MOUNT EVELYN’s community has banded together for another year to help plan the future for the town in the annual Township Planning Day.
The event, which was held on Thursday 7 February, was hosted by the Mount Evelyn Township Improvement Committee (METIC) and featured many local businesspeople and identities.
Visitors were grouped into different tables with areas of interest including environment, family, youth planning, safety and security, community life and health and well-being.
Ideas were put forward by the tables throughout the night and while many ideas, such as improved transport and more fun in the community, overlapped, each table came forth with new ideas.
The youth table, fronted by Brad Colling from the Mount Evelyn’s Youth Enterprise Shed and featuring primary school students, formulated the idea for a central park in town.
The safety and security team, led by Mount Evelyn Police Sergeant Lisa Brooks, decided to continue with the section’s bushfire awareness campaign from 2012.
The campaign, which worked in line with Mount Evelyn CFA, involved raising awareness about bushfire preparation and a free home-assessment program to gauge bushfire risk.
“Last year was so successful, we want to do it yearly,” Const Brooks said.
“We’re going to try and involve the schools, Neighbourhood Watch, Rotary and all of the traders who supported us last year.
“We’re going to call our campaign ‘Surviving a Bushfire’ and we’re going to try and get some guest speakers.”
The Surviving a Bushfire campaign, if it receives funding, would begin in August, in early preparation for next summer’s bushfire season.
CEO of Morrisons Jan Simmons said that Township Planning Day was all about connecting people in the community to help build and fund ideas to benefit the town.
“It’s not just about coming along and dumping stuff,” she said,
“You come along and you can pick up ideas, partner with someone or try and drive something forward.”
The annual Township Planning Day has been held since 1999 and many more ideas were discussed on the night.
For more information on the outcome of the evening and all of the ideas raised, call Community Link on 9736 1177 or email communitylink@morrisons.org.au
