New Campbelltown councillor Masud Khalil wants the whole world to know about iconic Simmos Beach.
He told last night’s council meeting that the sandy oasis along the George River at Macquarie Fields could be converted into marketing magic for Campbelltown.
“This is a wonderful asset and we can use it to promote Campbelltown by saying: look at what we’ve got,’’ Cr Khalil said.
The last councillor elected after the December 4 elections, Cr Khalil wants council to get really serious with Simmos Beach by making it even better than it is currently and drawing more visitors, both locally and from outside the area.
“We can all work together to do this and other areas to make Campbelltown an even better place,’’ he said.
Cr Khalil, pictured, won support for his call to look into how Simmos Beach could be improved and any marketing opportunities to increase tourism.
Simmos Beach was named after a sand miner who worked the Georges River in the 1950s. Legend has it that while Bob was a likeable rogue, his activities weren’t always above board.
Last night’s meeting was the first face to face gathering of the new council under the mayorship of George Greiss, the Liberal Party leader.
Cr Greiss, who chaired the planning committee for four years, looked comfortable at this higher level.
Josh Cotter, another newly elected councillor, thanked local volunteer services, SES, Rural Fire Service and others, plus the council teams, for helping out during the flooding crisis.
In other meeting news:
Councillors were told that Campbelltown would receive a whopping $26.5 million from the state government’s Westinvest fund;
Veteran Labor councillor Meg Oates won support for her call to combat the scourge of rubbish dumping in our suburbans streets. Cr Oates has asked for an investigation into how to deal with the problem;
The proposal for a $50 million, two storey RSL club with 152 hotel rooms above it on nine floors is still with the Sydney Western City Planning Panel. It was deferred a year ago to allow for the finalisation of the planning proposal, but it’s not clear what’s holding it up;
Also with the planning panel is the mega $509 million Macarthur Gardens North development of high density residential and mixed use development, which is about to go on public exhibition.
