Vol. No. Vol. 2718No. 1827
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COMPETITIVE: Students from Nhill and Murtoa colleges, including Nhill’s Jobe Dickinson, left, and Archie Zanker, are competing in a Victoria-first crop trial program at Rupanyup, giving them the opportunity to make decisions on growing from sowing to harvest. Read more in today’s AgLife edition inside. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
Planning for growth BY BRONWYN HASTINGS
A
plan to develop community and support early education in Horsham’s south is at the core of West Vic Business’ latest project.
The planned Haven development was also the focus of a town strategy masterclass program. West Vic Business ambassador Stacey Taig said the Haven community was uniquely situated and had the capability to expand. “Sustainability and growth for our area is best achieved through sound planning and linking in with essential key stakeholders to start conversations and gain input early,” she said. “This is exactly what the masterclass
was designed to do.” Facilitated by Spark Strategy, the community placemaking program began at the start of this year with a series of online sessions and concluded with a two-day in-person immersion event in Haven and Horsham. It provided representatives from across north-west Victoria with the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of strategic positioning and planning. Haven Community Enterprise secretary Sue Exell, who attended the masterclass, said Horsham Rural City Council’s Draft Horsham South Structure Plan, released for feedback this week, allowed for developing Haven in order to accommodate more families. The draft outlines a vision for the coordinated development of a 4540-hec-
tare area, which encompasses residential, industrial and commercial land south of the Wimmera River in Horsham and aims to remedy challenges related to planning for growth and associated infrastructure. “We would like to make sure a kindergarten is part of the planning,” Mrs Exell said. “We have so many young families at Haven, and we’ve got the space. “A kindergarten at Haven will take pressure off the other kindergartens, and will feed into the Haven school.” Mrs Exell said there was a petition to implement a kindergarten at Haven. “We have a 150-signature petition. We know there’s no guarantee that we’ll get a kindergarten, but we are asking the question,” she said.
“We also have a childcare shortage – we have one mum who’s travelling back to Melbourne to work and has two small children here in Horsham. “We have people moving here for one parent’s work, and if they haven’t got childcare support, the other parent can’t work. “We need people like that – builders, police, nurses – to come and live in our area, and we need to support them to do that.” Spark Strategy founder George Liacos, during the two-day workshop in Haven and Horsham, said there was a lot of ‘good heart’ in the Haven community regarding the project. “There’s a lot of potential in the community and there’s a lot of goodwill,” he said.
“But the challenge can be getting straight what you want to do as a community. “It can be communicating that to other people, or it can be finding the right partner organisations to work with to achieve what it is you want.” Mr Liacos said he understood community organisations could feel alone or under-resourced when addressing a development strategy. “If they could just pull together a strategic plan, which is what we’re doing at the workshop, it helps them identify what they are going to try and do, by when, and what they need to do to make it happen,” he said. “We’re giving people those skills, that’s what it’s about.” Continued page 3
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