Councils welcome pledge

Rural Councils Victoria has welcomed a Liberals-nationals pledge to restore a ‘Council Planning Flying Squads’ program if Victoria elects the Coalition to office in the November state election.

On the final day of RCV’S Rural Summit at Lakes Entrance, Victorian National Party leader Peter Walsh announced the Coalition would reinstate the program to remove pressure from Victoria’s rural and regional councils.

The announcement comes with regional councils under increasing pressure from rate capping, rising costs and skills shortages.

Mr Walsh, also the Coalition’s regional Victoria and decentralisation spokesman, said the flying squads would support the LiberalNationals’ decentralisation plan to encourage business to expand, relocate and invest in regional Victoria.

The flying squads program involves sending expert planners to help remote councils, which often have difficulty recruiting and retaining planning personnel.

RCV chairman, Cr Rob Gersch from Nhill, welcomed the news, which also followed Liberal-nationals’ pledge to reinstate a Country Roads and Bridges Program.

“What the summit further reinforced is that rural councils are under increasing pressure to do more with limited funds and we welcome this announcement about the flying squad,” he said.

“We are thrilled to hear this announcement today. We will be further lobbying for the Victorian Labor Party to make a similar announcement because we believe it is in the best interests of rural people.”

Cr Gersch said the summit, which included a theme about the liveability of rural areas and what councils could do to make them more attractive to people, was a ‘great’ success.