The community of Yea has spoken! On 10 February, some 57 Yea community members came together at the Yea Shire Hall to prioritise project ideas to help their community thrive as part of Murrindindi Shire Council’s Community Planning Project.
The event was a huge success with 12 projects being prioritised at the dinner (the first 2 projects in the list being identified as “quick wins” for the plan). The priority projects, in no particular order, are
- Better community communications – including various ways of communicating community activities and events, as well as bringing people together
- Interaction with the Yea Streetscape plan – including providing further guidance on maintenance and painting in the main street
- A local museum – finding a home for the historical society
- Aquatic services – advocating and investigating options for improved services, including a heated pool
- Establishment of a retirement village
- Solar-powered micro-grid – Investigating development of a local grid to enable sharing and trading of solar power
- Honouring the Taungurung people and their role in Yea’s history and future – including support of local indigenous research and developing information and signage
- Wetlands management – including expansion of southern wetlands and ring of elms, supporting community hub and implementation of Yea Wetlands master plan
- Creating an arts hub – including investigating the possibility of activating the Shire Hall or elsewhere as an arts hub.
- Creating a Yea town group or Consultative Committee – including representatives from all community sectors, to advise Council and other organisations
- Advocacy for Improved road safety – including the possibility of reducing speed limits through town, improved pedestrian crossings and other safety improvements.
- Advocacy for improved transport – investigating options including more buses and local or community-based transport options
Cr Sandice McAulay said it was exciting to see people coming together on the night who were passionate about creating change in their community.
‘After months of consulting and developing ideas the community have now selected 12 priority projects. These are project ideas that were created by the community, for the community. It was lovely to see how collaborative the community was. Everyone took the time to listen to each other’s ideas and concerns.
‘Now that the priority project ideas are understood, the community is forming up to 12 action teams to deliver the projects. Already there are a number of action teams assigned to the priority projects but we are putting a call out to any community members who are interested in joining an action team for one of the priority projects identified for Yea to come forward.
‘For those who haven’t been involved from the start in the Community Planning process, don’t let that deter you from getting involved. This is a very exciting stage of the process in which you can get involved to help make these projects a reality.
‘Next, the Steering Committee will finalise a draft Yea Community Plan which will reflect those priorities with a committed action team. This Plan will then go out to the broader community for feedback. The intention is that this Plan will be one that the Yea community has chosen, and that will inspire community members to get involved in its implementation.
