Another busy fortnight with a Council meeting where approximately $10 million of DAs went through council.
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We have also seen Orange accommodation booked out over the last three weekends, and obviously many people are visiting Orange for the first time. I have spoken with a number of new visitors and they have been impressed with what we have to offer.
I have also received some constructive comments on how we can improve the experience for visitors, which I will feed through to our community advisory groups who work on economic development of the city, employment and the CBD (especially retail).
I would say that if anyone has ideas, come along to either the rebound committee or the Economic Development Committee and test your ideas with a cross-section of business, marketing and retail interests.
Be part of the solution, not one of the naysayers.
Certainly the CBD is seeing more activity and a number of retail outlets are reporting businesses starting to build, so fingers crossed a COVID-19 re-emergence won't impact our region.
Recently council received $1.3 million as part of the Resources for Regions program and Councillors will be briefed on possible projects.
Finally we are moving forward with the $20 million Conservatorium/Planetarium project.
The DA is in and we have approximately $15 million of the $20 million required for this great project. I am sure if we work hard enough we can leverage the remainder.
This project in with the Art Gallery extension ($4 million) will see the Civic precinct become one of the best in Regional Australia, with the museum, library, theatre, art gallery and council administration blocks all within walking distance of the CBD retail, Robertson Park and accommodation, as well as the city's restaurants and bars.
The Naylor Pavilion was buzzing on Saturday with The Farmers markets and we are striving alongside our local member to get amenities and canteen facilities built into the pavilion to extend the number of uses the facility has.
As an example the idea of an indoor archery facility could see more indoor sport emerge when we come out of COVID-19 restrictions.
The Shop Orange initiative is going really well with so many entries and I was part of the team drawing the winners. It was great to see so many names I knew. You can enter each week and the only restriction is you can only win one voucher per week.
I will, over the next few columns, be writing about the amount of 'greenspace' we have in Orange (our parks, gardens, sporting areas, wetlands, golf courses, green corridors, lakes and NPWS reserves).
Sometimes you would think by reading some of the comments that Orange was a wasteland. Well the fact is Orange has more greenspace per thousand head of population (a measure that is used as a standard) than the majority of cities and towns in Australia.
Please go out to the lake and look at the maintenance and enhancement work that has occurred there, across the road with the biking/bush area (mainly undertaken and maintained by volunteers) and the multi-million dollar development of the scout camp.
Mount Canobolas does have a conservation management plan, but it does not say the people can not enjoy the ambiance and experience of the mountain.
We all - the NPWS, Cabonne, Orange and Blayney councils, State Forests, private landholders and the all conservation groups and interested parties - need to get much needed resources (human and financial) to maintain and enhance what exists.
This will need that co-operation to get rid of invasive pests (weeds and animals) that are causing harm and to rehabilitate burnt areas, maintain amenities.
So let's all work together and go through the required processes, but in the meantime get the necessary resources for NPWS to be able to do what is required.
Cheers, and more on Greenspace next time, and the idea of setting up a Ploughmans Valley and Blackmans Swamp Landcare groups so a broader cross section of the community can be involved in voluntary stewardship of these creeks, wetlands and green corridors that make up part of our Stormwater Harvesting and green adventure!
Orange Mayor Reg Kidd
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