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Wallan’s big win

The North Central Review
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Wallan’s big win

WALLAN received a $5 million boost to develop better roads and enhance the town centre for small businesses and residents, creating over 60 jobs.

$3.8 million will be provided to develop road projects including providing southern ramps at the Hume Freeway and Watson Street interchange and improvements to Watson Street between the Northern Highway and Station Street as well as exploring intersection upgrades and duplication of the Northern Highway from the Hume Freeway to Wallan Secondary College.

The upgrades will improve access to the developing residential areas east of Wallan as well as Wallan train station, while also providing a vital alternative Hume Highway access point.

Northern Highway duplication would significantly reduce traffic congestion, improve travel times and make it safer for drivers to access Wallan during peak periods. PLUS THE Community Bank Adventure Playground in Wallan is the toast of the state after taking out a major award, and will now vie for a national title later this year. The playground won the prestigious Major Playspace Award at the Parks and Leisure Australia (Victoria/Tasmania) 2017 Regional Awards of Excellence last week. The award celebrates play spaces in Victoria and Tasmania over $500,000 that create a sense of ‘place’ in the community, and exhibit innovative designs that aid childhood development.

Cuts concern council

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Cuts concern council
Recent cuts to the Growing Suburbs Fund in the 2017/18 State Budget will have a negative impact on the social strength and resilience of more than 1.3 million residents, and is likely to cost Victoria in the long-term.
The Victorian Government has halved the annual community infrastructure fund for Melbourne’s outer suburbs from $50 million to $25 million.
As a result, the dedicated funding stream which helps Interface Councils like
Mitchell to deliver essential social infrastructure will be less effective in preventing social isolation and fragile families.
Mitchell Shire Council is one of 10 Interface Councils. The fund has contributed over $8.5 million to projects in Mitchell Shire over the last two years including new sports facilities, playgrounds and community hubs.

Sister act

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Sister act
IT is no wonder newly sworn in Mitchell Youth councillor Vivien Flannery is as passionate about community work as she is, when you consider the example she has been set.
Following in the footsteps of her older sister, Audrey, the current Mitchell Shire Youth Mayor, Vivien is keen to get started putting back into the community.
“My sister Audrey has set me an awesome example of what you can achieve when you set your mind to it. She has done a lot to help those less fortunate and the youth in our community and I am really looking forward to getting involved in certain projects with her,” Vivien said.
The committed 12 year old Assumption College student has a clear idea of how she can apply her strengths to the role.
“I hope I can offer a different perspective and put my own ideas into action. I hope to help the youth in our community explore physical and musical pursuits which are passions of mine and also hope to help the Youth Council promote the needs and abilities of our community’s younger generation,” she said.
Mitchell Youth Council is an advisory committee of Mitchell Shire Council and a youth development program. It provides an important opportunity for young people to have input into Council decisions and develops initiative and projects for young people.
Vivien is already very excited about projects the Youth Council has in the pipeline for 2017.

Sleeping rough at ACK

The North Central Review
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Sleeping rough at ACK

Assumption College students aim to raise awareness of the significant plight of the homeless with the ACK Sleeps Out 2017 event on Friday, August 25.Keen to ensure the experience is an authentic one, Certificate 3 Events students have encouraged the school community to get involved and experience the conditions thousands of Victorians do each night as they sleep rough in the  school’s Gonzales Centre and gain an understanding of what it means to be homeless.

“Our aim with the event is to raise awareness but also challenge traditional perceptions of what is a homeless person. That image of an old scruffy man or drug addict isnt always the reality with the numbers of people living in cars or as couch surfers rising.
We are hoping to make it an authentic an experience as possible, with a simple meal of soup for dinner and no creature comforts to help participants really gain an understanding of what being homeless feels like.
We also hope to raise valuable funds for St Vincent De Paul who assist the homeless through donated goods and the soup vans.” Year 12 student Mia Brennan said.

As part of their Certificate 3 in Events, the Year 11 and 12 students have been fully involved in planning the entire event, including activities, management, marketing and registration, catering and staffing.

“It has really taught us a lot about the planning and organisation that goes into an event of this scale and the need to work together as a team and make sure everyone has a say and contributes ideas,” Year 11 student Ben Gregory said.

Australia Day alive and well

The North Central Review
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Australia Day alive and well
Australia Day is alive and well in Mitchell Shire with council’s commitment to growing the day which features community events in just about every town in the shire.
A its August meeting, council voted to establish an Australia Day awards committee comprising councillors and community members.
The Mayor, Cr Rhonda Sanderson and Councillors Bill Chisholm, Annie Goble and Bob Cornish were appointed as council representatives to the committee that will seek and assess nominations for the 2018 Australia Day Awards.
The call for community representation was made today, Tuesday, August 29, through an advertisement in the North Central Review.
Speaking in support of the formation of the committee, Cr Rob Eldridge said that the awards recognised service to the community.
“Australia Day is Australia Day. It is a most important date on the calendar,” Cr Eldridge said.

