Quantong residents have voiced that the rural bin service and rural road maintenance as key issues for the area at a Community Conversation Meeting held this week.
Before the Covid pandemic, Horsham Rural City Council regularly hosted meetings in the municipality’s rural districts as part of its community engagement strategy, so that it could hear from people outside of the urban areas.
Monday night’s meeting at the Quantong Recreation Reserve was the first rural Community Conversation in Quantong since the pandemic.
Five Councillors along with senior HRCC staff attended the meeting, where changes to the rural bin service was one of the talking points.
Residents agreed that glass needs to be picked up as transfer station hours are not convenient for recycling glass.
In response it was noted that a container deposit scheme will change the way some glass items are recycled. There will be a reverse vending machine for small quantities in central Horsham and a larger one in the Golf Course Road area.
Further to this there is a waste service review being done with a survey for community members coming soon.
Another key topic of discussion was rural roads. HRCC staff informed Quantong residents that road flood repairs are being undertaken but finding arrangements are slowing the process.
One resident pointed out that some grading is taking place in Lanes Ave, but would like this to be sealed. This resident also suggested that speed limits should be standardised to 80km/h, instead of some roads being 80km/h and others being 100km/h.
Another resident indicated that Hutchinsons Rd, Asplins Rd are particularly dangerous and O’Brees Rd needs grading.
Other topics of discussion at the meeting included the maintenance of decommissioned channels, advocacy for passenger rail and the Urban Transport Study findings that an alternate truck route is the desirable option as opposed to a by-pass.
An outcome of the meeting was that Council will work with VicRoads to conduct some community engagement on speed limits and explore turning lane options off the highway.
Another outcome that Council will proceed with a process of declaring the Quantong Recreation Reserve a Neighbourhood Safer Place, as the location meets the associated requirements.
