BY JEM ANSHAW
Muswellbrook Shire Council has been undertaking their most comprehensive community consultation process to date while working on the Community Strategic Plan.
They have held pop up stalls at shopping areas and local events, opened an online survey and last week hosted a Business Breakfast.
“It’s really important that we listen to the community, and not just listen, but we listen and act on behalf of the community,” Muswellbrook Mayor Jeff Drayton said of the process.
“I wouldn’t have thought there would have been a more important document that Council’s ever prepared on behalf of the community than this 10 year strategic plan.”
The strategic plan is the document that dictates the direction council will take over the next 10 years and is the document that all over operational plans are based off.
Cr Drayton emphasised the significance of this strategic plan for council as it will cover the closure of Mount Arther Mine that will signal a significant shift in the dynamic of the area.
The Business Breakfast was attended by a diverse range of local businesses, from retail, hospitality, community and aged care, and mining.
“These are people who have heavily invested financially in the area, so they have a really keen interest in what might lay ahead for them or what might not lay for them,” Cr Drayton said.
“Certainly in this case we’ve had more people contribute to this community strategic plan than ever before.”
The information collected throughout the consultation process will be collated before being put into a report that will be put on display for residents to provide feedback on, before being tabled at council meeting in the new year.
