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NEWS FROM THE CHAMBERS
Budget 2016 - 2017
Council at its meeting held on the 20
th
July adopted
the annual budget for the 2016 – 2017 year with a
rate increase of 4%. Other than rates the main in-
come sources for the year are general purpose
grants of $964,800, Royalties for Regions for the
new aged persons units of $900,000, Roads to Re-
covery $567,000 and Regional Road Group funding
of $396,000. A loan of $170,000 will be taken out to
enable the Piawaning desalination plant to be com-
pleted before summer. Some of the major expendi-
ture items are Roads and footpaths $1.485m, motor
vehicles, plant and equipment $705,000, Aged per-
sons housing $1,057m. Full details of the budget are
available by contacting the Finance and Administra-
tion Manager, Ian Graham at the shire office.
Avon Tourism Strategic Plan Accepted
Council accepted the Avon Tourism Strategic Plan
for the years 2016 – 2019 at the July meeting and
included a contribution to them of $5,000 in the an-
nual budget. The Shire of Victoria Plains is included
in the Avon Tourism region which in turn is a part of
the Experience Perth area of WA Tourism which
encompasses the day trip regions within 2 hours of
Perth.
Tyre Recycling and Char Manufacturing in Mo-
gumber
Pearl Global Pty Ltd have set up a tyre recycling and
char manufacturing plant in Mogumber and the De-
partment of Environmental Regulation contacted the
shire for comment before approving a licence for the
project. Council accepted that the company had met
all of the environmental issues and resolved that
they did not wish to comment.
Lot 100 Mogumber
Council was asked in the July meeting to approve
the CEO asking the Department of lands to transfer
lot 100 in Mogumber from freehold land owned by
the State of Western Australia to Crown Land held
as a road reserve. Lot 100 is the land on which But-
ler Street and Lanigan Street sits and it also in-
cludes the unmade portion of Butler Street where it
passes through undeveloped but surveyed small
blocks south of the Mogumber Tavern. Approval
was given for the CEO to pursue this.
Renaming of Golf Course Road Yerecoin
At the June meeting Council resolved to change the
name of Golf Course Road to Field Road however
after comments from residents of Golf Course Road
who are opposed the change the June resolution
was rescinded and a new resolution to change the
name of a short section of Golf Course Road from
Woods Road east to Motoning Road to Field Road
was passed and this will now be put to Yerecoin
residents for approval.
Shire Maps
Council asked the administration office to update the
shire maps with property owners listed and to have
a new map printed off once the update is completed.
The old maps were printed some 15 years ago and
are well and truly out of date.
Maintenance Grading
Approval was given at the July meeting for the
Works Manager to employ another contractor to
help with the maintenance grading of unsealed
roads in the shire. The western side of the shire has
been graded by contractors for several years now
and to help staff keep up with the work load it was
proposed that the shire be divided up into 3 sections
and that as well as the Western portion a second
section is contracted out. This section will take in
parts of the east and south wards of the shire and
ensure that all roads are graded at least once each
year.
Freight Collector Roads
Main Roads WA is looking to develop a system of
Freight Collector Roads through the regions that will
become the main local roads carrying freight to port
or the city for sale. The road hierarchy will then con-
sist of small farm roads that connect to the collector
roads, the collector roads which will connect be-
tween shires and meet up with state owned roads
which will form the main freight routes. By doing this
it is hoped that traffic will be taken off many local
roads and special funding will be made available for
upgrading and maintaining these collector roads
thereby taking pressure off local government budg-
ets for roads used by heavy transport. The collector
roads in Victoria Plains will be the Aglime Route
from the western boundary through Mogumber to
the Great Northern Highway to New Norcia then
along the Calingiri New Norcia Road to the Toodyay
Bindi Bindi Road and on to the Calingiri Goomalling
Road out to the Goomalling boundary. If the concept
is adopted by the state government all farmers will
be required to transport their produce via the short-
est route to a state owned road or the collector
roads even if it means a slightly longer journey.