A JOINT Council meeting is on track to be held on October 7, with the City of Whittlesea and Hume City Council passing a motion to endorse the terms of reference and meeting conditions at its recent meetings.
The Mitchell Shire Council was set to meet to endorse the matter last night.
Under the proposed meeting, it would be held at Hume City Council chambers, utilising the governance rules of the City of Whittlesea, and chaired by Mitchell Shire Council Mayor Councillor John Dougall.
Four councillors have been nominated to attend, with Hume Deputy Mayor Ally Watson and Jarrod Bell to attend, and Cr Christine Stow and Michael Labrador the City of Whittlesea’s representatives.
The purpose of the joint meeting is to endorse advocacy goals, as well as the importance of Cloverton as a metropolitan centre with interest from all three councils.
On last Tuesday’s City of Whittlesea meeting, Cr Chaman Tiwari spoke about the purpose of the meeting.
“Cloverton, as just elaborated, represents an extraordinary opportunity for Melbourne’s northern growth corridor. The city is expected to accommodate approximately 10,000 residents and serve a population of 380,000 people,” she said.
“More than 70,000 of those residents are expected to live within the City of Whittlesea, primarily in Donnybrook. It is therefore important that our Council has strong representation, including a local Councillor who understands the needs and aspirations of the directly affected community.
“The vision for Cloverton includes shops, a hospital, tertiary education, community facility and public transport. It is also expected to support approximately 750,000 jobs within the activity centre, and around 50,000 jobs across the broader region.
“This supports the goal of enabling residents to live local, work local and buy local. Having jobs, education, healthcare and essential services closer to home will strengthen our communities and local economy.
“I commend the collaboration between Whittlesea, Hume and Mitchell councils, which has already helped secure a $2.6 million Commonwealth government grant for the detailed planning, including an urban design framework.
“With the State Election approaching, this joint meeting provides an important opportunity to advocate with one strong voice.”
Cr Daniela Zinni said healthcare was a massive factor in the advocacy process.
“We want to represent ourselves with Hume and Mitchell Shire, so I think the most important thing here for this meeting is that we try to cement the advocacy strategy. I think the State and Federal Governments really need to have a look at giving us some funds for a hospital, I think healthcare is what’s missing here, and having the meeting will strengthen that advocacy, and families should not have to travel significant distances when they need emergency care. Older residents need accessibility self-services,” she said.
“As the population grows in the northern corridor, we’re expecting hospitals to be approved, so we hope the State Government doesn’t waste any further time, we want them to buy the land and build the hospital the community desperately needs.
“If they want us to have metropolitan activity centres, they need to come and help us fund that particular service, which is the most vital thing in a community. It’s going to be the size of Canberra eventually, so it is a huge city out there, and without a hospital, what’s the point?”
City of Whittlesea Mayor Councillor Lawrie Cox added his bit before the motion was carried.
“This is an important meeting. It’s not the end of the process and it’s certainly not the start of the process, it’s been ongoing for some period of time, even during the period of administration, but also this term. It will be for many terms going forward as the activation of the area occurs,” he said.
“The importance of the meeting is to ensure the advocacy of the three councils collectively working collaboratively to deliver a sensible planning structure, not only a hospital, it’s about roads, a planning scheme, delivery of community infrastructure, all of that needs to be taken into account.
“This needs support from the State Government, and that’s the purpose behind the meeting, to ensure there is enough public advocacy out there by the three councils to ensure we get that support.”
