Port Macquarie-Hastings Council at its June 21 meeting adopted a suite of future plans including the 2017-18 operational plan and budget.

Cr Rob Turner said the operational plan was all about long-term planning and action.

“When this went out on exhibition, we had 252, a record number of submissions, which we were encouraged about as councillors,” he said.

“The submissions were dealt with over many months and several sessions by all the councillors.”

He highlighted significant items in the operational plan including $2 million in road resealing, continuing the duplication of Lake Road and corridor planning for the length of Ocean Drive.

Cr Mike Cusato said the council had listened to the community.

“We’ve tried to implement as much as we can with the money we have,” he said.

Deputy mayor Lisa Intemann said a breakdown showed Camden Haven got to the order of $13 million, $16.5 million went to Port Macquarie but the big ticket item was to Wauchope and the rural areas with $29 million, of which $22 million was for the Small Village Sewerage Schemes.

Cr Intemann said people really wanted to see their villages connected to the sewer and pollution reduced but also far cleaner environments.

Work will start on fully reticulated sewerage systems at Comboyne, Long Flat and Telegraph Point to protect the environment and the health of the community.

Other major items include $3.75 million to upgrade Port Macquarie Airport terminal, $1 million for the stormwater renewal program, $4 million for the Hastings Regional Sporting facility stage one development and $500,000 for footpath construction.

Cr Justin Levido said spending money on planning was critical.

“We are putting money into a whole range of issues across the local government area to be shovel-ready,” he said.

There are also numerous projects underway that span multiple financial years.

The council delivers services such as water, sewer and waste services, library services, cultural services and will continue to maintain more than $2 billion of assets on behalf of the community.

The council also adopted the 2017-2021 Delivery Program, 2017-2021 Resourcing Strategy and the revised Towards 2030 Community Strategic Plan.