Councils

JEN Bray is one of the two new councillors for Birch Ward and is well known in the Hepburn Shire for her extensive work on community issues. Her commitment to projects such as the Daylesford Skate Park, festivals, youth, and improving the schools, led to many people encouraging her to run as councillor in the recent elections.

With six of the seven councillors recently elected to the Hepburn Shire, being new to the game, a sense of optimism and hope exists for more positive interactions between community and council. This weekly series by Sandy Scheltema will explore the new councillors' hopes and wishes for the shire.

With the ring of steel down, Melburnians were keen to get back to the regions including the Central Highlands of Victoria.

THERE are six new faces in Macedon Ranges Shire Council with just three councillors returned including West Ward’s former mayor Janet Pearce and Jennifer Anderson, and East Ward’s Bill West.

CRESWICK Ward's Don Henderson is the only former Hepburn Shire Council councillor to remain standing after the October 2020 election. And four of the new councillors are candidates supported by lobby group Community Voice after agreeing to align with the group's charter.

CHANGES to parking and pedestrian access in Vincent Street, Daylesford will start this Friday with Melbourne visitors ready to return after the removal of the “ring of steel” on Sunday, November 8.

THE chase to remove the geese from Lake Daylesford started with an email query from Birch Ward councillor Fiona Robson on January 23, 2019, Freedom of Information documents show.

MORE than 2000 candidates have nominated for 622 council vacancies in 298 separate elections around Victoria next month.

THE total project of The Rex's Hepburn Hub has hit more than $13 million after a shortfall comprised of $221,040 to ensure the building is watertight and another $518,960 "to fund all the works required to complete the project".

HEPBURN Shire Council is backing its hospitality businesses to adapt to the requirement for more outdoor dining, in areas like Vincent Street, Daylesford (pictured above on Saturday), now COVID-19 restrictions are easing.

REGIONAL Victoria was set to open “imminently”, Daylesford Macedon Tourism CEO Steve Wroe has told The Local.

THE much-anticipated after-COVID boom in country living is being seen as both an economic boon and a potential spoiling of the rural joys of places such as Daylesford.

FEAR of being sued is a central reason behind the Hepburn Shire Council introducing a 500-metre zone around its old tip in Ajax Road.

AN 1890s painted wall-hanging capturing a sardonic depiction of the Australian coat of arms will be incorporated into Trentham’s new community hub in the town’s revamped Mechanics Institute building.

A NON-political grassroots movement, Community Voice, has been launched in Hepburn Shire and already has 643 members on Facebook.

A GROUP of residents are concerned that a Hepburn Shire planning scheme amendment will remove their rights in terms of land use and development.

VICTORIAN Planning Minister Richard Wynne said an Environment Effects Statement would be required for the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project which aims to establish 200km of new high-voltage transmission lines across Western Victoria to deliver more renewable energy into the state’s electricity grid.

RESIDENTS protesting the proposed Western Victorian Transmission Network have been urged to voice their concerns directly to the State Planning Minister and put pressure on the Victorian Government to insist on an Environmental Effects Statement.

HEPBURN Shire Council is extremely concerned about the proposed Western Victoria Transmission Network Project

HOME owners in Hepburn Shire receive their first rates notice for the 20/21 financial year in August.

HEPBURN Shire Council has recorded its worst ever annual Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey.

WE TAKE on board and acknowledge what the community is saying to us about our performance and direction of council.

HEPBURN Shire council has opened up a range of services to the community.

HEPBURN Shire Council has been successful in attracting $1.6 million from the Working for Victoria Fund to employ an additional 33 staff.

COMMUNITY satisfaction with the Hepburn Shire Council has seldom been high.

CORONAVIRUS testing is ramping up across the Macedon Ranges and Hepburn shires, with testing now available at Kyneton District Health.

MOUNT Macedon’s iconic Memorial Cross Reserve is being enhanced with $50,000 funding from the Victorian Government.

Hepburn and Macedon Ranges councils close services.

What a week it was.

THE Rex's budget has blown out to $12.735 million - with an opening date of April 2021.

WITH much of its fortune built on mineral water, the Central Highlands has entered a phase where some locals are pitted against commercial exploitation of this water.

FEEL like ditching the homework, some time out from the olds, a break from the siblings?