By NICK RIDLEY

An easing of COVID-19 restrictions sits at the top of most Wimmera council leaders’ wishlists this year. 

Their other hopes and wishes range from population growth to more socio-economic drivers such as community sporting infrastructure.

Horsham mayor Robyn Gulline said she hoped for more successful grants this year for the council for events and public buildings.

She said Horsham council was successful in state funding for its youth programs FreeZA and Engage! The council received more than $200,000, for both programs.

“We will see a water play and nature park completed this year and we are getting closer to our objective of making the river a destination for tourists,” Cr Gulline said.

She said she hoped COVID-19 restrictions would ease and circumstances would return to ‘normal’.

“The council hopes people can return to their normal activities. It would be lovely to see these social activities recommence,” she said.

West Wimmera mayor Bruce Meyer said his district was focusing on improving life for his residents after COVID-19.

“We would hope for free movement with South Australia. We would like to see the end of restrictions,” he said.

Cr Meyer said during the South Australian border restrictions residents had been cut off at the border. 

“We had people who couldn’t see their families. Living right on the border meant you were heavily stranded,” he said.

Cr Meyer said he also wished for wetter weather this year for the west.

“We would like it to rain enough, which is a big thing for a lot of people. There hasn’t been a decent flow of water for a couple of years now,” he said.

Housing plan

Northern Grampians mayor Tony Driscoll said COVID and housing were his council’s main issues.

“The critical issue is land rezoning and to have more housing. If we have more housing we can have more people,” he said.

“I definitely want to maintain a positive outlook. 

“As a council I am happy to say we are a forward-looking organisation and make plans well in advance.

“When we formed the new council in 2020, we ran a series of community-
engagement sessions that helped us finalise our council plan for the next four years.

“Regionally, we have also mapped climate change and waste collection and processing as issues that we need to keep working on.” 

Cr Driscoll said ongoing projects included improvements to Lord Nelson Park at St Arnaud, North Park Precinct at Stawell and Great Western Football and Netball Club reserve. 

He said other projects the council would work on included a reconciliation action plan with Traditional Owners.

“The vision, the plan and the action plan are all available for our community to download from our website or in paper format by calling customer service on 5358 8700,” he said.

Ararat mayor Jo Armstrong said instead of considering the challenges of the pandemic, her council was looking for opportunities.

“We’re looking at ways of activating new sectors in the economy, diversifying businesses and securing developments that create new investment opportunities,” she said.

“We’ll continue developing our partnership with Federation University Australia to deliver the Ararat Jobs and Technology precinct – the project is coming along strongly.

“The Ararat Free Public WiFi Network partnership with the State Government and Telstra to deliver advanced connectivity in Ararat and Lake Bolac is coming along nicely.

“We will continue to invest in rural road projects and deliver enabling infrastructure to secure new housing in Ararat East Development Zone.”

Cr Armstrong said Ararat council would be working on building more community-sport infrastructure.

“We’re carrying out a needs analysis of the historic Aradale site to unlock the heritage and planning complexity of this iconic site, to give it another life,” she said. 

“The Gordon Street Recreation Reserve Redevelopment project, co-designed with the community to create a home for AFLW, soccer, cricket and Little Athletics, will be a game-changer for our community sporting clubs.”

Cr Armstrong said the council also aimed to upgrade roads in the area.

“The council maintains a vast rural road network of more than 2000-kilometres, with our roads vital first and last-mile routes for agricultural freight,” she said 

“The safety of our community also heavily depends on our roads infrastructure and we’re hoping to continue securing investment from the government to help. The council delivers our record program of investment to upgrade local roads.

“We will continue our advocacy to the Federal Government to secure improvements for telecommunications and connectivity for our rural communities.”

Yarriambiack mayor Kylie Zanker said her council was looking to improve housing in the area. 

“Most of our community is looking at housing to get more people into the region,” she said. 

Hopeful

Hindmarsh deputy mayor Brett Ireland said his wishlist for the year would be delivering grants the council received. 

He said the council was planning to develop Wimmera Discovery Trail.

“We’ve done all the cultural-heritage management assessments and now the council needs to be sitting down with all stakeholders,” he said. 

Cr Ireland said the council had developed a newsletter that people could access fortnightly to keep up to date with projects. 

“Roads are an ongoing issue here. We are going to have potholes until our grandchildren are old people,” he said.

Cr Ireland said in places such as Jeparit there had been some population growth.

But he said the population could not grow in the shire with the same amount of housing.

Cr Ireland said council data showed the vast majority of youth left the shire when they finished school, but many returned when they were 45-plus.

“We need to find things for the youth, such as courses and jobs,” he said.

“We need to encourage them into the jobs here, such as agriculture or hospital or medical.” 

The entire January 19, 2022 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!