Hey, it's Digby Rayward here, and I'm pleased to report this week's Council Happenings.
There's certainly been a fair bit going on, and I've got four or five things I'd like to talk to you about. Let's get going with the first one, Sculpture on the Farm. What a great success! It was held last weekend, and when I went on Friday, apart from the wind, the weather was good. Everything was fantastic! About 3000 visitors went through, with 185 sculptures, and 115 artists displayed across the Common and the town. There were 26 large-scale works, many of which are still there. Around town, it was a great boost for businesses, cafes, pubs, and the shops were buzzing when I came through. Again, we've got 10 sculptures permanently donated to the Shire, and many of the bigger ones remain on display until the end of September. So do yourself a favor, go and have a look and see what else is there. Congratulations to Philippa and John Graham, and their hard-working committee for pulling this off. The number of volunteers they had working was outstanding. The community got right behind them. The support from the Dungog Common has enabled this event to expand its vision and position Dungog as a genuine cultural destination. From when it was at Fosterton Rd to where it is now, with the support of the Common, is unbelievable! So well done, and this demonstrates how events such as Sculpture on the Farm deliver a cultural vibrancy, promote tourism, and certainly strengthen the community pride. So it's a different business sense coming in, but tourism is certainly built into the outcome we're looking for. So well done Sculpture on the Farm.
This week's been busy. There was also the opening of the new Fire and Rescue Station in Dungog, and I was very fortunate to be invited by Commissioner Jeremy Dottrell to participate in this opening ceremony. It's a magnificent building. The old fire station on the corner of Lord and Mackay Street was constructed in about 1928, and although renovations were carried out, it had passed its use-by date. The new building is indeed first class, and I'm led to believe that this is the first time in NSW that we have a female fire station captain. Captain Cassandra Sermon, well done and congratulations to you! I'm sure you'll build a great team around you. I also hear that they are recruiting new members. So anyone interested in being part of the strong Dungog team, go on the website or go up and tap on the door at Dungog and see how you go. We're very fortunate to have such a great modern asset in our community.
I also want to talk to you about the Housing and Infrastructure Master Plan. There's community engagement happening now. I've been banging on about this for quite a long time, and we're trying to encourage the community to engage with this process in the decision-making that will guide the direction of Dungog over the next 30-plus years. Yesterday was the most recent meeting held in Dungog at the Doug Walters Pavilion. I've been going to most of them to see what people are saying. These latest sessions are a different style. It's a Focus Group format where you get around a table and record everyone's different thoughts. So we capture them all, and they will eventually go into the draft. So all thoughts are good, nothing is dismissed as being completely out there and useless. So get involved; you'll run out of time if you don't.
For those in Vacy and Paterson, on Saturday (tomorrow), there is a session in Vacy from 10.30am to 12.30pm, and then one in Paterson from 3pm – 5pm. That's this weekend. Then, on Sunday, 14 September, a session will be held in Clarence Town. Clarence Town guys, please get yourself down there. You've been a bit short on, and I want to see more of your turn up! So that's on Sunday, 14 September, 8.30am to 10.30am, and then we'll be back in Dungog that afternoon for a walking tour from 2pm-5pm. So if you want to have your say about the future of Dungog, get yourselves involved.
Chichester Dam, there are community information sessions taking place now. I attended the first one at Bandon Grove on Wednesday. Dungog Council's Damian Morris chaired it. The idea was to explain how the emergency procedures operate, and who's who in the zoo. And we had guest speakers from the SES, the police also attended, and Hunter Water had quite a few representatives there. The whole idea was the update on Chichester Dam and the risk assessment involved, especially if there's a probable dam wall collapse. Hunter Water has just recently produced some flood mapping to show where the properties may be affected if the dam wall breaks. They will be carrying out further meetings in Dungog and Clarence Town. The Dungog meeting is on the 10th September, and Clarence Town is on the 24th September. So you can go and have a look at the maps when you're down there.
It was a lively meeting with areas of concern raised by residents with Hunter Water. Still, you've got to have communication and let people share their views, and that's what they did at the meeting I attended. Still, it's good to see Hunter Water coming up and engaging with the community, which people have been asking for for quite some time.
The other thing I've been involved with is development in Dungog. One of my big interests is how do you get people to invest in the town? And I recently organised a round table with the key stakeholders, with developers, planners, engineers, and Hunter Water sent three top people along to the meeting. We round tabled what was working in the DA process, what wasn't working in the DA process, and how we can improve it. A lot of things came out of that. Hunter Water is a bit of an issue for us because we're in the catchment area, and we'll take a few issues further with Hunter Water. There were also several issues that people brought up for us to consider, and we will. We'll have another meeting a bit later on. So watch this space as we work through these identified issues.
Well, that's about it for me this week. Look after yourselves, get yourself up to the Common to look at the sculptures, and start turning up at the community meetings. Good on you. Catch you later. Cheers
