I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed reading the articles about Richard 'Tommy' Campion and Richard Herr, aka Ritchie Rich, that you recently published in the November 18 edition.
Thank you to members of this wonderful community for your enthusiastic response to the news that cinema is returning to Daylesford, upstairs in the iconic Rex building.
Large parts of Central Victoria are covered with mining exploration licences with potential to impact your home, property, our environment, our groundwater and waterways.
Hepburn Shire Council have completed a tremendous task in producing the Future Hepburn Housing Strategy, but they have reached some unnecessary and damaging conclusions.
While the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance applauds Hepburn's efforts in the Rural Hepburn Strategy to protect agricultural land from further inappropriate development for so-called lifestyle blocks we assert that the town structure plans as drafted will thwart this intent to the detriment of both valuable farmland and the character and liveability of our shire's towns.
I want to start by acknowledging the sheer enormity of the work council staff have undertaken in the development of the draft structure plans for the entire shire.
After attending Tuesday (May 14) afternoon's meeting, I am still perplexed as to why the council has spent money on four consultants for over two years to come up with a solution that is not only basic and unimaginative but directly contradicts both the community feedback (via the consulting group of 21 residents and the community survey) and its own Agriculture Land Study and Rural Settlement Strategy.
I am writing to voice my disapproval of the proposed Hepburn Shire Council Draft Plan to change the town boundary along a section of East Street directly across from where I live.
I’m part of the family who owns the farm on East Street, Daylesford (called Mayfield) which is being proposed to be rezoned, and I’m currently living on that farm.
The most obvious difference about moving to the country from inner-city Melbourne is that pedestrians are at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to road use in town.
I was very concerned when I read the article “Wombat State Park on its way, finally” in The Local (Edition 288, September 11, 2023). The promised park is the Wombat-Lerderderg National Park, not a state park. In 2010 Wombat Forestcare launched a campaign for the Wombat Forest to be protected as a state park.
I read your concerns about home care services (Issues 284, 284 & 285) to Daylesford and surrounds. You probably already know this by now, but the Ombudsman is also a step people can take to report their lack of service.
RE Just Sayin'… – July 3, 2023 Issue 283
I enjoy and appreciate The Local, thank you for providing this free publication. I look forward to getting to the back pages of The Local so that I can be annoyed or buoyed by Kyle’s rant, and entertained, informed and at times provoked by your Just Sayin’… column.
The 5000 Club community luncheon volunteers are very heartened by the generous response from local individuals and companies to the recent article in The Local (April 24, 2023).
I have been listening to Nicole Chvastek's show Statewide Drive on the ABC
radio for many years. I tune in most days to keep abreast on issues relevant in
my life.
Upon my arrival in Australia, I couldn't wait to explore the country and all it had to offer.
One of the first things I noticed was the stringent biosecurity measures, which
were in place to protect the country's unique flora and fauna.
LOL
One of my favourite things to do is read The Local and today I grabbed a copy of the first issue for 2023.
When I turned to page 14 to read Kyle’s Rant, I laughed so much.
I heard whispers of a trail, in a reserve, on the outskirts of Riddells Creek that I was yet to walk. It’s an hour-long loop full of undulations and changing scenery.
Dear Kyle, (Kyle's Rant, December 5, 2022) Yes, the geese are gone, and I note your bereavement, though it is one borne of a passé colonial attitude, that the Australian fauna is actually inferior to that of the Old World.
The latest Victorian election results, particularly the results in the seats of
Ripon, Eureka, Wendouree and Melton have some very particular lessons for
the Liberal/National Party Coalition.
There is a lot of discussion about rising interest rates and mortgage stress. However there is no discussion about banks charging interest on loans they create out of nothing.
We have recently had need to search out a letter in The Local (Issue 256, June 20, 2022) submitted by Dave McLachlan detailing his life now he is surrounded by bed and breakfast businesses.
Our rural property suffered flood damage to two of our dams in the recent
floods/storms. One of these dams has been an ongoing restoration project for
us since the massive floods of 2011.
I read with great interest, the article published in The Local (Issue 254, May 23, 2022) regarding the significant problems associated with guests staying at short term accommodation sites in the Hepburn Shire.
Last issue (The Local, May 9) had two letters condemning the recent fire risk mitigation and timber salvage operations being undertaken by VicForests in the Wombat State Forest abutting Lyonville township, calling it environmental destruction.
Let's talk about the real fire risk in the Wombat State Forest. More than 13,000 hectares of the Wombat State Forest is regrowth from the overlogging of the forest up to 2006.
I have worked in the natural resource management sector for 20 years, including as an environmental officer/lead consultant on major projects such as gas pipelines and wind farms.
Leadership is clearly hard work and not everyone is up for it. Scott Morrison for instance finds it much easier to let us look after ourselves than put his role on the line and actually make a decision about mask mandates
Film-going captured me at the age of seven. The thrill of sharing in The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains and Basil Rathbone in 1938 are with me still.
At the council meeting of November 23, 2021 council was presented with an alternate motion to recommending awarding of the contract for the Hepburn Hub at The Rex - Stage 2 Building Works.