Cr Annie Goble agreed saying that it was a ‘joy and delight’ to attend the 2017 celebrations.
“The awards are an important part of the day and it is important that they stay,” Cr Goble said.

Council holds an annual Australia Day Awards Ceremony in conjunction with its Citizenship Ceremony. The event is held at a different location in the Shire each year and community groups are invited to nominate to host the event.

Local breeders take the awards

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Local breeders take the awards
Kilmore’s Sayla Park Suffolk stud has added supreme champion Suffolk at Hamilton’s Sheepvention to the stud’s long list of trophies
Jodie Zoch and Jon Sutherland, co-principals of Sayla Park have taken their win in their stride but are justifiably proud of the result.
“It is a rare occasion that a ewe beats a ram for supreme champion, but this one is just exceptional. Our main aim is to get our name out there and success at events like Sheepvention is certainly helping this. A few wins has heightened our exposure.” Jodie said.

Part of the success enjoyed by Jodie and Jon is that Suffolk are a hardy sheep and are suited to the local area. There is also a good market for them in China where they are popular for breeding.
The sheep are also a popular breed with hobby farmers.
The focus of Sayla Park is the breeding of neat compact sheep while maintaining a low, easy birth weight.
Jodie and Jon started breeding Ashley Park ewes in 2013 and they started showing in 2015. The last two years have seen success after success.
In their first year of showing prizes came in Hamilton at Sheepvention (first with three ewes) and champion ewe at the Bendigo Elite.
The following year saw success with a champion ram at Bendigo and reserve champion at Hamilton and in 2017 the stud was the most successful exhibitor at the Bendigo Sheep and Wool.
Success also can from interstate with ribbons for three rams where Suffolk was the feature breed.
“We breed Suffolks because we like them and they look good,” Jodie said.

And why Sayla Park? The stud is named after Jodie and Jon’s children Saige and Jayla – who like their mum and dad just love the sheep.

Council’s quantum leap

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Council’s quantum leap
Twelve months ago nobody would believe it could happen but the 2017 Community Satisfaction Survey results for Mitchel Shire tell otherwise.
In an amazing turnaround council’s overall direction measure leapt from an all-time low of 37 in 2016 to 53 points this year with the dramatic 16 point improvement placing Mitchell one point above its Large Rural category average and equal with the state-wide score.
It was the South Ward in 2016 that performed the worst with an embarrassing 34 point result for overall direction – will below the shire and state averages. A 19 point turnaround this year sees the ward result on parity with the state-wide score.
The 2017 Community Satisfaction Survey is a state-wide telephone survey of residents from 68 council conducted by the State Government.
Residents provide their opinion on topics including council’s overall performance, community consultation and engagements, advocacy and customer service.
The report provided to council stated that Mitchell Shire’s results were a ‘statistically significant improvement on the 2016 result.

Macedon Ranges budget deferred

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Macedon Ranges budget deferred
Discussion on the adoption of the Macedon Ranges Shire budget has been deferred to the June ordinary meeting of council to be held tomorrow evening (Wednesday June 28).
The matter was to be discussed at last week’s special meeting of council but the outcomes of that meeting were limited to the adoption of the Council Plan 2017-2027 (Year 1) with some minor changes and the setting of the mayoral and councillor allowances.
The adoption of Budget 2017/18 and the Strategic Resource Plan 2017/18 were deferred and will be considered at an Ordinary Council Meeting on Wednesday 28 June 2017.

Earthcore’s End?

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Earthcore’s End?
Organisers of the Earthcore dance festival have slammed Mitchell Shire Council’s actions in refusing to grant consent for the 2017 festival to go ahead.
Earthcore chief, Spiro Boursine, has vowed to take the decision to VCAT with the intention of ‘exposing flaws in the due process’.
“We want a fair and we also have a backup venue in place in another shire like we do every year so the show will go on regardless,” Mr Boursine told the North Central Review.
The matter was discussed at the June council meeting with not one councillor speaking in favour of the festival going ahead.
Following the meeting a Mitchell Shire Council spokesperson said that council issued a permit for Earthcore 2016 with an option, subject to further written consent from Council, for an event from November 30 to December 4, 2017.
“Council is mindful of the impact on local community groups and businesses who rely on the funds from the event, but the concerns are too serious to be ignored. The 2017 event would be subject to satisfactory compliance with the 2016 permit conditions, a post event review, updated plans and a written request being made by March 30, 2017” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that the applicant did not meet critical permit conditions last year and that updated plans did not adequately identify concerns raised and Victoria Police did not support the event. Read more in this week’s North Central Review.

Back to basics budget

The North Central Review
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Back to basics budget

MITCHELL Shire Council has released its draft budget that shows a return to the ‘three Rs’ – roads, rates and rubbish.

The draft budget provides for a much waited improvement in road and footpath maintenance and upgrades while keeping the rate rise within the mandatory State Government rate cap of two per cent.
The draft budget also reveals that council has achieved its goal set in 2016 to reduce net operating costs by $4 million over two years. $2 million in 2016/17 has been saved in the current year with a further $2 million budgeted in 2017/18.
The savings have been transferred to council’s capital works program.
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