COUNCILLOR John Fry's name will not appear on the ballot at the local government election in September.
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Up until last week he was among eight councillors who had confirmed they would run for re-election, however his circumstances have since changed.
Cr Fry said his day job will require him to work interstate later this year and, as a result, he couldn't commit to both work and his responsibilities as councillor if he were to be re-elected.
"It was about work or council, and I chose to continue to do work in climate and landscape restoration," he said.
"It was a very hard decision, it was really hard, because I would have loved to do another term just to see some continuation or closure on a lot of issues I was passionate about.
"But there's a lot of issues that are well under way now that hopefully some other councillors can follow up."
Cr Fry ran as a candidate for The Greens in 2017 and was one of three new councillors to be elected to Bathurst Regional Council that year.
Over his almost four years on council, he has been a consistent voice for environmental issues and renewable energy, putting his support behind policies that align with his values.
Cr Fry said he was most proud of being part of the campaign to relocate the go-kart track from the site proposed on top of Mount Panorama.
He was among those rejoicing last month when Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley declared protection for the site under Section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act (ATSIHP), which prohibits the track from being built at the back of McPhillamy Park.
"It was very important, symbolic of Bathurst maybe beginning to change, becoming more enlightened," Cr Fry said.
He is also proud of a variety of policies council has pursued in the last four years, knowing some of them will have a tremendous impact well into the future.
"We've got renewable energy going in at the wastewater treatment plant, that's $2 million for a renewable energy package there," Cr Fry said.
"I was very supportive of the CBD master plan; we got a pretty standard master plan, but that's better than nothing.
"We've got a lot of things happening with water security, there's been a lot of awareness on that, and there is more awareness for sustainable buildings, green buildings, there's more people taking up those ideas.
"And the subdivision master plans I've been very supportive of. We won't notice the effect of those really high standard subdivision master plans for another few years, but we will see the effect of those, we will have far better subdivisions going in at Eglinton and Kelso," Cr Fry said.
He said others with similar ideas to him have flagged their intention to run for council in September, which made it easier for him to call time on his council career.
As difficult as being a councillor has been at times, he believes it was well worth it "to have a say in the future of Bathurst".
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