News

A new draft document to guide the shape of future changes at the rear of the historic Bowen Terrace in Orange has gone on display for community comment.

The new document comes after more than twelve months of consultation and meetings with the owners of the buildings.

Orange City Council Planning & Development Committee chair, Cr Russell Turner said the historic set of twelve Victorian era terraces stretch from number 3 to 25 Bathurst Road and date from 1876.

“These buildings are on the State Heritage Register, so Orange City Council has been working with residents and a heritage architect to help guide what might happen at the rear of the site,” Cr Russell Turner said.

“Currently there is a large area of under-used land at the back of the site. There are a number of different owners and as they seek to build garages and rear fences, it makes sense from a heritage perspective to have some consistency across the site.”

STRATEGY : Click the image to download each document as a pdf file.

“As this document was drafted, there’s been meetings with owners to see how they might like to proceed. While some people might want to add a garage or fences soon, others won’t want to do that for some time or ever.”

“If someone wants to move to a Development Application this document gives them a place to start and it will also assist the process as state heritage authorities assess any application.”

“After the earlier rounds of consultation, which began in May last year, it’s now reached the point where the wider Orange community is being invited to have their say.”

The strategy document s can be downloaded from the council website at www.orange.nsw.gov.au/comment

The deadline for community comments is Monday 27 June, 2016.

There is plenty of speculation about proposed council mergers in the media but it is business as usual at Orange City Council.

While the government is going ahead immediately with the amalgamations to create 19 new councils, Orange City Council is on the list of nine new proposed new councils where a merger is still to be decided.

A number of legal challenges are being heard in the Land and Environment Court and until a decision is known Orange City Council is getting on with the job.

It's not known how long the court challenge could take to be resolved but the Minister for Local Government, Paul Toole, has flagged his in-principle support for a merger of Blayney, Cabonne and Orange councils.

These statements follow the Minister's announcement on May 12.

The latest Merge class along with music producer Jacob Sutherland showcased their talents with an original rap song.

With funding from Multicultural NSW, the class had a blast writing and producing their own music in this two minute clip.

The Merge program gives children, who otherwise may not be able, the opportunity to participate in school holiday activities across the region.

Hundreds of residents flocked to the Resource Recovery Centre to take advantage of Orange City Council's Free Waste Day.

Orange City Council’s Environmental Sustainability Committee chair, Cr Neil Jones said It was good to see a very positive response from the local community for the first of the Free Waste Days for the year.

"This was a day when residents could take a ute or trailer load of waste to the Resource Recovery Centre at Ophir Rd and not pay the usual charges," he said.

"One sign of the success of the day was that depending on what time residents went out to the centre on Saturday, they might have been facing a queue at the weighbridge.

"Sometimes the cars were lined up back to Ophir Road."

A total of 474 residents took advantage of the Free Waste Day on May 7, delivering a variety of waste for free.

"There are costs involved for council in processing that waste for landfill, but it was a very valuable exercise when it comes to tackling other waste problems such as the illegal dumping of waste in Kinross forest," Cr Jones said.

A usual Saturday would see about 250 cars taking household waste over the weighbridge.

Cr Jones said the Free waste Day was an opportunity to remind residents about the campaign against dumping waste in Kinross forest.

"Recycled waste is always free to take to the centre, but it looks like Saturday was also a busy day at the recycling shop," he said.

" It’s important for residents to learn about keeping different kinds of recyclable waste separate when its delivered so it can be managed better."

There is another Free Waste Day scheduled for November 5 this year, and the council will be looking closely at the success of the two events as future days are planned.

The opening of the Orange Regional Museum is only months away after a $100,000 donation from Cadia Valley Operations (CVO).

The museum is expected to open in October and Orange City Council’s Community Recreation and Cultural Services director Scott Maunder says anticipation is building ahead of the first exhibition.

He said the council was thankful for CVO’s commitment to the project.

Fundraising for the museum will always continue as with any major cultural institution,” Mr Maunder said.

“Council is grateful for the support Cadia Valley Operations has shown to help tell the story of the gold rush and the early settlement and development of the region.”

CVO general manager Tony McPaul said the company was proud to support such a project.

“Supporting the Orange Regional Museum project ticks all the right boxes in aligning with the company’s community partnership program vision in the local community,” he said.

“We hope the CVO commitment to the museum ensures its success and sees Orange further its reputation as a leading regional NSW destination.”

DONATION: Museum foundation members gather with community leaders to celebrate a major donation.Orange City Council Heritage Advisor Alison Russell, Cr Chris Gryllis, Cadia Valley Operations Senior Media Advisor Melissa O'Brien, Ian McIvor, Tony Smith, Cadia Valley Operations General Manager Tony McPaul, Rod Tonkin, Orange Mayor John Davis, Russell Tym,and Cr Neil Jones.

Weeks of work by volunteers from the Orange North Rotary Club has paid off with the completion of a new raised boardwalk near Lake Canobolas.

