Councillor Column With Councillor Michelle Wright

As Councillors, we deal with a broad range of issues but one of the more rewarding is planning for the needs of young people in our community and advocating to help deliver positive outcomes.

I represent Council on the Bowen and Collinsville Youth Action group (BACYA), which meets quarterly with lead stakeholders, businesses, and educators working in or with the youth of Bowen and Collinsville and surrounds.

We are currently working on a project aiming to have 150 conversations with young people aged 10-20 years and have their answers recorded to give an indication of what our region’s youth are needing in our communities.

These conversations and the feedback we gather from our young people will provide us with the real data that will validate why we are working towards a certain project or why advocacy is needed on different issues.

We can't pretend to know what life is like for our region’s youth so these informal conversations will allow us to better understand youth experiences in our community better.

Also, another project that is currently underway is the ‘Choose Collinsville’ Town Centre Upgrade which has commenced and, weather permitting, should be finished early September.

The works will create new irrigated garden beds, shade trees, disabled car parks, street furniture and include a new line marking, asphalt, and re-seal of the Main Street.

Works completed to date include installing the conduit for garden irrigation, the removal of hedges near Nugent’s Food Store, concreting of the hedge areas that have been removed and installation of new seating and bins.

In the fortnight ahead, Council will commence digging new garden beds. This will involve small work sites taking approximately 3 days per garden bed, moving through the street, minimising impacts on any one business for extended time.

Hopefully the works cause minimal disruptions, and the end result will be a bright streetscape for Collinsville Main Street.

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