Council News | New play space, holiday operating hours and more

Dear community,

It’s that time of year again when most families are planning their Christmas and New Year celebrations. From last minute shopping for loved ones, to catching up with friends and family members at Christmas parties, preparing festive feasts and booking summer holidays: it’s a fun and enjoyable time for many of us.

For children and the children at heart, it’s very much a time to embrace the festive season and hope all their wishes will be fulfilled. It’s also a time many residents express and practise their religious beliefs, and a time to remember residents who are homeless or struggling to makes ends meet, unable to afford fancy trees or food to put on the table. To help spread the joy of Christmas to local families in need, the Mayoral Christmas Food Donation Drive has been launched and I thank everyone who has generously donated items.

The festive spirit is also on show in our town centres where we have Christmas trees and displays up across CBCity. As 2025 comes to an end, it’s timely to reflect on the year that was and the progress we’ve made to build better communities.

This year we delivered major upgrades to local parks and sporting fields like Beaman Park, The Crest, Bennett Park and Roma Reserve.We also completed the major Bankstown CBD stormwater upgrade to help our City better cope with future flood events.

More than $21 million has been spent on upgrades to footpaths, roads, bridges and cycleways, with 36.6 kilometres of roads constructed or upgraded.

To support our community groups we provided $480,000 in grants to local projects and we’ve continued to host a diverse range of events from food festivals, to cultural celebrations, art exhibitions and more.

We’re also getting on with the job of finishing major projects, like construction of the new Canterbury Leisure and Aquatic Centre which is now more than halfway to being completed.

I’m looking forward to another year of delivery in 2026 and wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.

Regards,

Mayor Bilal El-Hayek