The new boardwalk, on a walking path linking the Lake with the end of Woods Lane, was built by club members with material supplied by Orange City Council.

Orange City Council’s Environmental Sustainability Committee chair, Cr Neil Jones, said it was a fantastic effort by the club members.

“It’s a tremendous story of partnership between the council and community volunteers,” Cr Neil Jones said.

“The council has limited resources but when those resources are combined with the efforts of volunteers from groups like Rotary, so much can be achieved.”

The new timber boardwalk replaces an earlier metal structure that was starting to look worse for wear.

This path crosses an area of swampy meadow that could be easily damaged by the number of walkers and bike riders who are regularly using this path Cr Jones said.

“The path is part of a longer walking and bike trail which runs all the way from Orange through back-lanes like Canobolas Rd, Mount Pleasant Lane and Woods Lane, through to the Lake.

”Orange North Rotary club members estimate it took around 200 man-hours to finish the job," Cr Jones said.

“We’re a community minded club, and that’s what service clubs do,” club member Jon Rae said. “A number of other clubs around Orange do a great job raising money. We’re more of a hands-on club that like to work on projects.”

Meanwhile another piece of equipment at the lake is getting a new lease on life.

After decades of love and enjoyment the flying fox at Lake Canobolas will be replaced.

The equipment has been out of order since late last year but will be upgraded with a metal frame and cable at a cost of $19,000 including installation.

Orange City Council's manager of Corporate and Community Relations, Nick Redmond, said the wooden structure has been in place for around fifteen to twenty years, but it had started to show its age.

"It’s fantastic that a piece of community play equipment has been getting so much use, it started to wear out," he said.

"A routine inspection late last year revealed it was ready to be replaced and so the decision was taken to close it at that point, rather than risk a possible injury ."

"I’m sure the children of Orange will be very much looking forward to trying out the new equipment."

RAISED PATH: Red-shirted Orange North Rotary club members were on-hand to celebrate the completion of a new boardwalk near Lake Canobolas. (l. to r. rear) John Rae, Brant Weily, David Provost (front) Ian Sawtell, John McKenzie, Orange City Council’s Natural Resources Coordinator Roger Smith and Cr Neil Jones.

An invitation by the OCTEC board for City Council members to hold a meeting in its restored building has captured what could turn out to be an ‘historic’ moment : the last meeting of an Orange City Council in the former Town Hall.

A framed photograph of the meeting in April last year, timed to mark the centenary of the landing at Gallipoli, was presented by OCTEC this week to hang in the new council chambers.

Speaking at a morning tea (25 May) to mark the handover, OCTEC Board chair Cr Jeff Whitton said the photograph was “possibly the last sitting of the Orange City Council in the Town Hall “ ahead of the flagged council amalgamations.

A key provider of training services, OCTEC owns and has restored a number of historic buildings including the former Town Hall at the corner of Byng and Anson Streets, and the Croagh Patrick buildings.

“OCTEC is a proud citizen and is proud of its commitment to take care of these buildings,” Cr Jeff Whitton said.

OCTEC CEO Andrew McDougall paid tribute to the OCTEC board members. “To be a board that supports that sort of expenditure on those assets is great for the city.”

Photographer Alf Mangicali has produced “a wonderful work”, Andrew McDougall said, which is “a great picture and beautiful representation of the room.”

Mayor John Davis said he was delighted at the “absolutely fantastic” gift.

“At this stage when it looks like the term of this council is drawing to a close, it’s appropriate that all the councillors and senior staff are in the photo,” John Davis said.

“In the last three years this council has worked so well together. You wouldn’t get a better group of councillors.”

“I want to congratulate the OCTEC board andf staff for keeping the former Town Hall building and the historic meeting in great condition.”

The framed photograph, which has been hung in the current council chambers, features all the council members together with the General Manager are senior council staff.

Also captured in the public gallery behind the meeting table are a reporter from the Central Western Daily, three children of one of the councillors, a Sister Cities visitor from Mt Hagen in PNG and a member of the Orange Ratepayers Association.

FRAMED : Pictured at the presentation are (l. to r.) Mayor John Davis, OCTEC CEO Andrew McDougal, Cr Jeff Whitton, OCTEC Board member Val Myott and deputy Mayor Cr Chris Gryllis.

Allowing children to ride a bike to school is a safer option than dropping them off at the front gate according to Bicycle Network’s Alex Carpenter.

Mr Carpenter and a team from the network were in Orange teaching school children the benefits of leading an active lifestyle.

As part of Orange City Council’s Active Travel Plan, the network aims to increase the number of children in Orange riding a bike, walking or skating to school from about 20 per cent to 80 per cent.

The network designed safe and accessible routes to three schools in Orange in a bid to encourage parents to allow their children to ride, walk or skate to school, the remainder of the schools will be visited throughout the year.

