In some exciting news council was recognised for outstanding achievements at the Local Government NSW Awards last week.

Council was highly commended in the Disability Inclusion Award for our Access Friendly Businesses Program and won the Best Local Youth Week Program for 2017.

The Access Friendly Businesses Program has a project team from our Access Committee road test local businesses and tourism destinations and list those that are disability friendly. To date, 27 businesses have been reviewed as access friendly, and can proudly display a sticker at their shop entrance to promote this.

Events in the 2017 Youth Week program included the Regional Youth Music Conference; the Waves & Melodies Music Festival; a skateboard competition; the Opportunities Festival; an Instagram Photo Competition; a Scavenger Hunt and the Homelessness Matters Day.

In total, more than 3100 people attended youth week events, which is a 300 per cent increase on attendees in 2016.

A big thanks and congratulations to everyone involved and for your ongoing commitment to creating a vibrant future for our community.

New community halls interactive map launches

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council owns and maintains about 18 community halls throughout the region that can be hired by the community for events and gatherings.

To help find a community hall to suit your needs we’ve just released a new interactive map on our website that lists all of the halls.

This adds to the interactive maps for parks, reserves and playgrounds that are proving extremely popular, and provides the locations and facilities to help you find the perfect place to hold your next social event, wedding or yoga class.

To check out the community halls visit pmhc.nsw.gov.au/community-halls.