Manjimup-Bridgetown Times: Council focuses on fire mitigation and growth

“I think the greatest challenge to everything that we do — particularly in this environment — is ensuring that we are prepared for any natural disasters and our natural disasters usually come in the form of bushfires,” shire president John Nicholas said. “The issue of natural disaster is one that is very high on the list for this particular shire.”

To ensure its continued preparedness, the shire plans to upgrade its bushfire fleet vehicles and equipment.

The expansion and ongoing performance of the Talison lithium mine has been nominated by Cr Nicholas as a significant economic factor for the shire.

“We are excited about the fact that — given that this mining development goes ahead and its potential is reached and there is no reason to believe that that can’t happen — we will see a fairly significant growth, particularly in population, both in Greenbushes and in Bridgetown,” he said.

“We will work with the current State Government to see whether we can enhance some of that growth that we’ve got planned. We’ve got stuff planned out for the next five to six years in terms of growth in Bridgetown, but funding won’t allow that to happen in any one short period, so we’re hoping the Government might come to us with some support to bring some of those things forward.”

A slate of public works aims to complement the predicted growth and the Shire hopes to unveil an expansion of the Bridgetown Leisure Centre gym, due to open in February, as well as a covered stage in Bridgetown’s Memorial Park.

Planned upgrades to the Shire’s main arterial roads will continue and, according to Cr Nicholas, they will include substantial bridge replacement works.

Greenbushes will not miss out on the 2020 spending, with consultation on a strategic plan for the development of its recreation facilities due to launch later this month. “It’s about developing their recreational facilities which they do have but they’ve fallen into fairly significant disrepair and now we’ve got — or it appears as if we might have — at least a decent water supply to upgrade these grounds and keep them in good condition,” Cr Nicholas said.

The issue of natural disaster is one that is very high on the list.

John Nicholas