The main barrier stopping parents from allowing their children to make their own way to school was a fear their child might be approached by strangers, or that they may be involved in a collision with a car, Mr Carpenter said.

“By reducing the number of cars at the front gate of the school it’s actually making it a lot safer,” Mr Carpenter said.

And as for the fear a child might be targeted by a stranger he says the routes designed by the network mean “there’s safety in numbers”.

“The program has been going in Victoria for 10 years and we’ve been able to increase the number of kids riding, walking or skating to school from about 20 per cent to about 50 per cent,” he said.

“In the 1970s about 80 per cent of kids rode or walked to school and we want to get it back up to that level.”

In 2015, the council commissioned a schools’ Active Travel Plan to find out how students travelled to and from school and what were the barriers facing children and their parents when it came to active travel.

The report found three per cent of children cycle to school, two per cent used a scooter and 17 per cent walked.

The main barriers included;

• Parents concerned about traffic and availability of low risk routes to school, poorly designed bike lanes or shared paths near the school.
• Disconnected or incomplete bike lanes.
• The student lives too far from school.
• Concerns about weather.

The Bicycle Network’s safer paths to school program is designed to combat some of these issues while feedback from council’s Active Travel Plan is collated and presented to the council in the coming months.

RIDE TO SCHOOL: Bicycle Network Ride2School coordinators Alex Carpenter and Veronica Nunez with Calare Public School students at the launch of its Orange Ride2School program.

The largest commercial aircraft to have flown in and out of Orange has landed at Orange Regional airport.

While larger military aircraft have used Orange Airport in the past, this is believed to be the largest commercial aircraft.

Orange City Council’s Airport Community chair Cr Chris Gryllis said the the Boeing 717-200 is owned by QantasLink but was operated and crewed by major charter flight operator Cobham Aviation Services .

"The 125-seater aircraft which looked mostly full picked up a mine close-down crew from Orange last Friday (27 May) and flew back to Orange Monday (30 May), taking them to a remote mine on Groote Eylandt off the coast of the Northern Territory in the Gulf of Carpentaria", Cr Chris Gryllis said.

"The flight is a sign of the worth of ongoing upgrades to the Orange Regional Airport."

PASSENGERS : A specialist mining crew from Orange disembark after their charter flight from Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory.

The recent $19 million upgrade included lengthening the airport by 438 metres.

"Previously, with the shorter run-way, jets of this size had to take off with a smaller fuel load, and therefore had to stop for re-fuelling on longer flights like this," Cr Gryllis said. "This week’s flight made the trip to Groote Eylandt directly in three hours."

Last week the NSW Government announced a further $1.46 million grant to spray an epoxy micro-seal layer over the runway to reduce the impact of small stone chips being blown around by large jets, and also a major upgrade to a second taxi-way.

"Flights like this show that the major investment was well worth it."

Depression sufferer Hayley Nicholls was diagnosed in her early twenties and she did what many in her generation do.

She had a problem so she Googled it.

Only later did she learn, she was led down a path of terrifying statistics and “salacious” detail.

She was lucky, she knew when it was time to stop and she knew she needed to seek professional help but she was scared.

One day in a doctor’s waiting room, she didn’t respond when paged by a receptionist : “They called my name, three times, and I just cried and cried,” she said.

“But then someone came over to me and put their hand on me and said, ‘Hayley thank you for coming’,” she said.

Ms Nicholls is a beyondblue volunteer who spoke to a room of 30 people at Orange City Library on Friday to help launch the Books on Prescription initiative.

The initiative was created by Central West Libraries in partnership with the University of Newcastle’s Centre for Remote and Rural Mental Health and is designed to help people gain access to trusted material to aid in managing their mental health concerns.

Books on Prescription is an Australian first and uses self-help reading materials endorsed by health professionals and is available in libraries across central and far western NSW.

University of Newcastle’s Dr Scott Fitzpatrick said the scheme was designed to combat issues facing rural people such as a lack of access to specialists and the distance from services.

“We talk about issues of access and not just about distance, issues of long waiting lists for specialist services in some cases,” he said.

“People might be reluctant to seek out services or might not feel it’s appropriate as a first step.

“Intervention and prevention is really important and that’s where we see Books on Prescription as fitting into mental health treatment in the community.”

Orange City Councillor Ron Gander said mental health problems affect the sufferer but also their loved ones.

He said the books could be used by friends and family of sufferers to find out how they can help and what to say.

“In many cases people with an illness like this are in real denial,” he said.

Central West Libraries manager Jan Richards said the books provide information on various mental illnesses from depression to anxiety and a range of sleep problems.

The resources offer practical step-by-step techniques and strategies for successfully managing and over-coming mental health problems, she said.

For information go to www.booksonprescription.com.au

GOOD MEDICINE: Central West Libraries chair Janelle Culverson, beyondblue volunteer Hayley Nicholls, Central West Libraries manager Jan Richards and Orange City councillor Ron Gander at Friday's launch.