Engaging with the community in a meaningful way is a priority for our Council group.
That's why I have started weekly Coffee with a Councillor mornings at the Horsham Plaza.
Coffee with a Councillor aims to represent a wide representation of community views and see the connection between community and council strengthened.
So far it has been a success as an inclusive, open and transparent forum and I encourage community members to come along every Wednesday morning to Cafe 22 Horsham Plaza for an informal chat with a Councillor. I will be there from 10am to midday.
As part of the new Local Government Act 2020, Local Government Victoria is undertaking a statewide review which aims to ensure a fairer and more equal representation of community views.
It also aims to build respect, integrity and trust in local councils. It will be completed and available to the public later in 2021.
I also strongly support the HRCC's push for the return of the passenger rail service to Horsham and encourage everyone to put pressure on the Victorian State Government and the Department of Public Transport to provide the very valuable service to all Wimmera residents.
While it appears a long way off happening, the return of passenger rail to the Wimmera is now extra important considering the hospital merger is supposed to lead to many health professionals travelling from Ballarat to Horsham.
Mayor Robyn Gulline and our Chief Executive Officer Sunil Bhalla recently met with Stuart Grimley, upper house member for Western Victoria and discussed the feasibility of returning passenger rail services to Horsham.
Passenger rail would also provide easier access for tourists coming to the region.
Although our pleas sometimes feel like they are being ignored, remember Horsham, along with Hamilton and Mildura, are the only regional cities in the state not to have commuter passenger rail.
The next step is for the state government to develop a business case to determine the best way to deliver rail services to our region. Council will continue to advocate for the development of the business case.
While on the topic of transport, it is great to see Horsham Aerodrome has received funding worth $285,750 from the Federal Government. It will see repairs done to the apron pavement. We are one of the best rural airports in Australia and we need to keep the airport up to speed in terms of maintenance.
We have two lit runways which are important for residents when we have nearly three air ambulances a day, and two flying schools.
The airport is also now equipped for loading fire bombers which means a lot to our community. This follows another project that was recently finished where upgraded runway lighting was installed and improvements to the runway pavement were made. With long term planning in the future to extend the runway for easier accessibility for private jets, this would make us accessible anywhere, anytime.
Local roads are also being widened to improve safety. If you're travelling on the Blue Ribbon Road over the next few months, keep an eye out for changed traffic conditions in the near future, plan-ahead and allow for an extra five minutes travel time.
Planes, trains and automobiles – it is a time of solid investment in our transport infrastructure which increases our accessibility as the regional city that we aspire to be.
