Reserve Master Plan will be refined and a further report will be presented to Council in the last quarter of 2023 seeking endorsement to place the preferred draft Master Plan and accompanying draft Plan of Management on public exhibition.

We've reviewed your feedback and worked with our partnering consultant, Group GSA, to develop two draft Master Plan options for Merriman Reserve. These Master Plan options were considered by Council at its meeting on 22 August 2022. Council resolved to place the two draft Merriman Reserve Master Plan options on public exhibition from 9 November to 9 December 2022.

Back in November 2021, we reached out to our community to gain feedback on Merriman Reserve. We wanted to know what you enjoy doing at the Reserve, what you wanted to see more of, what you think could be improved, and your vision for the future of the Reserve.