General News
27 March, 2024
Talbot’s future “extremely bright” as council backs planning for the town
Positioned as a “peaceful respite from city life”, the township of Talbot has a lot to offer, but amongst it all, most abundant in its arsenal is the potential to grow — with that prospect finally being realised. Facilitating the town’s...
Positioned as a “peaceful respite from city life”, the township of Talbot has a lot to offer, but amongst it all, most abundant in its arsenal is the potential to grow — with that prospect finally being realised.
Facilitating the town’s renewal, preservation, and development, Central Goldfields Shire councillors unanimously adopted the Talbot Structure Plan and endorsed the Talbot Futures Sewerage Scheme Business Case, at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Both of those components form part of the broader Talbot Futures project, which has received funding worth $630,000 from the State Government since it launched.
Work on the initiative has been actively undertaken over the past two years with the aim of securing a sustainable future for Talbot.
According to the report tabled at the meeting, achieving that vision for the town is centred around solidifying the wastewater scheme and the township structure plan.
The latter will seek to “guide development as well as attract public and private investment” while “conserving Talbot’s historic character, and environmental values”, the report stated.
However, the town’s growth is closely linked to the establishment of a reticulated sewerage system — without which it is “severely limited”.
The Talbot Futures Sewerage Scheme Business Case,managed by Central Highlands Water, seeks to address that current gap by detailing relevant designs and costings for a potential sewage system.
Speaking at the meeting, councillor Chris Meddows-Taylor said the Talbot Futures project was paving a path forward for the town.
“This is about a future for Talbot,” he said.
“If you look at the figures from the gold rush, there has been a continued population decline from those days — this changes [it] around, this is transformational.
“[It] enables so many facilities in Talbot that are under utilised to be able to be utilised better. This is a winner in all respects — it has important ingredients of success.”
If a sewerage scheme is not put in place, the officer’s report noted, it could lead to the “decline” of Talbot, “even if passenger services are increased, or land is rezoned and demand to live there intensifies”.
“Talbot cannot grow without sewerage. We’ve known that for years,” Cr Meddows-Taylor reiterated.
“We have the business case now to show that investment can be well placed and the community assets we have, will support that investment — [but] it needs to be affordable.”
At the same meeting, councillors also resolved to continue to advocate for funding from both state and federal governments for the delivery of affordable sewerage provision.
In addition to that, they moved in favour of commencing work on a planning scheme amendment to implement the adopted Talbot Structure Plan into the Central Goldfields Planning Scheme.
Thrilled with the possibilities now open to Talbot, Cr Wayne Sproull said the community’s and council’s efforts were paying off.
“The extensive work done on planning the sewerage and structural plan gives Talbot an excellent foundation and I look forward to seeing Talbot grow,” he said.
“And the vision for Talbot is extremely bright.”