Improving sports and recreation facilities for casual use, attracting major carnivals and increasing tourism are the most popular items on a community wish list for Orange City Council funding.
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After a three-month campaign which involved on-line, face-to-face and pop-up stall conversations between residents and the council a long list of priorities for the Orange region has been established.
The ‘Where to Next’ campaign’s findings will be used to direct council budget spending for the next four to 10 years.
A preliminary report has been prepared with residents having until June 12 to provide further input before it is debated at the council’s June 19 meeting.
The area to attract the most interest was the provision of sporting and recreation facilities which attracted 17 per cent of responses.
“The attraction of regional and state carnivals is seen to be an opportunity, and suitable facilities are required to host these,” the report found.
“Residents would like to see additional water-based recreational activities around the lake, dams and creeks with supporting infrastructure such as toilets and barbecues.”
Residents also called for cycle and walking paths to be expanded and maintained.
“Further, development of mountain biking and cycling tourism was important,” it said.
Improved roads and footpaths were also on residents’ wish lists.
“There were calls for the general improvement of the quality of the city’s roads as well as more work on pothole repairs, and signs of a lack of community understanding of newer traffic devices such as blisters,” it said.
Better public transport including more buses to and from the Orange hospital plus better train services to Sydney were also requested.
Other issues included upgrading the CBD to encourage more shops, maintaining parks and trees and a call for the reinstatement of bulk waste removal from residential properties.
Residents were also concerned about some food and wine festival events being unaffordable.
Mayor Reg Kidd welcomed the input.
“It’s still up to the council and the whole community to wrestle through the difficult decision of weighing up competing priorities and finding the money to pay for one of a number of good ideas,” he said.
David Fitzsimons
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
