report from the round table 8/4

Thought I'd start a new regular entry in my blog about council meetings, this week I'm going to focus on a section of our meetings called reports from delegates (this is a section where councillors report back on their activities for the last two weeks), read on to find out more....

SELBY CFA - 2nd April

I had the great pleasure of presiding over the elections at the Selby CFA AGM. This year saw the longstanding Captain of the brigade, Neville Oldham, retire. Neville was Captain for 14 years, a record at Selby CFA. The strength and cohesiveness of the brigade is a great credit to his leadership over the years.

It was great to see two women contesting the position of Captain, Sandra Jenkins won on the night, my congratulations to Sandra, I look forward to working with Sandra in the future.

MAV SEAG - 3rd April

Also known as the Municipal Association of Victoria Strategic Environment Advisory Group. I attended a meeting of this group whose role it is to discuss a range of issues in relation to local government and the environment.

Of particular note was a presentation by Associate Professor Brian Finlayson who presented detailed information on the impact of logging in Melbourne's water catchments. The information confirmed Yarra Ranges stance to opppose logging in our catchments. There is no doubt that logging effects water yield - dramatically.

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VLGA Forum - 3rd April

Also known as the Victorian Local Government Association. I attended a forum focussing on logging in Melbourne's water catchments. This issue is really gaining traction in the local government sector - read my last blog entry for more info on this one.

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Leader Newspaper Public Transport Forum - 7th April

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I attended a forum for a campaign Leader Newspaper is running to improve public transport in the Upper Yarra corridor.

Many of the issues faced by the Upper Yarra community are very similar to those in the Dandenong Ranges who do not live close to Belgrave station. It is very clear what our community needs is a well connected and frequent public transport service, this is critical to address social isolation, climate change and peak oil. Lets hope those in power are listening.

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North South Pipeline Hearings - 8th April

The panel hearings are currently underway in Yering (Yarra Valley) in relation to the Project Impact Statement (PIA) for the North South (Sugarloaf Interconnector) Pipeline. There are so many concerns in relation to this project it's difficult to know where to start (I've done a separate blog entry with more info). I attended the Shire presentation on Tuesday 8th April where the staff did a great job detailing our concerns.